Batting Jujutsu

Jason Kipnis talks about being consistent at the plate by using pitching adjustments against his oppontents:

Kipnis secured the attention of catcher Chris Gimenez as he began to explain the changes in his offensive approach this season. Last year, Kipnis batted .303 with 43 doubles, but only nine home runs.

“I just set up all of the pitchers in the league, just working on [hitting pitches] away,” Kipnis said. “So, I used all of their adjustments to my advantage. Now, it’s like, ‘OK, everybody’s going to be pitching me in this year, so let’s turn and burn and hit more home runs.'”

Gimenez interjected with a light-hearted recommendation.

“You might not want to say that to the media, though,” he said, “because now [other teams] are going to read it and pitch you away.”

Kipnis didn’t seem concerned.

“Then I go right back to it and the average goes up. Here come the doubles,” he said, laughing. “I use your guys’ adjustments to my advantage and set up all of you over-thinkers.”

I’ve argued batters should do something like this when a shift occurs, adjust the swing to take advantage of the holes. It’s good to see Kipnis hasn’t fallen into the trap of forcing himself to be a certain type of hitter. He posted a 4.6 bWAR last season, and so far has a 3.2 WAR with six weeks left in the year. The adjustments and trade offs are keeping him consistent.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2aXn3uR