CASE STUDY: How A Minor Leaguer Started Maximizing His Offensive Production

Written by Tanner Stokey

Assessment

When looking at Andrew’s assessment swing and data, we started to get a clear picture of what he did well and what we needed to work on.

After looking at his swing mechanics, my initial notes were:

• Slight early hip extension
• Slight loss of posture makes it difficult for him to create space for the arms, hands, and barrel to travel through the zone
• Point of contact is too far out in front
• Poor barrel direction

Now, let’s get into the data. 

What was good?

What was not?

Training Plan

Taking everything into account, the main goals and program focuses we created for him were:

Goals

1. Get bat working deeper into the hitting zone for more consistent high-quality contact.
2. Stay in a hip hinge and maintain posture throughout the swing more efficiently.
3. Increase his launch angle on hard-hit balls (hard hit = any ball hit within 10 percent of his peak exit velocity).
4. Increase his pull-side launch angle above 10 degrees.

Program Focuses

1. A big focus on contact quality and improving smash factor.
2. Develop a consistent load by improving his hip hinge.
3. Work on maintaining spine angle, with an emphasis on creating space.

Training Results

When we look at his training results, Andrew improved in pretty much every area we set out for him. I would elaborate further here, but the numbers really do speak for themselves.

Batted Ball Metrics

Batted Ball by Field

Swing Improvements

To summarize, some of my biggest takeaways from Andrew’s improvements were: 

• He is hitting the ball harder more often, and he’s doing so inside of optimal and more productive launch angle ranges.
• His batted ball quality improved significantly. 
• Improvements in hip mobility allowed him to move more efficiently throughout his swing, which showed direct carry over to his batted ball metrics.

Additionally, Andrew showcased some serious power during live at-bats… 

We are very excited to follow Andrew’s 2021 season while he plays in the Washington Nationals’ farm system.

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