Very interesting read and far more encouraging. In the game thread tonight, someone stated Buxton has been hitting around .258 since his initial 2 for 49/50AB to start the season. And he's looked so, so much better the past few games. Hopefully, we are seeing the awakening of Buxton's potential at the ML level.

Glad to see someone get this question asked and discussed. The glorification is a good, and necessary thing.

Glad to see someone get this question asked and discussed. The glorification is a good, and necessary thing.

Rowson is very good at his job.

Very interesting read and far more encouraging. In the game thread tonight, someone stated Buxton has been hitting around .258 since his initial 2 for 49/50AB to start the season. And he's looked so, so much better the past few games. Hopefully, we are seeing the awakening of Buxton's potential at the ML level.

Hopefully he keeps it going, but more importantly becomes more consistent and slowly raises the bar.  That said, we've seen him do this before where he comes to life for a couple of games and then falls asleep again for weeks on end. 

I'm more confused than clarified. Rowson seems to simply contradict what Buxton stated.

• “Putting it on the ground more to get it out of the air." Buxton restated that intent at least a couple different ways in that paragraph.
• "No, the goal is not to hit balls on the ground. The goal is going to be to use the whole field and hit balls hard.” Rowson said that a couple of different ways too.

 

I'm more confused than clarified. Rowson seems to simply contradict what Buxton stated.

• “Putting it on the ground more to get it out of the air." Buxton restated that intent at least a couple different ways in that paragraph.
• "No, the goal is not to hit balls on the ground. The goal is going to be to use the whole field and hit balls hard.” Rowson said that a couple of different ways too.

I think, and this is just me guessing, it's that hitting it hard on the ground is preferred to, say, hitting popups. Buxton has the second-highest popup rate among 165 qualified big-league hitters at 21.1 percent (Odor, 21.2 percent). Basically, the goal is honing in on the best launch angle, which isn't necessarily on the ground, but certainly not straight up.

I think, and this is just me guessing, it's that hitting it hard on the ground is preferred to, say, hitting popups. Buxton has the second-highest popup rate among 165 qualified big-league hitters at 21.1 percent (Odor, 21.2 percent). Basically, the goal is honing in on the best launch angle, which isn't necessarily on the ground, but certainly not straight up.

That's how I interpreted his words too.  He's trying to get Buxton to square balls up more rather than popping them up or beating them into the ground like he had been doing for a while.

I was saying the other day after watching Kepler hit another frozen rope over the outfield wall that it would be great if Buxton could start hitting line drives the way Kepler does when he's going good.  Hopefully we're starting to see that ability develop more.

My guess is that the plan is simple.

1. Improve pitch recognition: looking a lot better.

2. Shorten and smooth the swing: looking a little better, but still in process.

3. Hit the ball hard: looking OK, but probably could be better.

4. Put it all together at the same time and be consistent.

I don't think it conflicts and neither characterizes his approach as slap happy.

strikes me more as a baby steps approach. Fixing Buxton at the plate is like trying to eat an elephant. Rowson is looking at some easy things to reduce pop ups and get Buxton hitting the ball harder. As Byron gets comfortable, I suspect there will be more minor tweaks to get him elevating the ball a bit more. If we want him at the ML level, we are going to have to put up with that and be patient.