Atlanta Braves trying to keep Ronald Acuna on the right (bat) path
It takes some time to break bad habits. It takes even longer to create new ones. Such may be the case with the Atlanta Braves’ streaky left fielder.
When we last checked in with Atlanta Braves‘ phenom Ronald Acuña Jr., it was because he was missing a lot of fastballs… a problem that had roots dating back a year ago when he first hit the majors.
I was tempted to title this ‘Why Ronnie Can’t Hit’… as a throwback to the 1950’s classic book indicting the state of US education system (Rudolf Flesch would be spinning like a top in his grave to compare the 1950’s to today), but for Acuña, that would be far too harsh.
At the moment, Acuña is inconsistent… frustrated… searching. He is getting some hits simply due to his supreme talent. That’s not happening with enough regularity, though.
Such a title would also imply that I had a solution for him, too. That’s not the case. But it’s clear that the experts are on the case… and it’s not like they asked for my input anyway.
We can, however, explore a few things.
So what’s going on?
The answer to that question depends on when you ask, for changes are happening… often.
Let’s start with the pitch types that he’s seeing… divided up by zone.
For that, I’ll paint a word-picture: I’ll count anything in the strike zone and then 4 quadrants around the strike zone… High inside, High outside, Low inside, Low outside.
Unfortunately, BrooksBaseball.com forces me to make a choice as they have zone blocks in the middle of each zone, so anything (for example) directly below the strike zone will be cut in half and apportioned to each corner.
Hopefully I didn’t just lose half of y’all on that. Here’s the breakdown of what he’s been seeing at the plate:
2018:
- 4-SEAM FASTBALLS: [786]
- IN ZONE: 331 (70% mid-to-upper portion of zone)
- HIGH-INSIDE: 144
- HIGH-OUTSIDE: 113.5
- LOW-INSIDE: 67
- LOW-OUTSIDE: 130.5
- ALL OTHER PITCH TYPES (the trickery pitches) [1200]
- IN ZONE: 420 (78% mid-to-lower portion of zone)
- HIGH-INSIDE: 92
- HIGH-OUTSIDE: 85
- LOW-INSIDE: 198.5
- LOW-OUTSIDE: 404.5 (78% below zone and away)
2019:
- 4-SEAM FASTBALLS: [242]
- IN ZONE: 103 (again: 70% mid-to-upper portion of zone)
- HIGH-INSIDE: 38.5
- HIGH-OUTSIDE: 40
- LOW-INSIDE: 13
- LOW-OUTSIDE: 47.5
- ALL OTHER PITCH TYPES (the trickery pitches) [349]
- IN ZONE: 106 (87% mid-to-lower portion of zone)
- HIGH-INSIDE: 17.5
- HIGH-OUTSIDE: 21.5
- LOW-INSIDE: 51.5
- LOW-OUTSIDE: 149.5
So pitchers have made something of an adjustment.
- They are less afraid to bust in high in the strike zone with their best fastballs (his highest whiff rates are up there… 25-32% middle and up in the zone… especially with balls further away.
- He’s getting slightly more fastballs than offspeed/breaking pitches.
- Pitchers are living either on the low outside corner or that higher fastball.
Acuna’s batting eye is still excellent. Of the 113 fastballs he’s seen below the strike zone, he’s only swung at two this season. Now yes… some are called as strikes anyway, but you can’t fault him for that.
He is chasing some non-fastball pitches below the zone, however… and hence the pitchers are going to keep going there.
In general, his “problem” is the high-ish fastball. If he can hit that pitch, then all will be well.
This is consistent with the note (above) from Mark Bowman about Kevin Seitzer‘s drills for him: hitting the higher fastball will require quicker hands and a shorter swing. He’s got the hands, but the swing has been just a tick behind lately.
Jeff Francoeur had noticed the initial bat position in his preparation stance: when he was hot last Summer, the bat was pointed essentially straight up. Lately it’s had a bit of an angled dip… an angle that has to be overcome before his actual swing can begin.
Even that little bit slows his bat – which is important since he waits for the ball a long time before exploding into it.
So these are minor things… but enough that the opposition is exploiting them successfully at this time.
It’s a habit… and habits like these have to be re-trained.
It’s taking some time, but the Chief Mechanic – Kevin Seitzer – has already been turning wrenches. Fix this and then we’ll move on to outfield chase/ball-tracking drills.