Wieters Comes Into His Own

[Il BuonO]

Three hits tonight and the hands look much better through the zone since making the adjustment. We'll see if he can sustain it. Of course if he doesn't then everyone can say nothing's changed.

[weams]

With the number this guy's asking for he needs to do something. Buck needs to give him more days off this year.

Clevenger is a weapon at the plate.

[Roll Tide]

Three hits tonight and the hands look much better through the zone since making the adjustment. We'll see if he can sustain it. Of course if he doesn't then everyone can say nothing's changed.

He looks real good...he's hitting the ball hard! Let's hope he has a career year with the bat.

[Il BuonO]

He looks real good...he's hitting the ball hard! Let's hope he has a career year with the bat.

We won't be paying for it if he does.

[Can_of_corn]

We won't be paying for it if he does.

I don't think they trade him.

I think they take the pick after trying to make a run next year.

[Il BuonO]

I don't think they trade him.

I think they take the pick after trying to make a run next year.

Or this year, but yes. Either way, we're not shelling out the samolians.

[Outlander]

I think Matt will have a year close to what we thought he was capable of. It may take a while for a guy to get two totally different styles of hitting down at this level, and he has a lot of moving parts. Having said that, he seems to have shown over his career that he can easily fall into very bad habits with his swing. So while I'm confident he can breakout, I'm still skeptical because it's such a fine line between power Matt, and weak grounder Matt.

[scOtt]

I don't think they trade him.

I think they take the pick after trying to make a run next year.

I'm hoping we make the QO and he accepts it. Best case scenario to me.

[Can_of_corn]

I'm hoping we make the QO and he accepts it. Best case scenario to me.

That is acceptable to me.

[Frobby]

Three hits tonight and the hands look much better through the zone since making the adjustment. We'll see if he can sustain it. Of course if he doesn't then everyone can say nothing's changed.

Even the out he made was laced to RF. He is really dialed in right now. Hopefully he can ride the wave for a while.

[weams]

Even the out he made was laced to RF. He is really dialed in right now. Hopefully he can ride the wave for a while.

"He spends a lot of time working on his weaknesses, unlike a lot of players who are really good at what they do. They want to spend a lot of time on their strengths. He views something that other people view as not a strength of his, he's going to work on it. He comes into camp and had two or three things he wants to get better at defensively. He's a guy who could have and should have however many Gold Gloves. That's why you like him.

"All our guys, when they come to camp they want to work on their deficiencies."

[Il BuonO]

You can talk all you want about what a great guy he is. I agree. I'm more interested in how he looks this year at the plate with the adjustment he's made.

Peavy had him 0-2 in his first AB and he scorched an RBI single to RF when Peavy tried to come in on him again.

[OFFNY]

.

With two games left to play in the month of April, Wieters has done very well overall so far in the still-young 2014 season.

[Ohfan67]

Roch provides interesting quotes from Presley about Wieters batting stance from the left side:

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/04/lower-hands-bring-higher-average-for-wieters.html

[epic]

Roch provides interesting quotes from Presley about Wieters batting stance from the left side:

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2014/04/lower-hands-bring-higher-average-for-wieters.html

Good article.

A lot of the people commenting on Roch's blog seem confused as to why it's taken five year for Wieters to figure this out. First, if I recall correctly, this isn't the first time he's attempted to lower his hands and crouch his batting stance slightly. He has randomly over the last few years a la Nick. He's never stuck with it though (much like Nick) and it's also never been as exaggerated as it is now.

Also, it's hard for players to change. When you've been playing ball your whole life and doing things a certain way have gotten you to where you are as a ML Allstar it's tough to change what has brought you success. It's not like he's been completely abysmal as a lefty either. He's shown glimpses of greatness from the left side but it never stays for more than a month or so.

Good for Matt for finally realizing that he had to make a big change in his mechanics. It's hard to admit that and pull off especially when there's the thought in the back of your mind that things could get thrown out of wack even more.