Markakis: Wrist affecting power?

[mdbdotcom]

The line drive Myers caught last night was hit about as hard as Nick can hit the ball. Before the hand/wrist injuries, that would have been on the flag court. No doubt about it.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Here's an except from an article Gabe Kapler wrote for BP. He's talking about himself here, but I couldn't help thinking about Nick:

I was at my heaviest (around 215 pounds) and strongest, but not my leanest, during my first two seasons with the Texas Rangers at ages 24-25. I remember the batting practice session in which I blasted a ball into the second deck in left field at the Ballpark in Arlington, and later in the same session hit a ball onto the grassy section in center well beyond the wall that I knew instantly would go out. My power was always to the pull side, and the significance of hitting a ball right of the “400” sign with the certainty that it would leave is not to be discounted. I never again in my career felt that powerful or even close.

In the offseason before 2002, when I was 26, I played a flag football tournament that I participated in annually. Granted, it was physical, but I was used to bouncing back the next day and hitting and throwing in preparation for the upcoming season. But this time, instead of my usual seamless physical recovery, I was extraordinarily stiff for several days.

This was the first sign that I was in physical decline. From that point on, my body cooperated less and less. When I got to camp in 2002, I noticed that the ball wasn’t exploding off my bat quite as much as it had been the previous year. In fact, in one spring training game in Port Charlotte, I hit a walk-off home run that I confidently anticipated would land in the water beyond the left-field fence and was shocked to see it narrowly sneak out of the park, crashing against the second wooden wall.

Frustration permeated my being to the point that I took hours of swings off a tee on the field at Charlotte County Stadium the following day, bloodying my hands in the process. My mechanics were not sound, but it didn’t make sense that even when squaring the baseball up, the velocity off the bat was noticeably diminished. In hindsight, I can forcefully squish the puzzle pieces together.

My body was producing less testosterone. I was very slowly and quite naturally shrinking. Every year after that, I carried less and less muscle mass while working just as hard in the weight room and continually improving my eating habits. Each year I came into camp a little lighter: 208, then 205, then 202. By my last year in Tampa I was having trouble maintaining 198. My body without weight training naturally carries a lean 175 or 180, as it did when I graduated from high school. So the progression was natural for a guy who wasn’t getting fatter.

I never again experienced the strength or productivity that I had at 24 and 25, but found subtle ways to make adjustments when appropriate and have success, albeit limited, throughout my career. I am grateful for the natural gifts I was given to do so.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=21574

[Barnaby Graves]

His ISO is down 77 points.

[mark_beckens]

What about the choking up? Go look at the video of his last homerun. He was not choking up at all. It's very strange.

If you've noticed, he hasn't been choking up the last few days.

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

I noticed he'd been choking up on the bat for quite some time until tonight. Finally drove a pitch in his last AB. I've thought for a while it had contributed to his lack of power, but I'm probably basing that on something my little league coach told me 20yrs ago... Anyway, I've got a hunch he's about to start hitting for more power. He's close.

You, my friend, are a genius.

[Malike]

He's not choking up because he's using a much smaller bat than he has been using. He choked up on the larger bat.

[isestrex]

Bonds choked up.

[Tx Oriole]

Nick has been a pretty good whipping boy around here this year.

I honestly thought that he settled into a very nice line last year with that .834 OPS and .363 OBP. I have accepted that we will never see 2008 Nick again, but the numbers he put up last year add a lot of value to our swing happy lineup.

Now, this year is another issue altogether. As frustrated as I am with him, I have to think the wrist is sapping his power. His flyball rate is way down.

Some say "he is just a slap hitter now", but I think his decline this year screams that the wrist or something in that arena is bothering him. Again, even though he is not 2008 Nick, at 29 years old, I don't think a decline in the power arena is just normal wear and tear..

Thoughts? Any inside info? I searched Nick Markakis Injury, Wrist, struggles etc. and didn't find much on google.

And he hit a homerun last night.