Here's one reason why Moncada could break out

What is one to make of Yoan Moncada entering 2019? Last year, the 23-year-old White Sox youngster flashed the power-speed potential that made him the centerpiece of the Chris Sale trade … and led the Major Leagues in strikeouts.

Moncada's supposed to be one of the leaders of the wave of young talent that carries Chicago back into contention. But can he make the leap?

Here's one reason to think he can. It stems from plate discipline. Despite his high strikeout totals, Moncada actually showed a discerning eye at the plate. That might sound counter-intuitive, but it's true, and a good sign for his development. Moncada is already doing an excellent job identifying balls to lay off and picking strikes to attack.

Using Statcast's pitch tracking, we can break down the strike zone into multiple regions. Pitches in the heart of the zone -- clear, non-borderline strikes -- are the ones a hitter wants to swing at. Pitches in the "chase zone" -- clearly out of the zone and almost always called balls -- are the ones a hitter wants to take.

Last season, when a pitch was clearly out of the strike zone, Moncada chased just 11.5 percent of the time. That was tied for the third-lowest rate of the 173 hitters who saw at least 400 pitches in the chase zone in 2018. Moncada chased at half the Major League average rate.

Lowest swing rate on pitches in the chase zone, 2018

1) Joey Votto: 5.2%

2) Brandon Nimmo: 10.4%

3-T) Yoan Moncada: 11.5%

3-T) Andrew McCutchen: 11.5%

5) Jed Lowrie: 11.6%

MLB average: 22.3%

Meanwhile, Moncada swung at 68.4 percent of pitches within the heart of the zone. So when a pitch was clearly a strike, Moncada was swinging nearly six times more often than when it was clearly a ball.

That combination ranked as one of the best in baseball. Only six hitters had a higher ratio than Moncada of swing rate on strikes in the heart of the zone compared to chase rate on clear balls outside the zone.

It's a good group to be a part of. There were 172 hitters who saw at least 400 pitches both clearly in the zone and clearly out of the zone in 2018. Moncada was one of just 21 who took a swing on at least five times more clear strikes than clear balls.

Also among those leaders are: Votto, Lowrie, Nimmo, Aaron Hicks, Mike Trout, Tommy Pham, Matt Carpenter, Alex Bregman, Juan Soto, George Springer, Lorenzo Cain, Matt Olson, Mookie Betts, Khris Davis, Jose Ramirez and Rhys Hoskins.

But it's still strange to see those numbers for Moncada and to reconcile them with all the strikeouts. To get at the root of Moncada's strikeout problem, we have to bring a third region of the strike zone into the equation: the edges.

Statcast also tracks borderline pitches -- within a baseball's width of the boundaries of the zone -- which could go either way. They're basically a coin flip, called strike or called ball, so it's not a clear decision to swing or take. They might not be as hittable as pitches in the heart of the zone, but they're pitches a hitter might have to fight off with two strikes.

Moncada, though, led the Majors in strikeouts on those borderline pitches by a wide margin -- both overall and on called strikeouts specifically. His 137 total strikeouts were 30 more than the next closest hitter, Davis. His 60 called strikeouts were nearly 20 more than the next closest, Mike Trout.

So if there's an area Moncada should focus on in particular, it's his approach against those pitches on the edges. Which ones to swing at, which ones to take. How to better attack them with two strikes, so he doesn't end up waving at a pitcher's pitch or punched out.

If he can improve there, Moncada has the chance to do big things. He's already a disciplined hitter. He hits the ball really hard -- in 2018, his 44.1 percent hard-hit rate ranked just outside the top 15 percent of hitters. And he's really fast -- his 28.8 feet/second average sprint speed put him just outside the top 10 percent of MLB regulars. It's a lot of talent if he can bring it out.