Q.  Couple more visuals on this nowhere-at-20 pattern recog?

A. You might remember David Ortiz (Arias), who was judged by not one but two ML franchises a non-prospect.  At age 21, he hit thirty homers in A ball but with an alarming 150:50 strikeout-to-walk ratio.  He was comparable to Greg Halman, but Halman's playing tougher leagues for the same age.

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Raul Ibanez, at age 21, was in low class A, like Rivers was.  He hit 275/375/390 ... in other words, a whale of a lot less than Rivers did, same age-and-level.  At ages 24-to-26, Rauuullll was still a very pedestrian, dime-a-dozen AAA player.  But at age 29, he started piling up the 100-ribbie seasons.

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That's just flavor text -- a picture's worth a thousand words.  You could find any number of impact players who were nowhere at 20 or 21.

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Q.  The lower-leg stuff, is that FKey7 autocliche or is that significant?

A.  Spec dug us up a quote that said Rivers had found his magic sparkle dust in the following mechanic:

Steinmann had the chance to work with Rivers on his hitting mechanics, with a concentration on his lower half and how he positioned his legs. “Kevin is very receptive to learning,” Steinmann said, “and he really took to the adjustments we made. He has strived.”

I'm not sure what those last three words mean; I think I saw it in a Shakespeare play or something. 

But otherwise, you couldn't give me a more happy excuse for Rivers' plateau leap.  Ask your Mariner HOF right fielder whether leading with your knees is key to hitting.  Ask Casey Kotchman... actually, check that.

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Better yet, ask any golfer how important it is, or isn't, to base your motion on a dynamic lower body. 

The golfer will tell you that it's not even primarily about power:  as a scratch golfer hits a 40-yard pitch shot, he hits the ball even more exaggeratedly with his knees only.  It's about timing and smoothness.

Leading with his knees allows the golfer to accelerate the club through the ball at impact.  It gives trueness to the shot.  It is what we mean by dynamics vs statics.  Like Mr. Miyagi say:  acceleration good, shot good.  Everything good.  No acceleration, might as well pack up go home.

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Check the picture of Bad Kevin Rivers above, which is taken from his days at Franklin Pierce.  Look at the legs.  Don't look for checkpoints (which are also lousy); look for intent.  Rivers' lower-body action is simply amateurish.  A golfer who looked like that would, quite literally, be a high handicapper.

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It sounds very much like Rivers, in high school and small college, played well despite a sandlot player's baseball swing.  Then he obviously got to the pro's, who laughed and said, "um, here's how you hit."  And then he immediately exploded?

Not saying Rivers is a future major leaguer.  Am just saying that the above is the best quote you could [intersect] with a kid who just finished #1 in OPS out of the blue.

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