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Fixing Wieters Swing

Greg Pappas

By Greg Pappas
in Orioles Talk

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Stotle Hangout Grand Counsel

Stotle

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It's also easy to sit fastball when you're losing 7-0 and you're ahead in the count.

Not sayin', just sayin'.

Maybe on the HR (though I'm not convinced) -- he really let it fly and made contact well in front of home. But he definitely wasn't cheating on the double.

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JTrea81 Hangout Grand Counsel

JTrea81

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He was more upright than he was in 2010 and the beginning of the season and he had a much higher leg lift tonight as well.

To start the season Wieters was upright and then went into a crouch before he lifted his leg and swung.

Tonight he stayed in a more upgright position all the way through and had a high leg left before he swung.

His swing reminded me of what it was like more in Bowie when he had that monster season (notice the lack of a crouch)

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FcEWpLjxNuU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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nadecir Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

nadecir

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I like how aggressive Wieters was last night. Wieters did not resolve any of his at-bats last night behind in the count.

There were 15 pitches in Wieters' plate appearances last night, and only once did he take a strike. If the ball was in the strike zone, there was not tentativeness and he was trying to rip it. His home run came on the first strike he saw from Burnett in the 7th. Even against Mariano Rivera, he was swinging at the first strike he saw, the first pitch.

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Say O! Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

Say O!

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I don't understand why Matt sets up in the middle of the box, as opposed to on the back line. Those precious few nanoseconds gained help with pitch recognition and time to get the bat through the zone. Seems like for all the struggles Matt has dealt with the past year and a half, this would be one of the first things adjusted.

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hoosiers Hangout Grand Counsel

hoosiers

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I still think Wieters retains an offensive ceiling well above average for a catcher as envisioned a few years ago.

He needs more consistency, confidence and incremental strike zone judgement, but the materials and work ethic are there.

The learning curve in adapting to major league pitching has been painfully slow, but to look at his ytd results of April 10 and last year and say "he is what he is" is way premature.

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Stotle Hangout Grand Counsel

Stotle

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I don't understand why Matt sets up in the middle of the box, as opposed to on the back line. Those precious few nanoseconds gained help with pitch recognition and time to get the bat through the zone. Seems like for all the struggles Matt has dealt with the past year and a half, this would be one of the first things adjusted.

He has a long wing span, so he is going to set up where he best reaches pitches while also giving himself the best chance to keep the ball in play. Backing up to the back of the line affects the latter, and he has enough bat speed that he doesn't generally need to worry about being overpowered.

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Stotle Hangout Grand Counsel

Stotle

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Good call on this one Jtrea.

So, they did look at the tape..Smart..Good to see...Now, let's see if it will carry over.

What i don't get is why didn't he do this before.

Looks like whoever said he should go watch a highlight tape was right. Well, we'll see the results, but it appears that's what they did.

I'm sure he's been reviewing tape -- but probably more recent tape.

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primetime Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

primetime

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Good call on this one Jtrea.

So, they did look at the tape..Smart..Good to see...Now, let's see if it will carry over.

What i don't get is why didn't he do this before.

He mentions in the article that he was maybe getting too mechanical; just a guess but he sounds like a golfer with too many swing thoughts. As opposed to simply knowing you're swing, being confident in it and just letting it fly. And if you're thinking too much, your swing will be slower, which will definitely make it look long. You were one of the first ones here to mention that Wieters swing looked long.

The home run last night was absolutely pulverized. Wieters' swing still is a "long" swing but last night it looked quick for the first time since the end of '09. So maybe it wasn't so much the length of his swing but instead it's Wieters' mental approach in his ABs.

Just speculating and I don't want to jump to too many conclusions based on the article and last night results but go with me here.....for the last 500 or so ABs Weiters' head has been cluttered with adjustments, swing mechanics, etc, which lead to slow, weak, long swings, poor results overall and incredibly poor results when he's behind in the count because he's thinking even more then. Basically, MW is suffering from paralysis through analysis.

Hopefully, what's in the linked article and the results we saw last night are the tip of the iceberg. We can watch, wait and hope that the light has gone on for Matt Wieters.

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