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Gordon Beckham Write-Up


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Sorry, just responded. Here is what I wrote:

Yeah, that's basically it. The easiest way to conceptualize it is "the shorter your swing, the longer you can wait to start it and the faster you can get the bat to the ball". This is more important at higher levels because 1) pitching tends to be faster and the bats are heavier, 2) pitching is located more effectively making bat control and pitch ID more important (the extra split second you can wait to swing makes a huge difference in differentiating between a fastball and a slider, for example), and 3) the breaking stuff is better (this ties into #2 -- if you have to start your swing prior to properly IDing the pitch you'll have a much harder time squaring up on the ball when it breaks).

Shorter version -- what you said above.

That is true, but there have been enough successful major league hitters despite a hitch that it isn't necessarily a fatal flaw. For some it is part of their timing mechanism.

Ted Williams, Frank Robinson, Barry Bonds are just a few great hitters who had a hitch in their swing.

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I agree that it is a correctable flaw, but I wonder how much the correction will hurt his other abilities. Stotle has mentioned it before, but I wonder how Todd Frazier relates here. He had a similar issue. I don't know if he corrected it or not, but there seems to be a significant drop in production from what I would have expected.

Yeah, similar "issue", though the flaw was a little different. Ultimately, it comes down to what some scouts refer to as a "metal bat swing".

Frazier hit well in Rookie ball and LoA last year. He started out well against LoA this year before being promoted. He has not looked great in his first 167 games .258/.342/.548, 17 SO/8 BB. For a supplemental round pick, and 22 year old accomplished college hitter (holds various big east and rutgers records on top of being considered for the Golden Spikes and receiving All-American honors) it's a bit troubling...

Todd Frazier was not as advanced a hitter, so I'd expect G-Bex to last a little longer, but I still see him hitting a wall around AA/AAA.

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That is true, but there have been enough successful major league hitters despite a hitch that it isn't necessarily a fatal flaw. For some it is part of their timing mechanism.

Ted Williams, Frank Robinson, Barry Bonds are just a few great hitters who had a hitch in their swing.

Yeah, if you read my write-up it states that baseball is littered with questionable mechanics getting results. It really doesn't speak to whether or not you just ignore the flaws when you have a #4 pick.

In the game I scouted, G-Bex was 3-4 with 2 HR and a single. Great day. It was apparent, however, that his hitch has to potential to be a problem. On his single, while facing an inferior pitcher (mid- to high-80s FB, so-so CB) he was fooled on a CB. He is strong enough that the metal bat allowed him to hit a pretty hard ball up the middle, but a wood bat likely would have broken and resulted in a groundout. More likely, the CB would have been better and there would have been a large enough speed difference that G-Bex would have missed the pitch completely (he was way out in front when there was really no cause to be).

His actual ground out has against the starter, Peavey, who threw in the low 90s with his 4-seam and mid- to high-80s with his 2-seam (sinking). He grooved a 3-0 FB in the first AB -- HR. He hung a slider in the second AB -- HR. He came inside with a 4-seam then threw the 2-seam low and out. It wasn't a great pitch, but G-Bex's swing was a little premature; the timing was off and he didn't square up (my guess is because he didn't ID the 2-seam soon enough) -- weak grounder to 2b.

Again, as I acknowledged in the write-up, it's possible he succeeds despite these flaws, but they are already manifesting poor results in certain situations. Just to risky a pick for my taste at #4.

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Do you know if Frazier changed his mechanics?

I don't. I haven't seen any HiA Sarasota Reds ball yet this year. I'd like to catch a game or two to check out Frazier and Valaika, but I doubt I'll get down there and MiLB TV usually doesn't have the best camera angles (and usually doesn't show a ton of HiA stuff).

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I don't. I haven't seen any HiA Sarasota Reds ball yet this year. I'd like to catch a game or two to check out Frazier and Valaika, but I doubt I'll get down there and MiLB TV usually doesn't have the best camera angles (and usually doesn't show a ton of HiA stuff).

Ask and ye shall receive:

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Yeah, if you read my write-up it states that baseball is littered with questionable mechanics getting results. It really doesn't speak to whether or not you just ignore the flaws when you have a #4 pick.

In the game I scouted, G-Bex was 3-4 with 2 HR and a single. Great day. It was apparent, however, that his hitch has to potential to be a problem. On his single, while facing an inferior pitcher (mid- to high-80s FB, so-so CB) he was fooled on a CB. He is strong enough that the metal bat allowed him to hit a pretty hard ball up the middle, but a wood bat likely would have broken and resulted in a groundout. More likely, the CB would have been better and there would have been a large enough speed difference that G-Bex would have missed the pitch completely (he was way out in front when there was really no cause to be).

His actual ground out has against the starter, Peavey, who threw in the low 90s with his 4-seam and mid- to high-80s with his 2-seam (sinking). He grooved a 3-0 FB in the first AB -- HR. He hung a slider in the second AB -- HR. He came inside with a 4-seam then threw the 2-seam low and out. It wasn't a great pitch, but G-Bex's swing was a little premature; the timing was off and he didn't square up (my guess is because he didn't ID the 2-seam soon enough) -- weak grounder to 2b.

Again, as I acknowledged in the write-up, it's possible he succeeds despite these flaws, but they are already manifesting poor results in certain situations. Just to risky a pick for my taste at #4.

It is tough to judge these kids.

They are still learning the game. And it is a very tough game.

It is hard to project who will learn and develop, who will stagnate or even regress.

I am glad it isn't my call (#4). :P

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It is tough to judge these kids.

They are still learning the game. And it is a very tough game.

It is hard to project who will learn and develop, who will stagnate or even regress.

I am glad it isn't my call (#4). :P

Agreed on all counts.

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Ask and ye shall receive:

His hands still look like they are too far from his body as he starts his swing. Now please realize I don't have frame-by-frame on youtube -- i was hitting pause really fast.

If you pause at 0:05, you can see his body moving forward and his hands behind and out from the ideal load position. His bat is going to take a longer path as a result. Here is a picture of Beckham -- the similarities are pretty impressive!

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper871/stills/5vb15nzo.jpg

Wow. I just put them side by side on the screen and they are very similar. Frazier is a little more out in front with his body, making his swing a little more problematic. I wonder if he is cheating a little more now that he's using wood bats? That might be a stretch.

Anyway, to answer your question I still see a long swing with Frazier and think his SO numbers will continue at HiA unless he fixes it. Noting, of course, the video is Frazier earlier in the season at LoA. ;)

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That is true, but there have been enough successful major league hitters despite a hitch that it isn't necessarily a fatal flaw. For some it is part of their timing mechanism.

Ted Williams, Frank Robinson, Barry Bonds are just a few great hitters who had a hitch in their swing.

I'm curious what some people more knowledgeable than me think about Bonds' swing. To me, he has a clear load, but not a clear hitch. In fact, I think he's the quickest/shortest to the ball that I've ever seen. Granted, some of that appears to be *cough* chemically induced.

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It is tough to judge these kids.

They are still learning the game. And it is a very tough game.

It is hard to project who will learn and develop, who will stagnate or even regress.

I am glad it isn't my call (#4). :P

Agreed. That's why it's so important to see progress year after year. I like the fact Beckham knows he needs to make adjustments, he did so in Cape Cod and had success and continues to succeed this year. That's one of the most impressive things with Posey. Not only did he switch positions, but he did it seamlessly and continued to improve at the plate.

That's one of my biggest question marks with Smoak. He struggled with Team USA and took quite a bit of time to straighten things out. He seems to have answered those question marks by rebounding strongly later in the year, but it did take him quite a long time to bounce back.

You don't want to take kids who have already reached their peak. Another reason why (IMO) it is easier to gauge future success with college players as opposed to high school players.

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Eh, the issue is his elbow and leaving his hands back as his body moves forward, creating space between his hands and body. It is certainly correctible, but how "easy" it will be remains to be seen. Beckham has gotten very comfortable with his swing and his approach; it will take a fair amount of work to overhaul the first half (load through the swing). He seems like the type of player who will put in the work, but I'm not sure we can just write it off as a non-issue.

This sounds right. His swing has some length to it. I managed to get the Youtube video to my computer so I could see it frame-by-frame and he also opens his hips a tad earlyish (at least in this one swing) and gets his hands a little too far out in front.

Fraizer has a long swing but the strides into foot plant are very different. I actually think the actions Gordon has mechanically looks like Alex Rodriguez, with that high leg kick and quick plant.

The difference is that A-Rod keeps the bat closer to his body and is better at keeping his hands back and letting the hands and hips turn together. Beckham is also much "taller" than A-Rod, which isn't as helpful in terms of balance and weight shifting into foot plant.

I'm actually going to hold off on the G. Beckham article until Sunday or Monday. I'm going to do Tim Beckham first, who's swing I'm not all that crazy about after getting a better look at it.

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