2025 Blue Jays: Teams That Can Compete
- Here's a breakdown of the key takeaways from the provided text, focusing on the Giants and Guardians and their approaches to hitting, particularly bat speed:
- * New Hitting Coach: The Giants have hired Hunter Mense, a coach with a different beliefs then his predecessor, Pat Burrell.
- * Similar Approach: The Guardians have been building a lineup based on similar principles for years - relying on getting the ball in play.
Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways from the provided text, focusing on the Giants and Guardians and their approaches to hitting, particularly bat speed:
San Francisco Giants:
* New Hitting Coach: The Giants have hired Hunter Mense, a coach with a different beliefs then his predecessor, Pat Burrell. Mense focuses on a more modern approach to hitting,emphasizing bat speed.
* Bat Speed Decline: A notable concern is that the Giants lost more bat speed than any other team in 2023. Key players like Chapman and Adames saw declines, and even Jung Hoo Lee showed a drop.
* Correlation to Offense: The Giants’ slow swing speeds correlated with a low hard-hit rate and slugging percentage.
* Vitello’s Vision: Manager Bob Vitello oversaw a similar transition to a more velocity-focused approach at Tennessee, and aims to replicate that in San Francisco.
* Winning Despite Weak Offense: Despite winning their division,the Giants had a poor run differential,being outscored overall.
Cleveland Guardians:
* Similar Approach: The Guardians have been building a lineup based on similar principles for years – relying on getting the ball in play.
* Bat Speed Efforts: The Guardians are actively trying to increase bat speed, with offseason clinics and a focus on it in player development (CJ Kayfus, Travis Bazzana).
* Limited Results: Despite efforts, their overall bat speed ranking has only slightly improved (from 30th to 27th).
* Need for Young Players & Additions: The team hopes that younger players (Kayfus, DeLauter) will contribute, but they also recognize the need for an external addition, particularly in the outfield.
Overall Theme:
The article highlights a growing trend in MLB towards prioritizing bat speed and swing velocity as key components of offensive success. Both the giants and Guardians are attempting to address this,but with varying degrees of progress and different approaches.