A Chone Figgins comparison, courtesy of Texas Leaguers. Data through July 18th for both.
Or, if you prefer:
It's easy to look at Figgins' numbers and say, "oh, the BABIP is way down, so he's just getting unlucky." But the spray chart is the picture of a guy who isn't hitting the ball as hard in 2010 as he was in 2009. Following visual observation, many of us have wondered how this hitter put up last year's numbers. Answer: he didn't. A better version of this hitter put up last year's numbers.
What's encouraging is that Figgins had a season very much like this one in 2008, sandwiched between a very productive 2007 and a very productive 2009. What's mystifying is how he's gone from hitting the ball with some authority to hitting the ball with no authority to hitting the ball with some authority to hitting the ball with no authority. Veteran consistency. It's overstated.