But I don't want him being worried, 24/7, about something mechanical. I want him in there for the way he handles a staff (especially the spaghetti we're rolling out there onto the mound), frames pitches, does all the catcher-y things.
Any batting adjustment has to be simple and non-cerebral. I don't want him thinking about THAT. I want him thinking about the next 4 batters the bad guys have coming to the plate.
A Mongo-sized bat? I'm good with that. But mostly I would have him choke up 2 inches on the bat, stand at the back of the box, and wait. And I would have him watch Pete Rose videos. I am convinced there is an innate tendency to shorten up, slow up, and look for solid contact when you choke up on a baseball or golf lever. I'll bet RockiesJeff would corroberate. It's why every coach in history, up until a decade or two ago, instructed players to choke up with two strikes. Rhythm completely shot on the golf course? Choke up and shorten up.
The biggest benefit is that such an approach is simple and non-cerebral.
As a young man, Pete Rose was hitting a dozen homers a year with that short stroke, back of the box approach. Mike Zunino bench presses Pete Rose for breakfast. He can't hit 12 homers a year that way? At age 45, in a walker, wearing tri-focals and mainlining Geritol, Pete Rose had a .394 OBP and an 86/35 Eye.
I want Mike Zunino to bring the shortest, most simple and least "neuron-ic" approach to the plate that he can. As a fast-twitch, tater hitting masher, he's overmatched vs. MLB throwers. It isn't mechanical: In his "hot" 2nd half of '16, he still only hit .204 and K'ed in 34.8% of his PA's.
Mike Zunino is too valuable to power-flush and I think DiPoto knows it. But Zunino as Gary Carter doesn't work and never will. Have him choke up, shorten up, simple up and square-it up.
It's probably the one thing we haven't tried.