INSIDE THE GAME

[Mike Sixel]

There is a nice Fangraphs article on "using your best pitch more often" today....and which pitchers should consider that change. Apparently, baseball is just figuring out that if you have a "secondary" pitch that is much better than a FB, you should maybe throw that more often....

[Parker Hageman]

 

  Quote

Mike Sixel, on 31 Aug 2016 - 11:08 AM, said:

There is a nice Fangraphs article on "using your best pitch more often" today....and which pitchers should consider that change. Apparently, baseball is just figuring out that if you have a "secondary" pitch that is much better than a FB, you should maybe throw that more often....

 

 

This topic was something I meant to add last week to the thread but had forgotten about.

Earlier in the month, Bill Punkett of the OC Register wrote about the Dodgers' Rich Hill and his battle back into the major leagues and his rise to being one of the game's toughest pitchers. In the article, when Hill was in Boston, he discussed things with Brian Bannister -- the former pitcher/analytics guy who had found one secret to a successful changeup.

 

  Quote

That earned him a contract for a second go-round with the Red Sox. This time, he met up with Brian Bannister. The former big-leaguer had become the Red Sox director of pitching analysis and development. Hill credits Bannister for opening his eyes to the secrets to be found in analytics and a new approach to pitching.

Hitters had never been able to handle Hill’s curveball. Hill knew this and the analytics reinforced it. So why not throw it more often, Bannister asked?

“He opened my eyes to pitching to what you do best,” Hill said. “He just kind of reinforced it that the data shows it – the more breaking balls you throw the more effective everything is going to be.

 

I find it interesting in regards to Tyler Duffey and his pitch breakdown. The Twins told him to add a changeup to his arsenal, which he worked out in spring training, possibly to his own detriment. During the season, he’s thrown more changeups at the expense of his curveball and fastball. Hill has essentially leaned on his curveball that has led to success (before getting injured).

 

 

When it comes to things like -- how a pitcher should improve his arsenal -- I think it would behoove the Twins to have a guy on staff like Bannister who can relate to a pitcher both from being in the line of fire as well as being able to communicate what the data actually says.

[Parker Hageman]

On Old School Hitting Philosophy

 

I was digging around the internets recently, conducting research for my latest post about the Twins’ hitting philosophy. I was looking for some information on some players who made some in-season swing changes and I came across this gem about the Brooklyn Cyclones’ shortstop Michael Paez.

 

For college baseball enthusiasts, you may remember Paez as the College World Series-winning Coastal Carolina shortstop. Based on his defense as well as his offensive potential -- he swatted 15 dingers in the 2016 season -- the Mets drafted him in the 4th round and assigned him to their low-A affiliate.

 

While playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones, he worked under the guidance of manager Tom Gamboa (yes, the same Tom Gamboa who was the first base coach for Kansas City and was jumped by some unruly fans in Chicago). Paez, however, has not launched his professional career in the right direction. Through 41 games in the short-season league, he was hitting .163 with a 503 OPS to boot.

 

Instead of discussing how different the game can be between college and the professional league or how fast it moves, Gamboa decided to sound off to the Brooklyn Daily on Paez’s approach:

 

  Quote

 

“Paez is struggling strictly because his college program teaches a hitting approach that I’ve never heard of before,” Gamboa said. “Collapse your backside and uppercut the baseball. I was told that their college program accepts strikeouts, but they led the nation in home runs.”

 

It’s an at-plate approach that surprised Gamboa the first time he saw it. He’s never seen someone take a swing like Paez.

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen, in all my years, a player come into pro ball that hits more balls in the air than on the ground or a line,” Gamboa said.

 

{snip}

 

As far as the Clones skipper is concerned, however, this swing doesn’t belong in pro ball.

 

“The hitting style that Paez brought into pro ball is something that, to me, would only work in slow-pitch softball, where the ball is coming down at you so you have to swing up in order to square it up,” Gamboa said.

 

 

Now, I haven’t seen Michael Paez’s swing. I’m not going to weigh in on whether or not Paez is dipping his back shoulder a ton in his swing with Brooklyn. I’m not going to say whether or not Mr. Gamboa is right or wrong on his assessment that Paez could use some retooling. I will say that I’m somewhat stunned at Gamboa’s logic because -- and this is important -- THE BALL IS COMING DOWN AND YOU DO HAVE TO SWING UP TO SQUARE IT UP.

 

 

Gamboa went on to say that he never seen so many fly balls before. MLBFarm.com says that of his batted balls 43 have been fly balls, 42 have been grounders and 17 have been liners. His spray chart highlights that the majority of his fly balls have been to the deepest part of the ballpark, perhaps one of the reasons his swing is not having success.

 

 

I did watch Coastal Carolina’s run in the College World Series and came away impressed with some of their swings at the plate, including Zach Remillard.

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/746151507930779648

 

Remillard’s swing is unconventional for what people are used to seeing in at the Major League League today. He also was drafted this year by the White Sox in the 10th round. After a good introduction at rookie ball, Remillard moved up to low-A and has since struggled. Is it because of his mechanics or is it because of the improved competition?

 

With the massive bat tip and the giant leg lift, I’m guessing the sight of Remillard’s swing would give Gamboa a gee dee heart attack. ONLY: it’s not all that unconventional and the swing patterns that Remillard employs are used in the Major League’s right now. It is exactly what Josh Donaldson and Kris Bryant (“For me, the biggest thing is to hit the ball in the air.”) preached this year.

 

 

The Mets are going to work tirelessly trying to “fix” Paez’s swing which they will believe will take 500-1,000 at bats. It’s too bad Paez didn’t fall into a system that will work with his natural movements and tweak his swing rather than overhaul it. 

 

UPDATE: Here's Michael Paez's swing during the College World Series versus Arizona. It's fine. Everything is fine. Leave him alone.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhVXDEdJLg&feature=youtu.be&t=48m15s

 

UPDATE #2: It looks like Cyclones manager Tom Gamboa is planning on retiring at the end of the year anyway. 

[d-mac]

 

  On 9/1/2016 at 4:32 AM, Parker Hageman said:

On Old School Hitting Philosophy

 

I was digging around the internets recently, conducting research for my latest post about the Twins’ hitting philosophy. I was looking for some information on some players who made some in-season swing changes and I came across this gem about the Brooklyn Cyclones’ shortstop Michael Paez.

 

For college baseball enthusiasts, you may remember Paez as the College World Series-winning Coastal Carolina shortstop. Based on his defense as well as his offensive potential -- he swatted 15 dingers in the 2016 season -- the Mets drafted him in the 4th round and assigned him to their low-A affiliate.

 

While playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones, he worked under the guidance of manager Tom Gamboa (yes, the same Tom Gamboa who was the first base coach for Kansas City and was jumped by some unruly fans in Chicago). Paez, however, has not launched his professional career in the right direction. Through 41 games in the short-season league, he was hitting .163 with a 503 OPS to boot.

 

Instead of discussing how different the game can be between college and the professional league or how fast it moves, Gamboa decided to sound off to the Brooklyn Daily on Paez’s approach:

 

 

Now, I haven’t seen Michael Paez’s swing. I’m not going to weigh in on whether or not Paez is dipping his back shoulder a ton in his swing with Brooklyn. I’m not going to say whether or not Mr. Gamboa is right or wrong on his assessment that Paez could use some retooling. I will say that I’m somewhat stunned at Gamboa’s logic because -- and this is important -- THE BALL IS COMING DOWN AND YOU DO HAVE TO SWING UP TO SQUARE IT UP.

 

Ted-Williams-Graphic.png

 

Gamboa went on to say that he never seen so many fly balls before. MLBFarm.com says that of his batted balls 43 have been fly balls, 42 have been grounders and 17 have been liners. His spray chart highlights that the majority of his fly balls have been to the deepest part of the ballpark, perhaps one of the reasons his swing is not having success.

 

Michael Paez.png

 

I did watch Coastal Carolina’s run in the College World Series and came away impressed with some of their swings at the plate, including Zach Remillard.

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/746151507930779648

 

Remillard’s swing is unconventional for what people are used to seeing in at the Major League League today. He also was drafted this year by the White Sox in the 10th round. After a good introduction at rookie ball, Remillard moved up to low-A and has since struggled. Is it because of his mechanics or is it because of the improved competition?

 

With the massive bat tip and the giant leg lift, I’m guessing the sight of Remillard’s swing would give Gamboa a gee dee heart attack. ONLY: it’s not all that unconventional and the swing patterns that Remillard employs are used in the Major League’s right now. It is exactly what Josh Donaldson and Kris Bryant (“For me, the biggest thing is to hit the ball in the air.”) preached this year.

 

 

The Mets are going to work tirelessly trying to “fix” Paez’s swing which they will believe will take 500-1,000 at bats. It’s too bad Paez didn’t fall into a system that will work with his natural movements and tweak his swing rather than overhaul it. 

 

UPDATE: Here's Michael Paez's swing during the College World Series versus Arizona. It's fine. Everything is fine. Leave him alone.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhVXDEdJLg&feature=youtu.be&t=48m15s

 

I think the game is on the cusp of another revolution as important as the statistical revolution- this time it's the bio-mechanical revolution. With pitch f/x, statcast, and all the video available, there is so much data, both quantitative and qualitative to digest. Much like how batting average and RBIs for hitters and wins and ERA for pitchers have gone by the wayside, I think many long held baseball axioms about hitting, pitching, and fielding are going to be proven wrong. 

[Parker Hageman]

 

  On 9/1/2016 at 5:00 PM, d-mac said:

I think the game is on the cusp of another revolution as important as the statistical revolution- this time it's the bio-mechanical revolution. With pitch f/x, statcast, and all the video available, there is so much data, both quantitative and qualitative to digest. Much like how batting average and RBIs for hitters and wins and ERA for pitchers have gone by the wayside, I think many long held baseball axioms about hitting, pitching, and fielding are going to be proven wrong. 

 

No doubt. I think the game is at a major confluence of both the stats and the biomechanics as it pertains to the game. There have been numerous people on the fringes discussing these ideas for a few years but now it's becoming more mainstream and accepted in the game. I think when you run into guys ingrained in the game, like a Tom Gamboa for instance, you see a lot of resistance to the newer concepts because, hey, that's not what he was taught.

 

To be clear, there are still plenty of elements of the game -- base-running, fielding, etc -- that still need old school disciplines, but when you look at things like how other teams approach their defensive positioning (particularly in the outfield), you can easily see that the game of baseball has changed wildly.    

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I'm also wondering about more obscure information like bunt strikes--Twins must lead the league!-- or glove to throwing hand transfer (Centeno surely is quicker than Suzuki) and especially check swing data. It seems like Sano goes through some rough check swing phases, and he struck out on one last night. Is Sano doing this more than he did in the minors? If so, why? Does Donaldson check swing much? Is that sort of data available anywhere?

[Parker Hageman]

 

  On 9/2/2016 at 2:16 PM, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I'm also wondering about more obscure information like bunt strikes--Twins must lead the league!-- or glove to throwing hand transfer (Centeno surely is quicker than Suzuki) and especially check swing data. It seems like Sano goes through some rough check swing phases, and he struck out on one last night. Is Sano doing this more than he did in the minors? If so, why? Does Donaldson check swing much? Is that sort of data available anywhere?

 

Bunt strikes is something I believe we can access from the ESPN/TruMedia database but I'm not 100% on that.

 

I believe some of the private stat companies like BIS and Inside Edge do track things like check swings (that requires video scouts) but that is not made available to the public (Fangraphs just buys a small portion of the mounds of data those companies have). Maybe I'm just a huge baseball nerd but that type of data is something I'd like to parse. For instance, when Sano was crushing last season, was he checking his swing as much? My gut says aggressive hitters will have a higher percentage of check swing strikes but I'd love to know the data behind it. 

 

Good thoughts.

[Parker Hageman]

On Pitch Counts.

 

This past Friday, in the thick of the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament, the Moorhead Brewers’ pitcher Tanner Dahl threw not one but two complete games. When all was said and done Dahl, a recent University of Jamestown (North Dakota) graduate, walked away with two Moorhead victories while allowed just one run while running up his pitch count to a whopping 222 pitches.

 

While the monumental performance was celebrated by Minnesota baseball enthusiast as gritty and gutty, outside of the bubble, people were head scratching the decision to let a pitcher toss that many pitches.

 

“It was simultaneously impressive as it was embarrassing,” Driveline Baseball’s Kyle Boddy told me about his reaction to reading Dahl’s stat line. Boddy, who works with pitchers from all levels of the game and uses a data-driven, science-based approach at studying the arm, understands the mindset of pitchers which often throws all the rational thought out the window when the adrenaline is pumping.

 

Baseball observers work themselves in a lather over two triple-digit figures when it comes to pitching -- velocity and pitch counts. Whenever a pitcher encroaches either, it becomes a topic of conversation. Dahl’s totals are unfathomable at any level this day and age.

 

 

The news of Dahl’s feat spread among Baseball Twitter and soon the influencers were levying their thoughts on the crazy total of pitches.

 

“I’m curious,” ESPN.com’s Keith Law tweeted. “Will the Brewers pay for his rehab or surgery if he hurt himself today?”

 

The answer, obviously, is no, the Brewers will not. Not in a direct, insurance-policy-gots-you-covered-Chief sort of way. However, knowing the camaraderie and community that goes into a Minnesota town ball team, they would assuredly organize a Kickstarter or (more likely) a beer bust to help offset medical expenses incurred because of his dedication to his team.    

 

Clearly, that was Law’s point. When someone signs their mandated player contract to participate in the Minnesota Baseball Association, the language says nothing about bankrolling any major surgeries and rehab that may come from participating in the game. The 23-year-old pitcher -- who was recently a part of the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks independent league team -- was risking his future baseball livelihood and would be left paying for the repairs if his arm blew out.

 

“Pitcher abuse” is a hot button topic. If it wasn’t, Jeff Passan’s amazing book, The Arm, would not be a New York Times bestseller.

 

Each year during the NCAA tournament we see reports of a school having a pitcher throw 150 or more pitches only to throw again in another day or two. This season alone, a Minnesota State-Mankato pitcher caught everyone’s attention by tossing 171 pitches in an 11-inning game.

 

On May 19, the Mavericks’ Dalton Roach threw 171 pitches in a victory over St Cloud State in NCAA D-II Regional play (meanwhile SCSU’s starter, Reese Gregory, threw an efficient 121 pitches by comparison). Roach told the media after the game that he felt fine and it was Ok because he threw mostly fastballs (“The single most dangerous pitch out there right now is a hard fastball. That’s typically the pitch a player gets hurt on,” Dr Pearce McCarty III, one of the Minnesota Twins’ orthopedic surgeons, told the Star Tribune recently). People called for his coach’s head.

 

To prove how fine his arm was after the outing that inciting all the pearl-clutching, a little over a week later Roach was pitching in the Northwoods League where, in his first start on May 31, he threw 101 pitches and struck out an Eau Claire Express-record 18 (he started the game by striking out the first 12 batters he faced). Roach, who is heading into his third year of college ball, would make one more start for the Express before being shut down because of an imposed innings limit.

 

Maybe Roach is one of the genetically lucky ones -- the proverbial rubber arm. The guy whose mechanics and muscle structure refuse to break. (Or maybe the wear-and-tear just hasn’t caught up to him yet.) Still, the idea of risking his arm for a Division II championship feels short-sighted. As Boddy put it, almost all pitchers have the mentality of *wanting* to keep throwing but someone (I don’t know, a paid coach perhaps) has to be the adult in that situation.

 

That burden of deciding when to lift their pitcher will likely be removed from the coach’s responsibility this coming season, at least at the high school level.

 

In the Minnesota high school ranks, the state organization is currently weighing the idea of setting a pitch restriction for the young, developing arms. As it stands now, the rules are written in a way that says a pitcher cannot throw more than 14 innings in three days. That is a large enough loophole for a bullpen car to drive through. As written, it means a high school pitcher could essentially pull a Tanner Dahl, throwing back-to-back complete 7-inning games while amassing 200+ pitches. There’s nothing to stop a coach from doing that beside some attentive and vocal parents or their own conscious.

 

It should be noted that the state’s coaches association already has suggested guidelines designed by the Mayo Clinic for pitch counts for their high school players posted on their website, such as a max of 90 pitches for a 17-to-18-year-old on four days of rest, but that’s like a beer company suggesting a fraternity “drink responsibly” during a toga party. That is why the Minnesota State High School League is taking measures to correct that. In October, the state coaches association will discuss the proposed pitch limits which caps the amount at 105 for the upperclassmen (Alabama has a 120 pitch limit) and 85 for the younger grades with required rest days in between outings.

 

How would that process work? The high school association in Illinois recently outlined a similar proposal, limiting their pitchers to a 115-pitch count. It would require teams to keep track of both theirs and the opposing team’s pitch count, and compare pitch count totals during even number innings. The oversight is needed but there

 

These are all good steps for the developing pitcher with a future ahead of him.

 

While it makes sense to monitor a college pitcher whose financial aid or potential professional career may be tied to being able to pitch (and not recovering from arm surgery) or keeping the teenaged hurler injury-free so that he may have better looks from colleges and the professional ranks, amateur players like Dahl and others operate in a Lord of the Flies-like town ball baseball society.

 

From a personal experience, I played on a team with a pitcher who had a decent college career and played for several years in independent ball prior to joining the team. Despite the fact that he was retired from his professional ranks, he was no less tenacious in his approach. He was six-foot-plus, the size of a fullback and had legs like sequoias. On his day to pitch,he had such intense, laser focus that I was positive that somewhere in the universe another planet exploded from its force. It was going to take a tranq gun to pry the ball out of his hand. He could, and routinely did, throw over 120 pitches a game.

 

There’s no question in my mind that someone was constantly asking Dahl if he felt alright each time he came back in the dugout beyond the seventh inning of the first game and each inning into the second game. One of the team’s administrators tweeted back at Law and said that their number two starter was ready to go the moment Dahl said he was done. Hell, even former Major League catcher Chris Coste plays on Dahl’s team (he smack a dinger in the tournament). There were plenty of grown adults well aware of the situation.

At 23 years old, you probably still want to play some baseball in the summer for a few more years, or eventually play catch with your kid, or not pay for major surgery. For outsiders, risking all that for a Class “B” town ball title feels like a silly gamble. That being said, if he does blow out his arm because of the 222-pitch day, Dahl will always be able to retell the story about the day he threw back-to-back complete games and helped lift his team into the 2016 championship game. 

This post has been promoted to an article

[Mike Sixel]

It isn't just about a career.....it is about being able to lift your arm over your head when you are 50. I guess risking a lifetime of pain and partial use of your arm is 'worth it'......

[Parker Hageman]

Jake Mauer And The Evolving Game Of Baseball.

 

I overlooked this article from The Gazette's (Cedar Rapids) Jeff Johnson on Kernels' manager Jake Mauer and what he has learned in his four years heading the Twins' low-A affiliate. There's some good quotes in there but, for me, this was by far the most interesting portion:

 

  Quote

He helps develop players, moves them on and wins games. That’s checking all the boxes.

 

“You learn something every night,” he said. “I’ve learned things from Brian and J.P., whether they know it or not. That’s the thing about baseball. Some of the old way of thinking, guys don’t want to change. The game has changed so much even from when I started in 2001. It is completely different now than it was. It’s like the dinosaur. The reason dinosaurs are extinct is because they couldn’t adapt. It’s the same thing with baseball. There are going to be different ideas. Are you going to buy in all the way? Well, maybe not.”

 

Mauer pointed to the advent of video in the game. Every pitch, every at-bat, every play is recorded, uploaded and ready for viewing and analysis virtually immediately.

 

The Twins installed a TrackMan system at Veterans Memorial Stadium last year that measures everything from the exact spin on a pitch to the way a ball comes off a bat. The information is almost overwhelming.

 

“We didn’t have video when I first started,” Mauer said. “We had VHS tapes, even in Double-A. There is just so much information we’ve got now. It can short circuit your brain box, you could over-expose guys to it all. But you takes bits and pieces, take bits and pieces of it here and there. You figure out which guys can maybe handle more and which guys maybe not so much.”

 

 

Mauer's right. The game has progress light-years beyond where it was -- particularly in the minor leagues. Teams now have access to some amazing data through the Trackman system. I'm told that Brad Steil and his team in the minor league ops side of things study that information closely. 

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, teams like the Rays are using that more and more in their evaluation of their system's players. I don't know to what degree the Twins are using the information but at the coaching and instructional level, it would be really interesting to know how that can be applied. Mauer seemed a little uncertain about the data and its ability to be used as a tool for player development.

 

Interesting stuff.

[Parker Hageman]

WHAT'S REALLY BEHIND BRIAN DOZIER'S INCREDIBLE TURNAROUND.

 

 

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a post at Fangraphs.com that tried to explain why Brian Dozier was suddenly hitting every pitch 600 feet.

 

It is something that sites like Fangraphs does all the time. If there is a change in a player’s performance guys like Eno Sarris, Jeff Sullivan and August Fagerstrom do an excellent and thorough job of breaking down the ins-and-outs through stats and video. Occasionally when the are forced to write about a Twins player and miss out on the clicks from a fan base of a more popular team, they miss or overlook something that the local followers are aware of. It comes with the territory of trying to cover all 30 teams.

 

This Dozier write-up was more geared for the roto reader -- those into fantasy baseball -- but the post dove headlong into a mechanical breakdown of Dozier swing. That grabbed my attention.

 

  Quote

The differences aren’t too tough to spot. The tentative, bunny-hop step Dozier was using early on in the season now seems to have a purpose. His weight is more evenly distributed, his timing is smoother, and he’s incorporating his core strength more effectively. For a closer look, I freeze-framed each video at the exact moment just before Dozier starts his swing.

 

 

 

The big change is where he’s starting his hands. He’s brought them in tight to his body, with the bat held up straight, as opposed to keeping his hands back. This allows Dozier to get the barrel through the zone quicker, which goes a long way toward explaining the spike in hard contact, and his increased power on inside pitches.

 

 

Based on this assessment, Sport Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe picked it up and used it as a part of his analysis in explaining why Dozier has been Baseball Jesus over the last few months. Since many readers here also read a lot of Fangraphs and writers like Jaffe, I figured I would take the time to make it clear what is and is not happening.

 

I will preface this by saying the author of the post is not wrong, per se. Fangraphs.com’s Scott Strandberg recognized that Brian Dozier is indeed doing something different at the plate. It’s just that the conclusion on his analysis is off. I’ve added the bold to his statements that need to be discussed.

 

Strandberg observed that Dozier has indeed altered his pre-swing movements, adding a much more exaggerated bat tip prior to getting his hands back. You can see the differences in motion:

 

http://i.imgur.com/7afuWw3.gif

 

http://i.imgur.com/rsYxTE5.gif

 

That’s creating a rhythm to help with timing his movements with the pitcher. He's loose and oozing with confidence. In the screengrab from the Fangraphs article, the author notes that these are the two positions right before Dozier starts his swing and that because of it, he has brought his hands closer to his body and his bat upright.

 

That’s not wholly accurate.

 

If we back out of the shot to see where Dozier actually readies himself for the pitch, his hands and barrel are in a very similar position. The newer model is slightly more upright than the previous version but in no way is it at the point that makes a significant difference to the overall swing. Certainly not to the extent that the screengrab would lead someone to believe.

 

 

When he gathers himself into the pre-launch position, with the front foot making contact with the ground, his barrel and hands are back to the exact same spot.

 

 

That’s a small quibble, yes. Dozier is doing something different prior to starting his swing that could be helping his timing which, in turn, may help him get to the pitch at the right moment. However, at all the critical portions of the swing, his hands and barrel are in the same spot.

 

It is the second statement -- “This allows Dozier to get the barrel through the zone quicker, which goes a long way toward explaining the spike in hard contact, and his increased power on inside pitches” -- that I have a bigger issue with. In regards to hitting the inside pitch, instead of focusing on the hand position, notice that Dozier is further off of the plate, allowing him to barrel up more inside pitches. More important, getting the barrel through the zone quicker has never been Dozier’s problem. As Tom Brunansky told me this spring, Dozier’s biggest problem was that his barrel was not in the zone long enough. He was too quick with his barrel in the zone, the exact opposite of what the author believes is happening.

 

The major difference between the two style of swings is a bit more complicated and harder to see in video than what was present. Dozier has been getting behind the ball more -- meaning his barrel has stayed in the zone longer than it did at the beginning of the year.

 

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/772893988034531328

 

As Dozier told the Star Tribune’s LaVelle Neal recently, his approach at the plate is now “trying to knock down the center field wall” which is a cue to stay behind the ball and not necessarily an attempt to drive the ball to the middle of the field. In his recent home run swing, you can see that in his barrel turn behind him:

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/773380310369234944

 

 

This is the mechanical adjustment where the rubber meets the road for Brian Dozier. The pre-swing hand placement is eye wash. This is the catalyst for his power. 

This post has been promoted to an article

[Parker Hageman]

Twins Have New Minor League Hitting Instructor

 

When the Twins let Bill Springman go after his contract expired in 2014, they did not hire a replacement to fill his vacated minor league hitting instructor role. At that time Brad Steil, the team's director of minor league operations, said that the organization felt like the hitting coaches at various levels would adequately serve the hitters.

 

“We’re not going to hire a hitting coordinator,” Steil told the Pioneer Press's Mike Berardino in February 2015. “We just thought we’d try it this way. We have a lot of confidence in the minor-league (hitting) coaches we have. They all have great relationships with each other. There’s good rapport throughout the system.”

 

Fast forward to this past July, the Twins quietly hired Rick Eckstein (first reported by Patrick Reusse in July), brother of former Major League shortstop David Eckstein as well as the Nationals hitting coach from 2009-2013, to work with players throughout the system and coordinate the organization’s hitting philosophy.

 

By all published accounts about Eckstein's time as the Nationals' hitting coach, he had solid skills for relating to players, was well liked, and able to communicate the tricks of the trade well. "I've had good hitting coaches in the past," Adam Dunn told the Washington Post in 2010. "He takes it to another level. His life is hitting. Not baseball. It's hitting."

 

In 2012, Eckstein shared his overall hitting philosophy with Fangraphs.com’s David Laurila:

 

  Quote

 

“From a physical standpoint in the box, we want to be as direct to the ball as possible. We want to be able to recognize the pitch and be in a strong hitting position. The shorter the swing, the longer you can wait to recognize the pitch and ultimately deliver more of a gap-to-gap line-drive swing.

 

“We preach trying to swing at about 80 percent. Typically, what happens when you over-swing is that you screw up your timing. Your swing gets longer and you miss pitches. What I tell our hitters is to stay at 80 percent and your timing will stay at 100 percent. We try to get the guys to understand that when your timing is good, you’re not missing your pitch. When you try to hit the ball hard enough to get a double, you see the ball and it will still carry out of the park.

 

“We like to be more gap-to-gap oriented and hit the ball where it’s pitched. If the ball is in, you pull it. If the ball is away, you go with it. We try to have balance in our approach that way.”

 

 

To be honest, I’m not thrilled by that philosophy. Still, being a hitting coach means being one-part instructor and one-part psychologist and, for the most part, Eckstein’s hitters in Washington did well. Until 2013, that is.

 

He was made a scapegoat and fired in 2013 during a prolonged offensive drought by Washington but he was quickly hired by the Los Angeles Angels where he accepted a position as a "player information coach" -- a hybrid uniformed coaching position created to help players and coaches digest scouting reports and data better. Helping players make sense of the data is a critical element to the modern game. As Tom Brunansky told me, there’s enough information out there to choke a cow, part of being a good coach means understanding what types of info to feed them and when.

 

He left the Angels in August 2014 when he was hired by the University of Kentucky (a program the Twins are intimately familiar with, drafting six players from the school dating back to 2010) as an assistant coach, but Eckstein’s contract with the school was not renewed when it expired this past June.

 

The Wildcats’ head coach Gary Henderson was dismissed at the beginning of that month and there was some speculation that Eckstein could be a potential suitor however, under Eckstein’s guidance, the Wildcats’ offense slipped from the best in the SEC in runs scored (1st in OPS) to 9th in 2015 (7th in OPS) to 11th in 2016 (11th in OPS) and saw strikeouts grow and walks fall. Part of the reason for the decline is likely due to UK graduating key players after the 2014 season -- including one of the Astros’ top prospects A.J. Reed who hit 23 home runs for the Wildcats that year. Nevertheless, those stats did play a factor when Kentucky decided not to offer Eckstein the next head coach’s job. 

 

As pointed out by Seth Stohs in a Twins Daily forum thread, Eckstein will be involved in the fall instructs. Eckstein cut his teeth in the Twins' organization, first as the team's bullpen catcher in 2000 and then the minor league strength and conditioning instructor in 2001. 

[Seth Stohs]

He'll be coaching at the Instructional League as well, per the Twins roster mentioned here last week:

 

 http://twinsdaily.com/topic/23854-2016-twins-instructional-league-roster/

 

I think that this came out in July but it wasn't publicized too much. 

 

 

[Parker Hageman]

SARRIS: WHAT CAN HITTERS ACTUALLY SEE OUT OF THE PITCHER'S HAND?

 

Fantastic and deep post from Fangraphs' Eno Sarris on what hitter's see when they are up to bat. Must read: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/what-can-hitters-actually-see-out-of-a-pitchers-hand/

 

[Mike Sixel]

That was a fascinating read. I hope he gets to follow up with like a few dozen more players.

[Parker Hageman]

Major League Baseball And Wearable Technology

 

If you've read Jeff Passan's "The Arm", you may be familiar with the growing industry revolving around keeping pitchers’ arms safe at all levels.

 

The wearable technology industry got a significant boost this year when Major League Baseball approved the use of certain devices that will allow the collection of data on a pitcher’s arm in-game. In April, MLB approved the use of two of these technologies -- Zephyr Bioharness and Motus Baseball Sleeves -- as the first of their kind for on-field purposes. The agreement stipulated that the data cannot be downloaded during the game, but must be collected afterward but the team would be allowed to study such data as well as the player. The information would not be disseminated to the broadcast or media.

 

So far the Yankees’ Dellin Betances has been only pitcher to use the technology during a live game. At this year’s All Star Game, Betances wore a Motus Baseball Sleeve, gathering information on his arm angles and force on the UCL by measuring the valgus force. Not surprising, Betances has a sponsorship deal in place with Motus.  

 

 

According to the USA Today article, only Betances, his agency and Motus will be privy to the information -- the Yankees will not be able to see the data. More players sound interested in the devices, however, teammate Andrew Miller raised higher level concerns about the technology and data -- could the data be used against the pitcher come contract time?

 

“There’s concerns with that in the sense that you don’t want a team to treat you differently in some sort of contractual thing because they don’t think you’re not getting enough sleep or you sleep poorly,” Miller told USA Today reporters.

 

In regards to off-field metrics -- such as sleep patterns or diet -- teams collecting that information could be privacy invasion adjacent to some degree, but the pitching metrics captured by wearable technologies seems more similar to gauging a player’s performance by radar gun readings or Pitch F/X release points. After all, in today’s game, teams do make contractual decisions based on a pitcher’s velocity decline or their release point dropping and raising concerns for injury.

 

On their website, the motusBASEBALL product is described as “the first tool aimed specifically at combating UCL tears that lead to Tommy John Surgery.” Does Motus’ products (and similar products) actually accomplish what it says it set out to do?

 

In February 2015, Dr James Buffi, then with Driveline Baseball and now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, highlighted why the monitor devices like Motus will not save pitchers from snapping their UCL. He details in-depth how the data is captured and calculated but points out that there is little ability to accurately calculate just how much stress is placed on the UCL over other components of the arm.

 

“The UCL is basically a tiny band that connects the humerus to the ulna, and as far as I know, it is actually impossible with existing methodologies to accurately determine UCL loading when only the total elbow load is considered,” Buffi wrote. Additionally, Buffi pointed to a study he conducted which showed how drastically the force on the elbow could change based on the muscle and bone structure.   

 

When a technology like PitchF/X was first introduced, the primary objective was to capture velocity and location better. The end results have been numerous studies on release point, movement and other insight not previously foreseen when the cameras were affixed to the stadium walls. Along those lines, Motus might not be able to save the pitcher’s UCL as it markets but the data is definitely invaluable information for the industry in the future.   

[Mike Sixel]

Privacy and those types of issues are HUGE for this type of technology. We offer a rather large rebate on insurance costs if you do biometric screening, I know a lot of people pass on that money because they don't want our employer to have access to such data....

[Parker Hageman]

 

  On 9/22/2016 at 5:48 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Privacy and those types of issues are HUGE for this type of technology. We offer a rather large rebate on insurance costs if you do biometric screening, I know a lot of people pass on that money because they don't want our employer to have access to such data....

 

No question that the population has been subjected to more requests for that type of information in order for a company or organization to "improve" it's services. 

 

I went to the mall the other day to buy shoes and they asked for every piece of information possible from me outside of my blood type. This was going to go to their analytics team so they could market toward me and people like me better. In some way, that's what MLB is doing now -- gathering as much information possible so they can fix the injury issues (and save money). 

 

The Twins had a company in the spring training complex this year -- http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2016/03/the-twins-forward-thinking-approach-to-medical-technology-using-sports-bras/.

 

JT Chargois sounded indifferent:

 

  Quote

“Our perception of the work we do is kind of off from reality,” reliever J.T. Chargois said, after wearing the tracker during workouts. “You don’t know the extent of what you’re doing, how many pitches you’re throwing in the ‘pen, the workload you’re doing in the weight room, so it’s a good way to monitor that and stay healthier.”

 

 

With the CBA set to expire in December, this will definitely be a topic of conversation. 

[Parker Hageman]

GOING UP AND IN

 

There were some interesting quotes from Blue Jays reliever Joaquin Benoit after the bench-clearing brawl versus the Yankees in which Benoit wound up injured. The fireworks were prompted by a bean-ball war, but Benoit said that hitters, including his own teammate Josh Donaldson, are taking too much of an exception with pitchers throwing inside:

 

  Quote

“I believe as pitchers we’re entitled to use the whole plate and pitch in if that’s the way we’re going to succeed,” Benoit said. “I believe that right now baseball is taking things so far that in some situations most hitters believe that they can’t be brushed out. Some teams take it personally.”

 

{snip}

 

“I believe baseball is taking things too far,” Benoit said, holding court in a chair outside the Jays clubhouse with a walking boot on his injured foot and calf. “Basically, media is helping too, because once a situation comes in and if they want that to continue, they just keep throwing wood on the fire. It’s basically a situation they need to address instead of instigate, try to resolve it right at the time.”

 

 

What do you think? Should hitters relax on getting their towers buzzed?

[rghrbek]

It's definitely an interesting point, and great to hear honesty like that coming from a pitcher's perspective.

 

I guess I lean toward, if it's in a bit and it's at your lower half, I don't have a problem with it.  I guess you have to define what is "in a bit", but a pitcher should be allowed to make a batter who is crowding the plate, move his feet or feel uncomfortable.

 

Head hunting, there is no place for that.

[Willihammer]

Gladden has been going on about pitching up and in a lot lately. In his opinion Twins pitchers have been too focused on the outside corner, because they can't pitch inside "effectively." I don't know if there's anything to it but its an interesting take.

[Parker Hageman]

 

  On 9/28/2016 at 4:25 PM, Willihammer said:

Gladden has been going on about pitching up and in a lot lately. In his opinion Twins pitchers have been too focused on the outside corner, because they can't pitch inside "effectively." I don't know if there's anything to it but its an interesting take.

 

This is no means and accurate portray of "pitching hard inside" but according to Statcast, the Twins have thrown fastballs at 94MPH+ inside off the plate to right-handed hitters 1.8% of their mix (26th) and 1.1% of the time to left-handed hitters (24th). 

 

In both cases, the Cubs (best ERA, best xFIP) were lower than the Twins at throwing fastball in off the plate. 

 

That's obvious a blanket stat. Throwing inside to Miguel Cabrera is different than throwing inside to Jarrod Dyson but it is something to look closer at.

[Parker Hageman]

How To Throw A Two-Seam Fastball Like Bartolo Colon.

 

Bartolo Colon is often thought of as a circus sideshow because of his body type but the man has pitching well beyond his expiration date. At 43 years old, he still flummoxes hitters in spite of a fastball that averages 87 MPH. 

 

The New York Times did an excellent profile on Colon and how he still gets hitters out long after his triple-digits heat cooled off. The biggest tip? Getting movement on his two-seam fastball from a grip he learned from Greg Maddux:

 

  Quote

The secret to the movement on Colon’s pitches is a strong right wrist and forearm. They are essential because Colon holds the ball with his index and middle fingers between two seams, and when he releases it, he applies pressure with his middle finger. This causes the movement.

 

“It’s all in the wrist,” Colon said.

 

Colon used to throw his two-seam fastball by holding the seams, but he picked up a tip from Greg Maddux, a Hall of Fame pitcher, when Maddux was with Atlanta and Colon was with Cleveland. One day in spring training, Maddux taught Colon the grip he used.

 

 

That movement. Man.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/0/3/8/122634038/050515_balnym_colon_ks_joseph_med_8nupjp63.gif

 

[Willihammer]

Pedro Martinez did a really simple presentation on the different fastballs Colon throws on a MLB network bit. The grips were not quite the same but he emphasized how different finger pressures upon release get different ball movements.

 

[Parker Hageman]

 

  On 9/30/2016 at 5:46 PM, Willihammer said:

Pedro Martinez did a really simple presentation on the different fastballs Colon throws on a MLB network bit. The grips were not quite the same but he emphasized how different finger pressures upon release get different ball movements.

 

 

That is some good stuff. 

 

Along those same lines, Driveline Baseball and guys like Trevor Bauer have done wonders using the laminer force in order to get optimal two-seam fastball movement. 

 

Bauer talked a little bit about it in 2015: 

 

  Quote

Callaway joined him on one of those stops, Seattle, where Bauer worked with Kyle Boddy and Driveline Baseball.

 

"One of the main (focuses) was the two seam ... laminar flow, turbulent flow, a lot of physics stuff, trying to get the two-seam to move the correct way," Bauer said Thursday after three innings of work against the Reds. "All the places I go have something very unique to offer."

 

 

And he discussed it again with Fangraphs:

 

 

https://twitter.com/drivelinebases/status/605893657779003393

 

When it comes to Derek Falvey and the Twins, I sincerely hope he brings this type of thinking with him and starts incorporating the idea of spin rates and using Trackman in side sessions for all pitchers at every level to improve their movement. 

[Parker Hageman]

So You Want To Work In Baseball? 

 

I was recently perusing MLB's TeamWorkOnline.com page because I'm always curious to see which teams are actively expanding their analytics team and what types of positions they have created.

 

Currently, the Angels, Reds and Royals are all hiring for positions -- but it looks like some of you aspiring front office hopefuls will need to learn a bit more than the sort function at Fangraphs.com...

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/782973709988401152

 

The core of those qualifications are what most senior developers would be familiar with. While most could command a six-figure income on the open market, it's probably a fraction of that for the honor of working in Major League Baseball. 

 

There are other ways to land a job in a major league front office. Take a few minutes to listen to this podcast with Twins' PR man Dustin Morse on how he got into baseball.

 

http://www.realstoriesmn.com/podcasts/realstoriesmn-baseball-podcast-dustin-morse-minnesota-twins/

[Willihammer]

Bump.

The Kepler/Bonds article reminded me to look at Bonds swing again, and see how level it really was. In this video he brings his hand down but finishes pretty low too. I was a little surprised at how level it was.

https://youtu.be/QaX1iU-fdFA

 

[Willihammer]

Another vid of Bonds talking about chocking up. I liked his comment "I didn't like getting jammed so I was like 'hey man you're gonna jam me, jam this!' So I choked up."

[Parker Hageman]

WSJ: The Gurus Behind Baseball’s Search for the Perfect Swing

 

Jared Diamond at the Wall Street Journal tackled one of my favorite growing elements of the game today: the independent hitting coach. These are guys like Doug Latta (who worked with Marlon Byrd and Justin Turner), Bobby Tewksbary (Chris Colabello and Josh Donaldson) and Craig Wallenbrock (JD Martinez) who have gone against the game's more accepted practices and transformed players into 

 

From the article:

 

  Quote

These hitting mad scientists may use different nomenclature and methods, but their message is nearly identical. In their minds, many long-held assumptions about the proper way to swing—“stay back,” “swing down” and many others—are wrong.

 

“You listen to guys teach that, and it’s almost a crime,” Martinez said. “Organizations almost throw their money away.”

 

 

We've heard a lot about new pitching practices since Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have taken over. There are new programs designed by external pitching coaches that have been embraced by both the front office and coaching staff. Driveline Baseball and Florida Baseball Ranch have influenced multiple members of the pitching staff. You have to wonder if that will also be true about the hitting side of things.

 

So there are plenty of pitchers working with independent pitching coaches and clinics, but there doesn't seem to be a ton of Twins players working with independent hitting coaches, or at least none that are openly chatting about it. Chris Colabello, who was previously with the Twins, did a lot of his reinvention with Bobby Tewksbary before he reached the organization. While here, Colabello was occasionally asked to adjust the approach he worked on with Tewksbary. 

 

A few seasons ago, I was talking to then-hitting coach Tom Brunansky about some of the younger hitters in camp. 

 

"Any young hitter that comes up and has the ability to be here, there's always kind of movement that goes on that they're going to have to clean up a little bit once they get used to the league and the pace of the league and the league shows them as hitters what they need to do," Brunansky told me and then he pivoted specifically to Colabello. "There's a lot going on with that swing."

 

I don't know if the Twins have hitters who have avoided the independent-type coaches or if the organization intentionally veered away from targeting players who have worked with such coaches. What I do know is that the Twins had their previous hitting philosophy and they weren't going to change from it. 

 

In talking with Max Kepler last week, I was genuinely surprised that he had the chop the ball mindset. More and more, hitting coaches are talking launch angles and hitting the ball in the air, which doesn't necessarily jive with the chop down mentality. From conversations with multiple players currently with and outside of the org, I know this was a point of emphasis they made. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to speak with James Rowson during my visit to Fort Myers, but I get the sense he is not an advocate of chopping the ball -- hitting the ball square (Rowson's number one goal) and chopping are conflicting approaches. 

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/810537248072548352

 

 

[Willihammer]

Interview with Padres hitting coach Alan Zinter up on fangraphs.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/alan-zinter-on-swing-planes-launch-positions-and-tutoring-young-padres/

Some nuggets:

  Quote

“As coaches, we have to be careful. For example, it would be difficult to take what Josh Donaldson said on MLB Network and start teaching that without a full understanding of his fundamental swing. I agree with getting on plane, slotting the back elbow, and driving through the ball.

...

“A lot of hitters, when they try to swing down, lead with their hands. They’re too steep into the zone. Other hitters, for whatever reason, think the same thing and do it properly.

..

“But the game is changing. There’s more to a Jankowski, a Margot, or a Carlos Asuaje, than just having them be handsy and trying to put the ball on the ground. First of all, you’re asking a guy to be more perfect if his bat head is going to be in the zone with a smaller window. He has to be more perfect than a Miguel Cabrera or a Mike Trout.

 

“With guys who use their hands more, the barrel of the bat usually comes in steeper. There are only a few points of contact, because they’re not matching the plane. We want our guys to not have to be as perfect, so we’re working on that.”