Back in early October, Termarr Johnson self-assuredly told MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis that he is continuing to work on being “the best hitter in the world.” The 20-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates prospect didn’t put it quite that way when I spoke to him days later, but he did exude determination and confidence when addressing his craft. That’s understandable. Drafted fourth overall in 2022 out of Atlanta’s Mays High School, Johnson remains a high-ceiling hitter, albeit one whose developmental path hasn’t been as smooth as many had anticipated.

His 2024 season included both stumbles and strides. The 5-foot-7, 190-pound middle infielder logged a solid 121 wRC+ between High-A Greensboro (487 plate appearances) and Double-A Altoona (57), but as our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen wrote last summer, Johnson’s “underlying contact data is pretty concerning.” Moreover, while his 15 home runs were indicative of plus power potential, the accompanying .386 slugging percentage was a bit underwhelming. Johnson’s left-handed stroke is unquestionably capable of causing damage, but further fine-tuning is needed before that can happen at the big league level.

Johnson discussed his approach to hitting shortly after the start of the Arizona Fall League season.

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David Laurila: You’re still just 20 years old. Do you feel that you’ve settled into your identity as a hitter?

Termarr Johnson: “For sure. I feel like I have a pretty good swing, and I hit the ball hard pretty often, so I’m just trying to keep a good approach and bring the pitcher to me. I feel like that puts me in the best position possible. And to be honest with you, I’m a different hitter every at-bat. I’m a different hitter based on… like, every pitcher is different. Every pitch is different. Every situation is different. I’ll be a different hitter if there’s a runner on base and I’m trying to get him in, late in the game, or I’ll be a different hitter when I’m leading off the game.”

Laurila: That’s basically approach. What about mechanically? Read the rest of this entry »

Good swing decisions are vital to a hitter’s success. Having a finely tuned stroke is important — swing mechanics are diligently honed for a reason — but the ability to consistently attack the right pitches is every bit as valuable. Avoiding chasing while keying in on offerings you can drive greatly enhances your chances of squaring up a baseball.

Dillon Lawson, the new assistant hitting coach of the Boston Red Sox, is a huge proponent of a disciplined approach. The Louisville, Kentucky native views the optimization of swing decisions as an integral part of his job — one that now includes working alongside co-assistant hitting coach Ben Rosenthal and lead hitting coach Peter Fatse.

Prior to joining the Red Sox organization last year as its minor league hitting coordinator, the 39-year-old Lawson spent parts of five seasons with the New York Yankees, first as their minor league hitting coordinator from 2019-2021 and then as their major league hitting coach from 2022 until July 2023. He also tutored minor leaguer hitters for two seasons in the Houston Astros organization, in 2016 and 2018.

Lawson sat down to talk hitting at Fenway Park last weekend.

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David Laurila: There are swing coaches and there are more traditional hitting coaches. Where do you fit into that dynamic?

Dillon Lawson: “Whether it’s what I feel is right, or it’s just a sense of pride, I think we’re all trying to be the best hitting coaches we could possibly be. That means you’re able to help players in whatever way they need to be helped. Sometimes that’s with an approach. Sometimes it’s with confidence. Sometimes it’s a swing change, whether that’s with the load or the path. Some people need more power. Other people need more contact.

“In the minor leagues, with the whole department… let’s say you’ve got 10 hitting coaches all pushing the same direction, trying to help a large group of hitters. Then, here with Boston — same with the Yankees — a group of three [at the big league level] is nice, because the better the player is, the more difficult it is to get them just a half a percent better. Sometimes you have to get creative. Sometimes you have to dig deep into your toolkit. When you have the group all working together, working well together, you can help players more quickly.”

Laurila: Is the swing overemphasized in today’s game? Read the rest of this entry »

Brooks Lee embraces the art of hitting. The son of longtime Cal Poly head baseball coach Larry Lee, the 23-year-old Minnesota Twins infielder approaches his craft diligently. Drafted eighth overall by the Twins in 2022 after putting up a healthy 1.073 OPS across three years in college — he played for his father — Lee logged a 148 wRC+ over 114 plate appearances with Triple-A St. Paul last season prior to receiving his July call-up. The start to the switch-hitter’s minor league season had been delayed by nearly two months due to a herniated disc, which was diagnosed in early April.

Assigned a 50 FV and a no. 3 ranking when our 2024 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect list came out last June, Lee slashed .221/.265/.320 with three home runs and a 62 wRC+ over 185 plate appearances in his initial opportunities against big league pitching. He sat down to talk hitting when the Twins visited Fenway Park in the penultimate weekend of the season.

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David Laurila: How would you describe yourself as hitter? Moreover, how do you view yourself going forward?

Brooks Lee: “Ultimately, I want to evolve into a pure hitter and be able to hit all pitches in all zones. I want to hit for average. I think I can drive the ball, but most importantly, I want to get hits.”

Laurila: A lot of people will argue that batting average isn’t all that important. Why is it important to you?

Lee: “I’ve just always loved people that hit .300. As a switch-hitter, I want to be able to get on base at all times, from both sides of the plate. I really enjoy getting hits. That’s probably my favorite part of the game. For me, hitting over .300 is a benchmark. If you do that, everything kind of takes care of itself.”

Laurila: Being able to hit all pitches in all zones is an admirable trait, but at the same time, it can mean putting balls in play that you aren’t able to drive. You might be better off taking those pitches.

Lee: “Yes. That is something I’m learning, too. Sometimes you have strikes that aren’t necessarily good pitches to hit, even though they’re in the zone. For me, the pitch has to be elevated in order to drive it, because of the way my swing works, and the way I see the ball. So, when it’s up, then I go. Most likely, it’s a good pitch for me to hit.”

Laurila: How does your swing work, and does it differ from one side to the other? Read the rest of this entry »

Nick Yorke went from the Boston Red Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates at this past summer’s trade deadline in exchange for Quinn Priester. Some months earlier he’d gone back to the approach that made him a first-round pick in 2020, and from there a productive hitter in his first full professional season. The adjustment was needed. While Yorke remained a promising prospect in 2022 — a campaign compromised by injuries — and again in 2023, his productivity was less than what was expected, and certainly less than what he’d hoped for.

The changes Yorke made this year proved a panacea. After getting off to a so-so start in cold-weather Portland, Maine, he swung a hot bat after being promoted to Triple-A Worcester, and from there at Indianapolis following the trade. Over 344 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, the 22-year-old infielder/outfielder slashed .333/.420/.498 with 25 doubles, eight home runs, and a 143 wRC+. Moreover, he stuck out at a lower rate than he did in a season-plus at the Double-A level. Upon getting called up in mid-September, Yorke went 8-for-37 with a pair of home runs and an 82 wRC+ in 42 plate appearances across 11 major league games.

Yorke sat down at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park during the final week of the regular season to discuss his successful turnaround this year.

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David Laurila: We first talked hitting in April 2021 as you were beginning your first season of pro ball. How would you compare now to then?

Nick Yorke: “I would say pretty different while being the same at the same time. I felt — especially that first year when I was 19 — that I was doing really well approach-wise. I was driving the ball the other way. I feel like I kind of got away from that the past couple of years.”

Laurila: How and why did you get away from your old approach? Read the rest of this entry »

The Milwaukee Brewers have graduated a number of quality hitting prospects in recent seasons, with the likes of Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, and Brice Turang emerging as bona fide big leaguers. Most notable among the arrivals is, of course, Jackson Chourio, who debuted this past spring just weeks after celebrating his 20th birthday. The sweet-swinging wunderkind wasted little time in establishing himself as one of the game’s brightest young stars.

More talent is on the way. Milwaukee’s pipeline is rife with promising young bats, one of whom possesses the raw talent to potentially follow in Chourio’s footsteps. Jesus Made not only put up a 169 wRC+ in the Dominican Summer League, the 17-year-old switch-hitting shortstop logged impressive contact rates, chase rates, and exit velocities. With barely over 200 professional at-bats under his belt, he is already a Top 100 prospect (his exact placement on our list is yet to be determined).

Brenton Del Chiaro has been front and center in the development of Chourio, Made, and others within the Brewers system. Recently promoted to assistant director of player development, the 45-year-old former catcher has been Milwaukee’s minor league hitting coordinator since December 2021. Prior to that, he served as an assistant hitting coordinator, and as a hitting coach in the Arizona Complex League.

In the latest installment of our Talks Hitting series, Del Chiaro discusses several of the system’s top prospects, as well as the philosophies that the hitting department adheres to.

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David Laurila: How will your role change with the new title?

Brenton Del Chiaro: “Actually, not very much. It’s just a little bit of additional responsibility. I will continue overseeing hitting while also interacting with our full-season managers. I’m also going to have some lower-level roster responsibilities. So, still day to day with the hitting, but now interacting and overseeing our managers at the full-season affiliates and having some input on lower-level roster construction and playing time grids.” Read the rest of this entry »

Joshua Kuroda-Grauer began his professional career this past summer on the heels of a stellar junior season at Rutgers University. The 21-year-old shortstop from New Brunswick, New Jersey, was named Big Ten Player of the Year after slashing a robust .428/.492/.590 with five home runs. Moreover, he swiped 24 bases, had more walks (23) than strikeouts (18), and played well defensively. The first player selected on the second day of the amateur draft — he went 75th overall — Kuroda-Grauer is No. 12 on our recently released 2025 Athletics Top Prospects list.

His pro debut was indicative of his skillset. Over 126 plate appearances across Low-A Stockton, High-A Lansing, and briefly Triple-A Las Vegas, the right-handed-hitting middle infielder slashed .324/.421/.343 with a 123 wRC+, and just as he’d done as a Scarlet Knight, he had more free passes (12) than strikeouts (9). As our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen described in his writeup, “Kuroda-Grauer’s offensive profile is built around his advanced bat-to-ball chops…. [he] is short to the ball with average bat speed.”

Toward the end of the minor league season, Kuroda-Grauer discussed his draft experience, how he’s developed as a hitter, and the role model mindset that was ingrained in him by his two mothers.

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David Laurila: You were drafted in the third round. What were your expectations?

Kuroda-Grauer: “I was told to expect anything from the second to the fourth, so I fell kind of where I thought I’d fall. I’m just really happy and fortunate to be with the A’s organization, especially with the group of guys that came in.”

Laurila: Were the A’s a surprise, or were they a team you knew was on you?

Kuroda-Grauer: “I definitely knew they were interested. When I went out to the combine in Phoenix, I had a great meeting with them. So I wasn’t too surprised, but a crazy thing about the draft is that you can meet with however many teams, but then you get picked up by one that never really talked to you.”

Laurila: You hadn’t been drafted out of high school, correct? Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Loretta was a solid hitter over 15 big league seasons, and he was especially good in 2003 and 2004. Over that two-year span, the right-handed-hitting second baseman slashed .325/.382/.469 with 75 doubles, 29 home runs, and a 129 wRC+ with the San Diego Padres. Contact was one of his strong suits. The Northwestern University product had a 7.9% strikeout rate to go with an 8.2% walk rate in 2003-04, numbers largely in line with his 9.2% and 8.5% career marks.

His overall production was comparably modest. Loretta consistently put up high batting averages – they ranged between .280 and .335 during his 11 full seasons — but he went deep just 76 times and finished with a 100 wRC+. Those numbers came over seven-plus seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, three with the Padres, two-plus with the Houston Astros, and one each with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. Your prototypical “professional hitter,” Loretta debuted in 1995 and played his last game in 2009.

Now a special assistant with San Diego, Loretta sat down to talk hitting when the Padres played at Fenway Park in late June.

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David Laurila: Looking back, what style of hitter were you, and did that change over the course of your career?

Mark Loretta: “That’s a good question. I would say that I was developed and came up as [someone who hit] inside the ball, hit the ball up the middle, hit it the other way, hit it where it’s pitched. I was very contact-oriented. I didn’t really sit on pitches or sell out for fastballs, I mainly liked to see the ball get deep.

“About halfway through my career I made a concerted effort to learn to pull the ball better, and more often. I think that’s when my career sort of took off. I was able to get to keep that contact-hitter, hit-it-where-it’s-pitched approach, but also handle the ball inside much better.

“My power — more doubles, more home runs — came when I pulled the ball. For a lot of my career, pitchers would pound me in, pound me in, because I hit the ball well the other way. I made a couple of adjustments with my swing and started looking a little bit more in when I was in hitter’s counts. I would lay off the ball middle-away when it was 2-0 or 3-1.”

Laurila: How much has hitting changed since you played? Read the rest of this entry »

Gino Groover is one of the most promising prospects in the Arizona Diamondbacks system. He is also one of the most intriguing. When profiling him for our D-backs list back in May, Eric Longenhagen wrote that the 22-year-old third baseman “was among the 2023 draft’s more volatile and exciting prospects.” Bullish on his potential, our lead prospect analyst added that “2024 might be a breakout season” for the right-handed-hitting North Carolina State University product.

Fate intervened. As Eric explained, Groover ended up having surgery to repair a displaced radius fracture suffered in a collision with a baserunner at first base, this after just four games with High-A Hillsboro. He missed three months, did a rehab stint in the Arizona Complex League, then rejoined the Hops on July 19.

He hit well upon his return. The former second rounder logged a 129 wRC+ over 175 plate appearances with the Northwest League club, and he followed that up with a 178 wRC+ over 55 plate appearances with Double-A Amarillo. Counting his eight games in the ACL, Groover finished the season with a .281/.367/.484 slash line, 10 home runs, and a 133 wRC+. And two other numbers merit mention: His strikeout rate was 13.6%, while his walk rate was 11.4%.

Grover is currently making up for missed development time in the Arizona Fall League, where he is slashing .370/.444/.389 over 63 plate appearances for the Salt River Rafters. He talked hitting prior to a game in mid-October.

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David Laurila: How would you define yourself as a hitter? Also, do you feel that you’ve established an identity at this early stage of your career?

Gino Groover: “I mean, I think everybody is different, but finding yourself as a hitter — what your strengths are, and playing to your strengths — is something you don’t really want to deviate away from. I’ve always had a hit-first profile, letting my power come later as I’ve gotten bigger, stronger, and a little older.

“I have my approach, and, especially at this level, you can’t be afraid to be wrong sometimes. You obviously can’t go up there and expect to hit everything, so you don’t want to deviate from your approach. If you do, you’ll get caught in between and won’t hit either heaters or offspeed. So, whatever my approach is, I stick to it. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong, and we go from there, playing it by ear with whatever I’m seeing.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Pepiot was a highly regarded prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization when he was first featured here at FanGraphs in June 2021. Then 23 years old and pitching in Double-A, the right-hander out of Butler University discussed his signature pitch, a changeup that our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen had likened to Devin Williams’ high-spin Airbender.

Pepiot is now with the Tampa Bay Rays, having been acquired from Los Angeles along with Jonny DeLuca in exchange for Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot last December. He has also emerged as an established big league starter. Getting his first extended opportunity after making 17 appearances over the two previous seasons, he made 26 starts, posting a 3.60 ERA and 3.95 FIP over 130 innings.

Three-plus years after our initial conversation, I sat down with Pepiot on the final weekend of the 2024 regular season, this time to touch on each of his five pitches.

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David Laurila: What is your full repertoire right now?

Ryan Pepiot: “Four-seam fastball, changeup, slider, cutter, and a curveball that I’ll throw occasionally.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tre’ Morgan is one of the most promising prospects in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Drafted 88th overall last year out of LSU, the 22-year-old left-handed-hitting first baseman slashed .324/.408/.483 with 10 home runs and a 158 wRC+ in 437 plate appearances between three levels this season. Moreover, he’s only upped his profile by continuing to rake in the Arizona Fall League. As our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen wrote on Tuesday, Morgan “is making a case to be elevated into the back of this offseason’s Top 100 list.”

Morgan — a New Orleans native with a well-deserved reputation for being both personable and thoughtful about his craft — talked hitting prior to taking the field for the AFL’s Mesa Solar Sox earlier this month.

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David Laurila: Who are you as a hitter? In other words, how would you describe your style and approach?

Tre’ Morgan: “As a a hitter, I’m definitely contact over power. Swinging and missing is something that just shouldn’t happen too often. That’s how I was taught to hit, by my dad really. If I run into one, it sometimes goes pretty far, but I kind of stick to gap-to-gap, trying to play with the barrel.”

Laurila: What is your father’s background?

Morgan: “He played football, mostly — he played college football and had a couple of tryouts for the NFL — but he taught me everything I know about baseball. He said that he was better than me [at baseball] when I was growing up.”

Laurila: You said that the ball sometimes goes far when you run into one. What have you had in terms of exit velocities and distances? Read the rest of this entry »