Carlos Asuaje and Wil Myers on Launch Angles

Last week, we ran an interview with Charlie Blackmon and Chris Denorfia on the subject of swing paths and launch angles. If you read the piece, you’ll recall that the Rockies outfielders share a similar philosophy, but come to it in different ways. One is studious in his pursuit of the science, while the other is satisfied to be aware of the launch-angle concept.

San Diego Padres teammates Carlos Asuaje and Wil Myers are much like their Colorado contemporaries. Both want to elevate the baseball, but one puts a lot of thought into the why, while the other tries to keep things as simple as possible.

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Carlos Asuaje: “It’s easy to overanalyze things, and try to focus on something that’s pretty tough to control. The angle of where the ball is going off your bat is a good example of that. But you want to hit the ball in the air. That’s the reality of it. It’s the way to get hits nowadays. There’s enough technology and science to back that up.

“It’s something I definitely focus on. Being a smaller guy doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. If you hit ground balls, you’re going to be out, especially at the major-league level. Guys don’t boot balls, they don’t throw poorly, and you’re not going to outrun the baseball. You have to play the odds, and the odds are that if you hit the ball in the air, you have a better chance to be successful.

“I know this from research. This is my life. This is how I earn my money, and it’s something I take pride in. I try to find out the most information I can. FanGraphs is a great resource — they’re very analytical and you can see a lot of the numbers there — and there are other websites, as well. It’s pretty staggering, honestly, the batting average in the air compared to the batting average on the ground. You look at some of the most successful hitters in the world, Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera, those guys aren’t going to put the ball on the ground consistently.

“I think it comes down to approach. A lot of kids grow up being taught to hit down on the ball. You naturally start building this bat path, down to the ball, down to the ball. That’s just not going to be successful at the higher levels. Getting on plane with the pitch and creating a little bit of loft in your swing is definitely a good thing.

“I try to take video of myself every day, in the cage or maybe even in BP. I have a tripod that I set up, and I do my own video to analyze my swing. These are non-game-action swings. I want to practice like I play. If you can do something consistently off a tee, or in soft toss, it can translate to a game.

“I keep notebooks, as well. I try to keep track of every pitcher I face, and every at-bat that I have. It can be kind of tough to write down the 0-for-4s with three strikeouts, but there’s something to take away from everything. I want to be as studious as I can about hitting. Like I said, this is my livelihood.”

Wil Myers: “You have to take your own swing. When you’re standing in the box, facing a live arm, you can’t be thinking about the angle the ball comes out at. When he throws a slider, you can’t be thinking about the angle you need to get your bat to hit a line drive. You just get in there, ready to hit, and put your best swing on it. From there, whatever happens, happens.

“That said, I don’t want to hit the ball on the ground. It’s something I’ve worked on this year, especially off the tee. I want the ball in the air. I want good home-run trajectory on every swing I take off the tee. For me, working on hitting the ball out of the ballpark… that’s what I did in 2012 and 2013.

“An even bigger thing for me is being ready to hit the fastball. The game is taught differently at different levels, but what I’ve noticed, and what I’m going to take into this year, is being ready to hit the fastball on every single pitch. I think a lot of people get to where they’re looking for spin too much, or they’re trying to [anticipate] what the pitcher might do in a certain count. To me, hitting is all reactionary.

“I’m at my best when I’m sitting on the fastball and reacting from there. In a way, I’m doing it subconsciously. When I’m struggling, I’m between pitches. I’m thinking about the fastball and the slider. I actually hit the slider much better when I’m ready for the fastball. I don’t hit the slider well when I’m looking slider. That sounds a little odd, but it’s the way it is.

“It’s not explainable. One of my buddies, who is a big baseball fan… we sit down and talk. He’s a big golfer, too. I try to explain things about hitting to him, and he just doesn’t understand. It’s one of those things where you don’t fully understand unless you’re in that environment, experiencing it on a day-to-day basis.

“When I talk to Andy Green, it’s mostly things like, ‘Hey, here are some things you can improve on.’ Andy is really big into sabermetrics, though, which I like. It’s a huge part of the game now. There are a bunch of baseball players that don’t like that part of the game, but I think it’s great. I like the analytics — it’s a new side of the game we get to learn — but at the same time, I can’t be in the box thinking about how the ball is going to come off my bat. I keep things simple, and try to take my best swing.”