POTD Kyle Seager
=== Input - Crunch - Output Dept. ===
Kyle Seager has the following similarities with David Bell:
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Kyle Seager has the following similarities with Chris "Yoda" Snelling ...
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- Identical "Keep the bat in the zone forever" LH swings
- Short to the ball, long through the ball, unusual extension
- Resilient "hit the inside half of the ball" approaches
- Single-digit HR's, but lots of long doubles and triples
- Hit left hand
- A few biscuits away from 6', 200"
- Unimpressive arms and legs; super impressive abdomens and hips
- Cement-hard .400ish OBP's that survive league transitions (first game)
- .320/.400/.450 slash lines based on near-1.0 EYEs, "surprising pop for a little man," and 70 HIT ability
- Good baserunners, don't count on many SB's
- Dirt Dog mentality
- Hit out of quasi-crouch, very alert, quick, super aggressive
- Even right down to the low "broom sweep" wait for the pitcher, the bat pointed up at the sky at setup ...
- ... etc. etc.
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=== SABR Caveats ===
As sure as we're typing up this shtick, somebody will want to come in and age-comp Snelling and Seager.
It's a fool's errand. In terms of age and level, here's a wormhole of difference between an international teenager and a College World Series star.
The age-arc similarities are that both Seager, and Snelling, immediately hit for AVG and BB's no matter where you put them.
Both were going to be able to slug .500 against overmatched competition, but neither projected to .500 against equal competition. Not in my opinion.
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=== Keeps the Bat In the Zone a Long Time ===
Seager is the very definition of this principle. Ackley gets credit for it, but he's only above-average in terms of KBIZLT -- Ackley loops the swing for power.
As you slo-mo this home run by Seager, watch how he is very short to the ball and long through the zone, with great extension.
That's what they're talking about with this swing mechanic: keep the hands back, keep the bat hinged until the last possible second -- while it's hinged, it is in a sense on a plane with the ball. (We'll explain why that's true, some other time.)
Then, once the bat unsnaps, the hands are already on a plane similar to the pitch's plane (wherever that is) and the extension of the forearms and bat create a plane that matches the pitch's plane for a much longer time.
When coaches teach (chime in RockiesJeff!) KBIZLT, they say things like "pull the knob inside the ball," things like "be short to the pitch and long through it," or the really cool one, "hit the inside half of the ball."
You know how Carlos Peguero's bat is tilted 45 degrees, even on a home run? Not that.
Go through these super slo-mo's and you'll see, even in 2009, that Seager was born with KBIZLT.
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This was a big key to Chris Snelling's offensive game, and it's Kyle Seager's secret, too.
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=== PWR ===
It's tough for a guy who is (1) short to the ball, and (2) short to the doctor's measuring stick, to (3) hit very many home runs. You've probably noticed that Seager's bat wrap is the opposite of Ackley's.
Which is okay. Ichiro also does not wrap the bat. Chris Snelling certainly didn't. Some HR hitters don't.
And Seager gets GORGEOUS weight transfer -- his core is Manly-Man powerful and Seager gets some serious juice to the ball. Chone Figgins, he ain't. Rest assured, Kyle Seager is a lot closer to Nick Franklin than he is to Chone Figgins.
Just let's not forget that Seager is like Brendan Ryan's size. Size matters. Dustin Ackley is a 1-in-100 freak. Can't see it for Seager.
But gap power? That's a given. This kid puts some steam on his swing.
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=== Capt Jack "Remains To Be Seen," Dept. ===
Two things we don't know about Seager, that were critical talents of Snelling's:
1. Snelling had the tremendous desire, the sheer joy for the game of baseball ... that left him unintimidated, focused, and aggressive.
2. Snelling had a real Edgar-like gift for keeping his hands back on breaking pitches. Ackley has this. Generally, KBIZLT helps a lot with this, but who knows whether Seager has a special gift here.
If you were to spot me these two question marks?, then I'd follow on by saying that Kyle Seager IS Chris Snelling. Going to a Rainiers series this weekend, those would be the two specific things I'd check.
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One difference in Seager's favor: Kyle Seager is as light on his feet as Legolas walking on top of the snow. He positively floats around the bases.
Snelling ran very heavily. Maybe this will be a difference as far as the DL.
=== Dr's Prognosis ===
Earlier I had brushed Seager off.
But now hold on. We hadn't looked at the swing, and hadn't looked at the Tacoma transition.
... the intersection of (1) his diamond-hard OBP league transitions and (2) the KBIZLT swing and (3) the obvious Snelling similarities, up and down the clipboard ...
For me, those create a Hold 'Em card flip at a new Chris Snelling.
(Had Snelling been healthy, he'd probably have been a lefty Edgar -- the younger, smaller Edgar, the one without the HR's. As it was, the dog-chewed, tattered Snelling retired with a .360 OBP in the bigs, just bits and pieces here and there in a tragic career.)
I dunno whether Kyle Seager is Chris Snelling II. But I know that we get to watch and see whether he becomes Snelling.
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=== This Year, You Ax? ===
1) Well, he came out with Ackley, same time, same conference, same school, so I've heard...
2) Ackley had 900 AB's, all in the high minors, and was ready after 600.
3) Seager has had 1200 AB's, only 300 in the high minors (this year, where he was real good).
4) They seem to have comparable dispositions, as it relates to taking on better players. I would half-expect Seager to show an Ackley-type snarl on reaching the AL.
Supposing that Seager rips up Tacoma for three more weeks ... it would be rushing him to let him jobshare 3B in Safeco, but it would be a sensible rush.
Note that Chris Snelling himself would have been a Mariner at age 20. Lou Piniella wanted him right then right there, if he hadn't blown out his knee.
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My $0.02,
Dr D