Seitzer’s 1st Report: Some Uptomism
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Three “intense days”
. That was
Kevin Seitzer‘s last week as he traveled to Florida to engage in his Most Important Challenge as the new Braves’ hitting coach: fixing
B.J. Upton.
Mark Bowman has the full report here, but here’s the important quote that he got from Seitzer:
"“I feel really, really good about it, because [Upton] was very open to everything that I suggested,” Seitzer said. “We had a really good three days together — three pretty intense days together. I think he feels pretty good about what I’m going to bring, and I feel good about the adjustments he has made.”"
The further detailed quotes are certainly encouraging as well:
"Seitzer spent time this week talking to the veteran outfielder about the changes he needs to make to his mechanics and approach. Much of the focus was placed on the hands, the aspect of the swing that Chipper Jones addressed when the former Braves star talked to Upton in April.“Any hitter that has a tendency to be long [with their swing], where their hands get away from the body, is going to have a tough time catching up to fastballs,” Seitzer said. “They will also be vulnerable to offspeed pitches and inside pitches.”"
The Prescription
That has certainly been Upton’s problem: I keep coming back to his heat chart (this from BrooksBaseball.net covering data from 2012 through 2014), but that’s because it is so much illustrative of what’s going on.
Upton, a Right-hand hitter, pretty much has 1 small area that he hits well: low and over the plate/inner-half. Those pitches he can hit at a clip between .268 and .405 (!).
Unfortunately, every other spot drops off dramatically. In fact, pitchers that stay in on his hands and above the belt will get him out nearly every time… a problem Seitzer has (of course) recognized.
More importantly, he’s locked in a solution for Upton… and his prescription is being well-received.
The Prognosis
Now comes the trick. Can Upton lock in this new hand position?
Seitzer is “very encouraged.” That said, it’s going to be hard to undo something that’s been a bad habit for several years in the making. Additionally, Spring results won’t really tell us if he’s out of the woods… and in fact, he might have to ‘sacrifice’ several Spring ABs for specific tasks that his coach wants him to work through – perhaps making certain kinds of swings, getting a feel for watching the ball better… mechanical things.
In an XM radio interview in early December, Fredi indicated that B.J.’s level of frustration and ’embarrassment’ with his own performance. He’s keenly aware of all the issues with that, and clearly wants to get that fixed. To this point, efforts to do so have clearly failed. Seitzer’s house call represents merely the next – and perhaps the last – opportunity for him.
So I say all that to caution us as Braves’ fans that this will be a work in progress. We’ll have to look at post-game comments and discussions to see how things are going – perhaps much more than actual stats for a while.
We’ve spoken about the “short leash” that Upton is reportedly being given for 2015 – I think we’ll see verbal clues from Fredi Gonzalez and Seitzer about their own evaluations as time progresses. Reading between the lines will be a useful art form as we strive to provide correct interpretations.
One final note: for those advocating Chipper Jones as an eventual hitting coach for Atlanta, it is noteworthy that both he and Seitzer seem to have zeroed into the same diagnosis. Chipper only had a short period of time (an afternoon) to work with B.J., so the change didn’t “stick”. Seitzer will be around for as many check-ups as he needs, though.