"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"
3. "Yeah, they've punted a lot of power but I hope it's temporary" In response to Reply # 2
That first month was one of the worst I've ever seen from a pro. He's going to have to battle all year to fix his line after that.
The disappearing/reappearing leg kick has been kind of tacked to Buxton's ebbs and flows in offense, and I think it was really helpful the only time he's hit for power in MLB play last September. It also looked, at the time, that it was working well as a way for him to see pitches a little bit longer - but it's worth noting that he struck out 38 times in 113 plate appearances that much. So, unless we think (and we don't, probably) that Buxton is the kind of guy who's going to slug .550-.600 regularly then the power output that month was kind of masking the same swing/miss issues he's been having his whole professional career.
Now, the leg kick is gone for a fairly minimal stride. The good thing is that he's still letting the ball get kind of deep on him, so one of the benefits of the leg kick seems to have stuck. The bad thing is that even though he's pretty strong (his most recent homerun looked like it was all hands and wrists) it really doesn't seem like his current approach offers much in the way of power.
And even if we can affirm that IF he has offensive utility without hitting the ball out of the infield THEN reducing strikeouts is a worthwhile goal (he's down around 25% for the last month, which is borderline normal) it still kind of feels like a waste because he can hit the ball out of the ballpark.
Anyhow, I think there's another shoe here. This current fix is there to get more contact (Parker Hageman from TwinsDaily did note as well that his HARD contact numbers have been improving since this change) that will lead to more power once he's more comfortable with this version of his swing and with identifying pitches.
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"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"
5. "Yeah, that seems like it" In response to Reply # 4
>sounds like: >1. a really bad month combined with >2. swing tinkering
He came into Spring Training with the leg kick that he used in September, but ditched it over the course of the spring. It was gone by Opening Day. On one hand, that seems like an extraordinarily strange decision given:
a) the successful close to 2016 b) that the new hitting coach James Rowson was hired in the winter and presumably could have communicated to Buxton the need to simplify his swing prior to spring training - so they could have ironed out the wrinkles without W/L stakes in Ft. Myers
On the other hand, it's a pretty solid recommendation of how seriously Rowson takes his job that he didn't just look at Buxton's 2016 finish and shrug "good enough." Most of the discussion of Rowson's work in the media includes players speaking pretty glowingly about him, and he really doesn't seem ideologically wedded to certain tenets of hitting like Brunansky was. He meets players where they are and tweaks based on what's best for them. The result is that outside of Buxton and Polanco, most of the roster is hitting at the upper end of what I'd have expected from them.
Again, I'd love to see the longterm results of Buxton's swing tinkering because I can't imagine they took a look at a player with as impressive physical tools as him and decided to make him into Jason Tyner. And the note by Sr. Hageman about contact quality is where we should be pinning our hopes. Per fangraphs *excellent* split breakdown:
-both June (relative to Apr/May) and July (relative to June) were pretty substantial increases in hard contact % and declines in soft contact %
-both June (relative to Apr/May) and July (relative to June) were pretty substantial decreases in strikeout percentage. I'd love to see more over-the-fence power, but I'm more than fine settling temporarily for increased contact *and* increased hard contact
-his walk rate declined in June (relative to Apr/May) but has been a very respectable 9.4% in July.
Or, to put it more simply, he's been .241/.300/.353 since that almost impossibly bad first month. That's not very good either, but it's more "when is Byron Buxton going to start hitting?" than "what the hell is wrong with Byron Buxton?"
______________________________
"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"
13. "That was particularly brutal" In response to Reply # 12
I would have gone with the slider, but that guy's been doing his homework. Slider's been the only pitch that Buxton has done positive damage to this year.
______________________________
"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"
8. "Heinz' paired, cued video above is awesome, but I had MASN on" In response to Reply # 7
...which isn't a bad choice, since the Orioles announcers are better than the Twins' Dick-n-Bert by a pretty safe margin. But the doubly cool thing is that MASN didn't know that Buxton is *always* worth watching. So their camera basically followed the ball into the outfield until Thorne and Palmer started screaming about Buxton's dash for home.
It was beautiful, real, and chaotic.
______________________________
"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"
11. "yeah that split screen shot gives a great view" In response to Reply # 8
man he took off on the crack of the bat like it was a starter pistol. his stride is amazing, looks more like a track runner than a typical baserunning stride.
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