ST LOUIS — Alex Bregman is certainly doing better than he was earlier in the season. Over his last 19 games, he’s hitting .300 with a 122 wRC+. If he did that the rest of the year, it’d probably be fine.Still, there’s one aspect of his game that’s largely been lacking: Bregman hasn’t hit for much power.Through 60 games, he has five home runs and a .105 ISO, which is about 30 percent below league average. Things could be turning around, though. On Saturday, he pulled one that was ruled foul after review. A day later, he slugged a legit homer.Last Friday, in a conversation with The Athletic, Bregman broke down where he thinks his power went, what he thinks is wrong and what he thinks isn’t wrong.Conversation has been edited for clarity with italicized annotations to provide more data or context.Sahadev Sharma: Compared to the last time we talked, when you were really searching for your mechanics, it does feel like things are getting better. You’re putting the ball in the air a bit more and getting more hits. Would you say you’re in a better place?Bregman: Yeah, I’m putting the ball in the air more. I am. Lotta work to be done.Sharma: When you say “Lotta work to be done,” I assume you’re talking about power? There’s some publicly available data that says your bat speed is down. Do you think that matters?Bregman: No. What data says my bat speed is down?Since MLB Statcast began tracking bat speed, Bregman’s rate is down year over year. (Credit: Baseball Savant)Sharma: Statcast has it now. It’s new and it feels like putting it into context, at least for most people on the outside looking in, hasn’t really been a perfect science.Bregman: In the last two days or something?Sharma: No, for the season.Bregman: The season? Really. What is it at?Sharma: It’s around 69 mph, last year it was about 71, I think.Bregman: Well, in spring training, it was like 76. It’s probably down recently and I’ve played better.Bregman is correct. His bat speed is down in May and he’s hitting over .300 over the last three weeks. The conversation was about power and Bregman acknowledges that’s down. He was clear about what he thinks the impact of bat speed is for him.Bregman: I really don’t think bat speed has anything to do with it. I think mechanics are everything, to be honest. I actually think I can move the bat faster and I’m stronger now than I’ve ever been in my entire career. The year I focused on bat speed in 2024 was the worst of my career.Bregman is correct again. In 2024, he posted a 117 wRC+. In a full season in which he wasn’t injured, he’s never had a lower output. The publicly available bat speed data only goes back to 2023, but per that, Bregman was at his highest in 2024.Bregman: Mechanically, it needs to be better to allow me to hit the ball in the air better. I’m getting my front foot down at the same time, and the stride length is the same as my best years. So that tells me that I’m late getting my foot off the ground and faster with my move. Which makes sense. Fastballs are getting on me and offspeed is slow, so it puts me in between.