Over the years the Angels moved Ward from catcher to third base to the outfield. “You’re never going to have any trouble with him, and he’s going to represent the organization well,” the coach said. When the Angels called his coach at Shadow Hills High in Indio, Calif., Teg Diffey, before the draft, the coach compared him to a dog that loves retrieving a ball even to exhaustion. One prospect publication wrote that Ward “lacks a natural feel for hitting.” But Ward’s makeup was off the charts. 385/.500/.747.Ī former first-round pick out of Fresno State, Ward was teammates with Judge for one season there and was drafted as a defense-first catcher. But with the help of a book on the mental side of athletics and a personal hitting coach who sells medical devices in Texas, Ward is posting a whopping AL-best slash line of. One of the great stories of this season-especially with offense so down-is the breakout of Angels outfielder Taylor Ward. Rookie Jeremy Peña of the Astros has been a standout on both sides of the ball. Among the top five shortstops in DRS are Nico Hoerner of the Cubs, Jorge Mateo of the Orioles and Andrew Velazquez of the Angels. Old school, defense-first shortstops are making a bit of a comeback. But Devers has improved from last among third basemen last year at -13 (tied with Alex Bohm) to a respectable 0, which puts him in the middle of the pack. Bogaerts was at a -3 defensive runs saved. The results have been mixed for Bogaerts and Devers. Xander makes those plays and he’s like, “Let’s see how many points I got today.’” The ‘plus 0.2’-what they saved and what they didn’t save. Exit velocity and expected catch, all the cool stuff. We send an email every day with all the plays from the night before. We had a meeting about all the plays, what it means and all that. All of these players want to know how the whole system works. “Devers and Xander did drills on their first steps in the offseason,” Cora says. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts and third baseman Rafael Devers have bought into the system. For instance, every morning the Red Sox distribute an internal email to players with the “results” from defensive plays the previous night. Most play deeper to get more range.Īs with video games, teams are using defensive “points” as a reward system. Some outfielders, for instance, have learned to take a first step as the ball crosses the plate-to improve their “reaction” metrics. Players now know they are paid based on WAR, and they are looking for ways to boost their WAR. It’s not just about the less lively baseball. People talk about Baltimore like they’re nothing, but they’ve got some great stuff.” Springer down the line, four-man outfield and you hit a rocket and they’re right there. “You see Toronto and they shift everybody. “Defense is on another level,” Boston manager Alex Cora says. 284, down eight points from last year, down 16 points from just five years ago and the lowest level in 32 years. The team has cut down on its strikeouts.īatting average on balls in play is. Stanton is hitting the ball harder (97.4-mph average exit velocity) and finding the barrel more frequently (16.3% of his plate appearances) than in full any season since at least 2015. Josh Donaldson, who last year had a better exit velocity than in his MVP season, is giving the team an edge as Boone protects him from the wear and tear of playing third base too much. ĭJ LeMahieu is hitting the ball hard again after sports hernia surgery. Sign up for the Five-Tool Newsletter to get all our MLB coverage in your inbox every Friday during the 2022 season. 352 against fastballs last year is slugging. The result? The same guy who slugged just. Now he sets the bat on his shoulder and doesn’t move it until the pitcher moves. Gleyber Torres, with the help of hitting coaches Dillon Lawson and Hensley Meulens, junked his incessant bat waggle, which led to timing issues and his front hip leaving too early last year. The team has been extraordinarily healthy. He has become more of a leader, too.”Įverything that could go right has gone right. He’s smart, he knows the league better, knows what to look for more, knows how to take care of himself more, knows how to prepare physically. “I think he’s just more-the experience and every factor of how to prepare. “I mean, he was great when he got here,” Boone says.
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