Kevin Newman on Hitting (His Way to Pittsburgh)

The Pittsburgh Pirates knew they were getting a good hitter when they made Kevin Newman the 19th-overall pick in the 2015 draft. Not only did he hit .337 in his three seasons at the University of Arizona, he won a pair of Cape Cod League batting titles along the way. There wasn’t much power — just two home runs as a Wildcat — but he fanned a grand total of 48 times in over 700 plate appearances.

Newman is still putting his bat on the baseball. In 95 games between High-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona, the 23-year-old shortstop is slashing .328/.391/.435. He’s even showing a little pop. On the season, he has 21 doubles, a pair of triples, and five home runs.

Newman talked about his line-drive approach prior to a recent game in Portland, Maine.

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Newman on his hitting approach: “I try to hit low line drives all over the field. I know myself as a hitter — I’m a singles-doubles sort of guy — and I want to stick to my strengths. My swing plane is short and level through the zone. I try to hit a line drive over the second baseman, a line drive over the shortstop.

“I’d say I started knowing who I was in college. Going to a big university, you’ll get some big guys with a lot of power hitting behind you. When you come to pro ball, you get the same thing. My job is to get on base and to steal some bases here and there. I need to set the table — set the tempo — and score some runs.

“I stay short and focus on making contact, but it’s not just singles. It’s more of a gap-to-gap approach. I never try to hit it over the outfielders — I never try to hit home runs — although that happens sometimes. I hit one last night, but by no means was I trying to hit one. It’s always the same approach and mistakes, like a home run, will just happen. I’m not exactly mad when it does, obviously.”

On working with hitting coaches: “There have been suggestions [since entering pro ball], but nothing major. Being who I am… they knew who they were getting. When I went to instructs and to spring training, a lot of what they were telling me was, ‘Be who we drafted’ and ‘Be the same hitter.’ They don’t expect me to go out and hit 30 home runs. They expect me to be what I’ve been.

“I’ve narrowed up my stance. I guess I’ve done a few things, but it’s more… they don’t tell me to do anything. We converse. In spring training, I went to one of our hitting coaches [Keoni De Renne] and was like, ‘Hey, I feel like if I narrow up I’ll feel better doing this and this.’ They were like, ‘Let’s try it.’ Now I’m more narrow than I was before, but by no means was it a forced move.

“Keoni is in High-A, so I was with him [in Bradenton] after spring training. When I got here to Altoona, [hitting coach Kevin Riggs] kind of gathered some notes before saying much. Now we have a good relation and talk about things. He’ll come to me and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ Maybe he’ll tell me my foot has been getting down a little late, and I’ll say ‘OK, yeah,’ and we’ll start working on that together.”

On timing adjustments: “That’s what’s normally happening when I’m not going well — I’m late with my foot. The past couple of weeks I wasn’t getting my front foot down in time, so [Riggs] came to me and we talked about it. Since then it’s been better.

“It was something I needed to see on video. He brought me to the office and said, ‘Hey, look.’ He showed it to me and I was like, ‘Wow, I couldn’t feel that.’ It was a very, very… it was such a minute timing issue. It’s something that happens so quickly; it’s about being down a split second earlier so you’re not late with your hands.

“From seeing the video, I was able to tell myself, ‘OK, get back in the cage and refine that.’ I worked to make sure I was on time and getting back to what I’m good at. There’s a mental component to making a move like that. You want to be earlier than early when you’re in the cage, to get that muscle memory going. When you get into a game, you don’t want to be thinking about it. You want to just play.”

On plate discipline and slotting into a lineup: “I think my plate discipline is pretty good. It can always get better, and it will get better as time goes on, but by no means is it something I struggle with. I don’t walk a ton, but I also don’t not walk at all.

“I get up there trying to grind away my at-bats. I try to not strike out — I want to put the ball in play — and sometimes that might lead to swinging at a few ball fours. But I’m pretty comfortable with where I’m at right now. Going forward and seeing more and more pitches — getting more and more reps — I’m only going to develop better plate awareness.

“I could see myself hitting leadoff or in the two-hole in the big leagues. But at the end of the day, whatever the Pirates have in mind for me — wherever they want me to hit in the lineup — that’s where I’m going to be. Right now they have me hitting third, so that’s what I’m working at. Whatever gets me to Pittsburgh.”

On defense and increasing his range: “Defensively, I’m pretty comfortable with where I’m at. Like with everything, you can always get better. In the offseason, I’m going to work a lot on lateral movement and on getting quicker and faster. Same with my base-stealing. First-step quickness relates to both defense and base-running. Come next year I’d like to be that split second quicker, that split second faster. I want to get to balls I’m six inches short of this year.

“My arm strength is average, although I do get rid of the ball pretty quickly, which helps make up for having just an average arm. It’s good enough for me play short. But that’s not the focus right now. I’ve talked to our strength-and-conditioning coach, and to my managers and whatnot, and the lateral movement is more important. It’s the thing they most want me to work on.”