“Looks like Young has decided to pull the ball more this year. He's stronger from the waist up and look very confident after a good season in 2010. He's a litte bit of a Albert Belle look to him this year. That means baseballs could be in trouble”
A
substantial portion of Young’s success last year came from being able to pull
the ball with more authority. In fact, he had a 260-point increase over his
two previous seasons when hitting the ball to left field. Part of that power boost
was due to his improvement on handling pitches inside:
Well-Hit
Average (Swing-Inside)
|
|
2008
|
.084
|
2009
|
.099
|
2010
|
.124
|
League
Average
|
.078
|
(via
MyInsideEdge.com)
Of
course, looking to pull the ball when it is not thrown inside is counterintuitive.
Presumably,
the New York Yankees likely have a well-funded advanced scouting department and
have watched Young this past season and in spring as he continues to turn on
inside pitches with authority. Naturally, in their first game with a young
pitcher on the mound in Ivan Nova, the Yankees’ game plan was designed to
attack Young outside.
In
their first encounter in the second inning, Nova stayed away from the big
right-hander and got Young to chase a pitch above the zone and pop it up to
Nick Swisher in right:
In
their second match-up, Nova, down 3-1 in the count, was forced to go back in
the zone but still got Young to weakly tap the ball towards third base. Unfortunately
for the Yankee pitcher, Young’s swunt (swinging bunt) was hit a tad too so for
Alex Rodriguez to field:
In their
final meeting, with the Twins down by a run but threatening to collect after
Justin Morneau led off the top of the sixth with a single, Young was in
position to do some damage. Nova managed to slip a fastball inside that Young
fouled off. Wisely, the next pitch was a changeup just outside of the zone.
Young, perhaps intent on pulling the ball, turned over on the off-speed and
bounced it to Derek Jeter to start the six-four-three twin killing:
Because of
his success last season on pitches inside in addition to his spring display of
power, opposing teams’ scouting departments will likely use his asset against
him. As long as Young remains pull-happy, pitchers will continue to feed him
pitches on the outer-half of the zone until he proves that he is able to rope
that ball into the opposite field.
While I am
specifically singling out Young for falling into this trap, up-and-down the
lineup, the Twins were victims to trying to turn on all of Nova’s pitches away.
For example, during his epic 10-pitch at-bat in the fourth inning with Jim
Thome acting as the potential tying run on second base, instead of changing his
approach after watching Nova nine other pitches in the same location, Jason
Kubel pulled a fastball down-and-away to second base. Mauer turned over three
of Nova’s offerings that were low and away. For someone like Mauer who is used
to going with the pitch, this may be an indication that he still is not close
to his midseason form.
With short
porches to the corners, the Yankees will always have a natural tendency to
pitch opponents away. For the Twins’ offense in the rest of this series, the
key will be to focus less on the proximity of those walls and to simply go with
the pitch.
****
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