Alex Rios and his LD%

Someone asked, "Did Rios' BABIP went up 2%p because his LD% went up 2%p?"
I replied, "Possibly." I wasn't sure about the exact number, but I know line drives are the ones with the highest batting average of balls in play.
He replied back, "Would it be possible if he has taken a different approach when swinging knowing that his power numbers aren't there any more?"
I don't know. Maybe. I didn't think 2%p change was that big. So I decided to search for it. Among 94 batters who were qualified for both 2013 and 2014, these are their LD%.

Name	14LD%	13LD%	diff
Daniel Murphy	28.2	21.3	6.9
Chase Utley	24.6	19.5	5.1
David Freese	25.7	20.9	4.8
Chase Headley	27.4	22.6	4.8
Buster Posey	24.3	19.9	4.4
Freddie Freeman	31	26.7	4.3
Adam Dunn	23.4	19.5	3.9
Jacoby Ellsbury	24.7	21	3.7
Todd Frazier	21.7	18.1	3.6
Nori Aoki	21	17.7	3.3
Brandon Moss	21	18.1	2.9
Chris Davis	24.6	21.9	2.7
J.J. Hardy	19.2	16.6	2.6
Anthony Rizzo	22.1	19.6	2.5
Starlin Castro	22.3	19.9	2.4
Michael Brantley	25.7	23.3	2.4
Gerardo Parra	22.2	19.9	2.3
Dustin Pedroia	23.9	21.6	2.3
Alex Rios	23.5	21.4	2.1
Justin Morneau	23.1	21.2	1.9
Alejandro De Aza	26.6	24.7	1.9
Adeiny Hechavarria	22.3	20.4	1.9
Starling Marte	23.5	21.6	1.9
Jose Bautista	17.9	16.1	1.8
Evan Longoria	20.4	18.6	1.8
Yoenis Cespedes	18.4	16.7	1.7
Billy Butler	22.1	20.5	1.6
Giancarlo Stanton	19.7	18.2	1.5
Torii Hunter	21.3	19.9	1.4
Kyle Seager	22.2	20.8	1.4
Brandon Crawford	20.2	18.9	1.3
Alcides Escobar	24.2	23	1.2
Jed Lowrie	24.4	23.4	1
Adrian Gonzalez	23.7	22.8	0.9
Denard Span	23.9	23	0.9
Coco Crisp	20.5	19.6	0.9
Leonys Martin	21.9	21	0.9
Salvador Perez	21.4	20.5	0.9
Miguel Cabrera	24.8	24	0.8
Yunel Escobar	20	19.5	0.5
Adam LaRoche	22.1	21.7	0.4
Desmond Jennings	17.5	17.1	0.4
Adrian Beltre	22.1	21.8	0.3
Carlos Gomez	21.6	21.3	0.3
Jean Segura	18.3	18	0.3
Jose Altuve	22.8	22.6	0.2
Martin Prado	22	21.9	0.1
Erick Aybar	22.7	22.9	-0.2
Chris Johnson	26.8	27	-0.2
Zack Cozart	17.7	18	-0.3
Neil Walker	22.6	23	-0.4
Jonathan Lucroy	22.3	22.8	-0.5
Joe Mauer	27.2	27.7	-0.5
Pablo Sandoval	20.6	21.3	-0.7
Chris Carter	21.6	22.4	-0.8
Elvis Andrus	20.5	21.3	-0.8
Brian Dozier	19.9	20.8	-0.9
Shin-Soo Choo	20.2	21.1	-0.9
Victor Martinez	21.3	22.3	-1
Alex Gordon	19.3	20.3	-1
Matt Dominguez	17.7	18.7	-1
Marlon Byrd	22.7	23.8	-1.1
Ben Zobrist	18.4	19.7	-1.3
Justin Upton	20.1	21.5	-1.4
Brett Gardner	21.6	23.3	-1.7
Jason Kipnis	22.6	24.7	-2.1
Austin Jackson	25.5	27.6	-2.1
Andrelton Simmons	16.4	18.5	-2.1
Adam Jones	17.5	19.7	-2.2
Carlos Santana	19.5	21.8	-2.3
Alexei Ramirez	19.7	22.1	-2.4
Nick Markakis	19.6	22.6	-3
Hunter Pence	14	17.2	-3.2
James Loney	26.6	29.8	-3.2
Jay Bruce	20.7	23.9	-3.2
Trevor Plouffe	21.4	24.7	-3.3
Robinson Cano	22.6	26	-3.4
Matt Carpenter	23.8	27.3	-3.5
Asdrubal Cabrera	19.1	23	-3.9
Ian Kinsler	19.6	23.7	-4.1
Mike Trout	18.9	23	-4.1
Matt Holliday	16.6	20.8	-4.2
Jimmy Rollins	19.3	23.6	-4.3
Ian Desmond	17.8	22.5	-4.7
David Ortiz	17.7	22.6	-4.9
Edwin Encarnacion	16.4	21.6	-5.2
Domonic Brown	17.4	22.8	-5.4
Eric Hosmer	16.9	22.4	-5.5
Allen Craig	21.1	26.9	-5.8
Andrew McCutchen	18.7	24.5	-5.8
Jayson Werth	20	26	-6
Josh Donaldson	13.5	20.6	-7.1
Howie Kendrick	18.9	27.4	-8.5

So Alex Rios' spike was not that extraordinary. I did similar search for 2012 and 2013, and got the pretty much the same distribution. As expected, when sorted by the difference, leaders of 2012~2013 and 2013~2014 were totally different. If one player has an unusually high LD%, his LD% would probably go down next year. Duh.