Now they are playing in 2012, who's coming with?
"Jason's got one swing. His swing needs some versatility. How many times have we seen him get fooled on an off-speed pitch and one-hand it into centerfield?," Jones said.
"He swings and misses because he takes the same swing. He's had some mechanics that have been a little iffy that he is trying to work out. You show me a .300 hitter and I'll show you a guy who is going to take five different swings.
"He takes a two-handed swing. Have you ever seen him take a one-handed swing? I haven't either? How many times have you seen me get fooled on a changeup away and one-hand it through the (pitcher's) box.
"You've got to use your hands. He's got a long, smooth swing and until he learns to get some movement (in his hands) and drop them into a slot, a lot like you would a golf club and let his hands work for him, he is going to struggle.
"We've got to get him back to using the whole field like he did last year."
Chipper Jones looked him in the eye and initiated a little back-and-forth before Heyward picked up his bat to take his first swings, with Jones, new Braves hitting coach Greg Walker and his associate Scott Fletcher looking on.
“How’s your confidence?” Jones said.
“Man, my confidence is good,” Heyward said. [...]
When it came time to get back into the batting cage, Heyward knew he would have to start from scratch. The only way to erase his bad habits was to eradicate them. So for the first three weeks in the cage, starting in mid-October, he didn’t pick up a bat. [...]
Once they did, Heyward said, Walker has complemented the work he started on his own. Heyward said he’s gotten a big lift from watching video with “Walk,” “Fletch,” and “Chip,” comparing his swing from 2010 and 2011. Walker agrees.
“Everybody that’s seen Jason swing the bat so far is excited about where he is,” he said.The entire article is worth reading, but to recap: Jason Heyward is healthy, he has put in the effort to fix his swing and everyone is excited about it - including Chipper Jones.
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| Like father, like son. Fat. (Sports Illustrated) |
2011 Victor Martinez: 91 runs created, 389 outs made, 6.34 runs per 27 outs (595 PAs) 2011 Prince Fielder: 130 runs created, 423 outs made, 8.29 runs per 27 outs (692 PAs)
If we extrapolate Martinez's 2011 season to 692 plate appearances, we get:
Martinez: 106 runs created, 452 outs Fielder: 130 runs created, 423 outs
In sabermetric analysis, every 10 runs is roughly equal to one win. So Fielder created about 24 more runs while using up 29 fewer outs. That's an extra game's worth of outs for the Tigers, or roughly an additional five runs. So under this very rough cut (leaving aside ballpark effects and so on) we're talking about 29 runs -- or three wins.