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Morales -- we're talking lefty in all these articles, unless otherwise stated -- has effortless power wayyyy out to right field, and out to center.  He takes a compact path to the ball, ssnnnnaaaps the bat into the hitting area, and immediately upon Mr. THOCKKK!, the followthrough dissipates into wrist-only decel.

Morales is physically clumsy by MLB standards, and the swing isn't graceful, exactly, but it's beautiful as measured by economy of motion.  This was Dr. Emanuel Lasker's pragmatic definition of beauty:  Everything in a system doing exactly one thing, nothing doing anything unnecessary, everything working together.  No wasted motion - no "hypocrisy," as it were.

In this video, for example, watch how he FAILS to get his weight engaged with the incoming energy.  Flat-footed, he just sort of whip-cracks those wrists, the bat hits him in the butt, and the ball leaves a dent in the bleachers.  Edgar hands.

In addition to the outstanding wrists, and the natural big-boy strength, Morales also benefits from a certain amount of Nick Franklin stretch, hands to front ankle.  As here, you can sense the tension in the lead arm:

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Nobody who's ever watched Morales play for long, has any doubt about his HIT tool and nobody who's ever watched him play once, has any doubt about his PWR.

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=== Not That He's Got 635 More Homers In Him ... ===

From an aiki standpoint:  Morales sinks his weight very well to the ball, and he stays behind it gorgeously.  The compact arm finish, with wristy followthrough rather low, reminds you of Babe Ruth, a lot of the swings that Babe took on those grainy videos.

Check the video again, the side angle, 0:39 to 0:45 -- the little sink-and-swat, doesn't that remind you?  We're not sure that Kendrys is going off the Hit It Here sixty times next year, but it's a swing conducive to reliable power.  

Since 2009, Morales has averaged 32 home runs per 162 games, and about 40% of those games have been played coming off a career-threatening injury.

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=== The Plot Thickens, Dept. ===

Alas, our great prophet Shandlerius writes about Morales, "Disappointing PX index except for 2009," or somesuch.  Kendrys Morales has always had a somewhat low flyball ratio, and the last two years it has been really low.  What's going on?

Here's another chart, this one from TexasLeaguers.com, and it gives you his LEFT hand scatter from his glory year, 2009:

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In case you're having trouble following the point to date :- ) Kendrys Morales is a hitter.  The power is an afterthought.  (But a rather profound thought.)

As we've preached for about a year now, HR's pulled to right field aren't usually "accidents."  It's not like the ball just happens to go in the air sometimes, and 11% of balls in the air just happen to go over the fence.  No, sometimes a pitcher makes a mistake, the batter's eyes get big, and then the ball goes high and far, over the fence.  That's a certain subset of fly balls.

As time goes on, a hitter like Morales anticipates these mistakes more reliably.  He had a little over 600 pro AB's in America when he was promoted to the Angels; when 2009 came calling, he had 127 major league games under his belt.  In other words, he had one real good minor league season out of Cuba, and then he had most of one major league season, and then he was #5 in the MVP voting.  

Then he got catastrophically injured.

The point isn't that Morales is looking at MVP votes in 2013.  The point is that his stats last year, those understate his talent.  His talent is to hit .300, zapping bolts all over the field on a game-in game-out basis, zapping 30+ dingers when his pitch arrives.  

Whether he'll hit up to his talent, that's for him to decide.  But the guy's a hitter.

NEXT

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