Seattle Sports Insider

Mike Zunino "Keeps Weight Underside"

Nippon Pro Baseball, dept.

Posted by

4/29/14

I ain't gonna lie. It had been a day or three since we watched a baseball game with any notable interest going.

So here Mike Zunino stepped up to the plate, and started bouncing up and down, jackhammering himself deeper and deeper into ~~the dirt~~ the mud. Like how long has he been doing that?!

Two pitches later, on an 0-2 count (!), he got a changeup that was off the plate, away, and below the knees -- and he calmly reached out and lined it into right field for a base hit.

........

If you just joined us, here is a discussion of the Japanese concept, "Keeping Weight Underside." When you're scared, you float your weight. When you're as calm as a surgeon, and you have physical work to do, you sink your weight into the task at hand.

The ultimate Japanese "mountain pose" is seiza, sitting on your knees with your backside covering your big toes - you are as stable as a mountain. The thing is, you sacrifice just a tadbit of mobility in this pose. The other thing is, MLB hitters aren't going very far during the flight of the pitch, so there is little reason for them to fail to sink their weight.

In addition to visibly sinking his weight into his swings, and "covering" that changeup for the M's first hit, Mike Zunino also

Hit a measured line drive single to Ichiro in LF
Hit a considered soft line drive single to Beltran in RF
Lucked out on an infield hit (totalling 4 base hits on the monsoon)

.........

You know, I'll tell ya something. Mike Zunino has already demonstrated a remarkable ability to keep his hands back, on an offspeed pitch, and then fire the pecs with authority. Most guys launch offspeed pitches with strong wrists. A few guys, such as Jim Thome, have the timing right to handle curves the way that Zunino does.

This is no small thing. Many MLB hitters, maybe most MLB hitters, never develop as much ability to wait on a curve ball and get their bodyweight going through it.

So that's two things :: he ticks them off on his fingers :: Zunino has the ability to stay back on a curve, and he has the potential to sink his weight and line pitches to RF. That sounds like a 60 HIT tool to me, but what do I know.

........

Here's a third thing. You could balance a teacup on Zunino's batting helmet as he launches those 430-foot shots to center field. I don't know what I like about that, but I do.

........

The guy can't possibly recognize pitches yet -- don't even look at his EYE ratio, trust me -- but man, you can see some serious mojo there in future years, can'tcha? Mike Napoli hadn't made the majors at Zunino's age. Jason Varitek had two or three years left to go in the minor leagues.

He's slugging .479 and on pace for 80 ribbies. I wouldn't bet anything I was afraid to lose, that he ain't going to slug .500 when he's in his prime.

........

The Mariners.com story was that Zunino felt lousy, didn't try to do too much, and so squared the ball up. Maybe he learned something.

Blog:

POTD

Comments

Some great quotes on Zunino in that same article

"Mike did an unbelievable job, not only swinging it, but the game he called was phenomenal," said Young. "I continue to be just blown away that he's a rookie back there because he's just doing a great job.
"I watched him on the flight out here, and he was sick as a dog. But he sent me text message at 2 o'clock this afternoon and said, 'Hey, I'm going to be back there and ready to go for you, big man.' He's a tough kid. He's mature beyond his years. He's really impressive."
Sure seems like he's gunning for the Dan Wilson shaped hole in Mariners' lore. And I ain't mad about it.

Data request

I don't know exactly where to look but I'd like to find out how Zunino is hitting by pitch type. There were whispers in the minors he might struggle against good heat. Now that he has a few MLB AB's maybe there is some info on that? From watching the games my gut feel says he waits for something slower and hammers it. Is he covering the fastball as well? Nice to see one of the young guys stepping up!

Zunino hitting hard stuff fine so far

Here's the table from his Brooks Baseball player card:
Pitch Category
Count
AB
K
BB
HBP
1B
2B
3B
HR
BAA
SLG
ISO
BABIP
Hard
880
183
44
18
7
33
6
0
9
.262
.443
.180
.300
Breaking
322
93
33
3
0
5
4
1
3
.140
.301
.161
.175
Offspeed
101
29
11
2
0
7
0
0
1
.276
.379
.103
.412
I don't know exactly how they put the data together. Change and split are classified as "offspeed"; curve and slider are classified as "breaking" (and a handful of knucklers).
Looks like it's the offspeed stuff where he's struggled to hit with authority.
He's crushed the hard stuff pretty well, and had some bad fortune on the bendy stuff (though it's probably not all just random variation).
Of course, he's striking out a lot -- more on the breaking and offspeed -- and not walking much -- and, again there, it's worse with the breaking and offspeed.
And that's not a lot of data to go on.
You can find all the data here: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/h_landing.php?player=572287

Fangraphs stats on Zunino

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=13265&position=C
Go down to the PITCH f/x values. They describe what he hits and how hard. It's basically the same stuff you'd get if he was a pitcher, and it's mirrored so that positive values still mean that he performs best against those types.
For his pro career he's even money against 4 seamers, a little worse against 2 seamers and better against cutters, but crushes changeups and especially sliders. Curveballs tie him up so far. Do keep in mind he still has a very limited number of pro at-bats.
And he is bull-strong to demolish the offspeed stuff like he does. As Doc says, the guy is doing all this without advanced pitch-recognition or a large database in his head to work from. He hasn't had thousands of professional at-bats. He's had mere hundreds. Give it a couple years and see what happens to his batting eye and ability to turn fastballs around.
Right now, he's the version of Olivo that Mr. Olivo himself dreamed of being: great receiver and defender behind the plate, good arm, amazing pitch-framing, good at handling the pitching staff (no jokes please...), as a low-average hitter with few walks and plenty of power.
He's Olivo-plus at 775 PAs in his pro (not big-league but PRO) career. Now the question will be: will the pitchers adjust and remove his ability to drive pitches, or will he adjust and start hitting more stuff?
Because right now, if you look at his Plate Discipline stats he's severely below-average in almost every category. Mike swings at more stuff both inside and out of the zone, and makes less contact in both areas than is average (by a SIGNIFICANT margin). He's guess-hitting and working at a severe disadvantage while punishing everything he gets a bat on.
I think Mike is gonna be the one to make gains, not the pitchers.
Which means Olivo-plus is a cocoon for something greater. Mike Napoli with a couple added WAR of defensive value as a plus catcher? Frightening. I'm looking forward to his growth - now if he could just stop swinging at all those out-of-zone pitches and take some walks...
~G

G and Spec

Thanks for those replies! I'll note those for future reference. His plate discipline can't get any worse and he's surviving. Agreed that there is massive room for growth with a few more years of AB's. So encouraging to see him flick some outside pitches to RF instead of repeated swing and miss on low/away stuff. Maybe in another year or so we can pencil him into the Z "win" category with Seager and Paxton.