Andrew McCutchen blasted three home runs Sunday afternoon as the Pirates pounded the Padres 7-1. McCutchen got off to a very slow start this season, batting .223/.301/.404 the first two months of the season. Note that the problem was one of hits, not selectivity or power. He was drawing walks just fine and collecting plenty of extra-base hits. He was no longer fearsome, however.
That changed the last two months. McCutchen is back to MVP type hitting, with a .367/.470/.678 slash line in that time.
McCutchen recently talked about his process of finding his swing again:
“There were some small adjustments here or there, and that was why the process of getting back took so long. It wasn’t one of those things where you’re going to look back and see oh, I see what he’s doing differently now. You won’t have the perfect camera angle to be able to notice it anyway. I can see myself five years ago when I felt my best, and go back and watch that.
…
“It’s all about setting up in the box. I sit the bat on my chest, and then I pick it up, and I’m ready. There’s something in there, in the midst of all of that, there’s a certain feel I’m trying to feel. I want to feel that every single time, every single pitch. Just mimicking that feel over and over again.”
Basically, he looked at his old swing, and practiced until it was perfect. The results were very good for the Pirates, as no one is talking about trading McCutchen away at this point.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2vXDME5
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