Exhibit A for the 1000 OPS comin' (part 3)
Q. Any ML comps for this swing?
A. You know whose swing does look like this quite often? Russell Branyan's. He also taps himself easily in the backside at times, because of the slingshot effect.
But of course, the Muscle isn't reputed to have Smoak's 75 HIT talent (on the 20-80 scale). Imagine Branyan if he could square the ball like Jeter. Remember now, Smoak's ability to hit for AVG is an absolute given. A few people fret (like I did, two weeks ago!) whether he's got the mojo for the SoDo.
Asked and answered. Smoak has a Branyan swing and once he starts anticipating, he's going to hit them out in bucketfuls. Hence the GMs' insider opinions that Smoak is even a better prospect than Montero.
This kid could run a 1000 OPS in Safeco someday. Justin Smoak could become the best hitter in baseball. It's very realistic.
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Q. So Smoak's LH swing is not too long?
A. By the way, if you were wondering, some hitting coaches feel that Smoak's bat is angled a bit too far in this picture.
That is the only conceivable point at which Smoak's LH swing could ever be accused of being too "long". It's not in his hands, turn, or anything like that; some coaches just don't like for a hitter to get his bat wrapped around his head that far, even if he's just doing it with wrists.
Of course, Ichiro, Branyan, and many others do this. The young Junior did. Lot of great hitters do. Tiger Woods took over world golf with precisely this principle. It's the main complaint about Greg Halman.
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Does SSI buy the idea that you can have too much bat angle "at the top?" as such? Here is where the argument transposes 100% to golf. A golfer has too much angle only if his arc or timing gets off kilter.
If you're not a very skilled golfer, hit a chip shot off the tee. Or take the club back as far as your knees. If you're good, angle the club and get some power.
Most hitting coaches weren't very good. Like Casey said, "my catcher can't hit a curve ball, so he doesn't think anybody else can, either."
Here, we're not talking about winding the shoulders (the pitcher can't even see Smoak's numbers). We're just talking about bat angle, and that's exactly where the leverage comes from.
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Q. Anything else?
A. Loved that it was on an offspeed pitch, from one of the best offspeed pitchers in the game. Calmness in confusion. How did he go from fish-out-of-water to relaxed in one week?
It was a 1-2 pitch. Low and away - soft stuff outside on two strikes.
And, did you catch Weaver's reaction as Smoak made contact? :- )
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BABVA,
Dr D