The Cleveland Indians are ecstatic about Michael Brantley’s return to form:
“He’d probably say it’s not as consistent,” said assistant hitting coach Matt Quatraro. “He missed a lot of time, but there were a lot of years of putting the hay in the barn before that, too. … He went [a year] without seeing competitive pitches. It takes your eyes time to adjust.”
It took Brantley about a week. In his first seven games, he batted .208 with a .546 OPS. Since, he has strung together a 10-game hitting streak, with a .381 average (16-for-42) and all four of his long balls.
His strikeout rate sits a bit higher than his career norm, but he’s spraying line drives across the field and slapping grounders through defensive gaps like he always has.
“It looks like he’s never missed a day,” said fellow Tribe outfielder Austin Jackson.
He went 2 for 4 in Cleveland’s 7-6 win over Houston on Wednesday, leaving him with a .318/.384/.595 slash line for the season. It’s only about 70 PA, so take it with a grain of salt. I suspect pitchers are testing him early in the season to see if he can catch up with the fastball. We’ll see how he looks at the end of May, but the Indians have a right to be optimistic.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2q9pehE
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