On Hitters Simplifying Their Loads

While I’m sure those of you who are reading this should be aware of what I’m about to say, I’m going to say it anyway: hitting baseballs is difficult. In fact, it is the very reason I’m writing this piece. As I’ve watched the beginning of the season, I’ve noticed some hitters make tweaks here and there. Hitting is a game of adjustments; if one thing doesn’t work or doesn’t feel comfortable, you try the next, and so on and so forth until something clicks. When you’re struggling at the plate, there are some rules of thumb to consider if you’re considering a change. The first thing that comes to mind is obvious: simplify.

There are a few ways to interpret that, but what I have in mind focuses on a hitter’s load. Depending on factors such as bat speed, barrel acceleration, and pitch identification, a hitter will fall somewhere between Javier Báez and Giancarlo Stanton on the movement spectrum. By that, I mean that you can move almost every part of your body, or you can just pick your bat up off your shoulder and swing. Neither is necessarily better than the other, but for some hitters, too much movement (or movement in an inefficient direction) can negatively impact bat path or the ability to make flush contact on a consistent basis. An adjustment which simplifies your load can make it easier for a hitter to get the bat on plane with the baseball.

Take Matt Olson for example. After regression from 2021 to ’22, he made an adjustment to his setup and load, resulting in an increase in both Barrel% and xwOBACON. Here is one swing from last year, and another from last week:

August 18, 2022

April 18, 2023

Olson made a few adjustments as last year progressed, but this one from August stuck for a while as he struggled in the second half (110 wRC+). The key difference is in his hand placement and bat tipping. In 2022, his hands were further from his body, and he cued a bat tip toward the third base dugout before getting his swing started. He changed that by slightly bringing in his hands and cueing a bat tip toward the pitcher instead. This changed the reciprocal movement that happens as a result of the bat tip.

The move you make with your hands before you swing directly determines the plane your barrel will enter the zone. If you have too many moves, you can make inconsistent entries into the hitting zone. It’s like a pitcher needing a consistent release point to maintain command. Be more repeatable in your mechanics, and you’ll have a repeatable entry into the hitting zone. Olson is still striking out more than he wants (35.3%), but his max exit velocity and quality of contact measures indicate he is making better contact on average compared to last year.

Another player who is a great example of this is Lars Nootbaar. Last year, he surprised many when he carried a 125 wRC+ through the end of the year, combining great plate discipline with hard contact — a perfect recipe for success. But in the World Baseball Classic, I noticed Nootbaar looked slightly different from the previous year. He narrowed out his posture and opened up his stance even more, making him appear as if he were getting stuck on his back side. Here is an example:

Lars Nootbaar plates another run for Japan!

?: FS1 and the FOX Sports App pic.twitter.com/xf5TqWnw48

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 11, 2023

While he did have a nice tournament, Nootbaar couldn’t keep the ball off the ground, and while hit a lot of them hard enough to get by infielders, he needs to elevate for his profile to work at its best. Here is his home run from earlier in the week of Chris Flexen:

You might not notice at first, but at peak leg lift, Nootbaar has created a better angle with his torso and closed off his stride foot compared to his swings in the WBC. This is almost identical to his form from 2022. When you have a previous version of yourself that worked, always use it as reference for when you’re getting suboptimal outcomes. In Nootbaar’s case, it was clear he had too much torso bend at contact during the WBC as a result of narrowing out, which messed up his swing plane. He made a simple adjustment that cleaned up his entry into the zone, and it now looks as if he assumed his 2022 form to start the season.

The final hitter I want to discuss in this piece is Alek Thomas. Unlike Nootbaar and Olson, he has yet to find the version of himself that can be consistent against big league pitching. Thomas is a very strong player, and it plays out it in his rotational power. You can easily see the bat speed he can produce — a key reason for his promising prospect pedigree. But he has yet to find his stride through his first 491 major league plate appearances. I enjoy watching Thomas; his skillset is very exciting. But he strikes me as somebody who can take a page out of the simplicity book. Here are a few swings of his from this year:

You never want to take something away from a hitter that makes them special; if somebody has an outlier skill, you find a way to build the swing (or pitch arsenal) around it. But I’m not sure that is exactly what is happening with Thomas. His carrying tools are bat speed and bat-to-ball skills, not the pre-pitch movements. I picked these three swings because they illuminate a hole in Thomas’ bat path. Hitters that drill center-cut curveballs into the ground like this (third swing) have steep entries into the hitting zone. That type of hitter can cover fastballs at the top of the zone (first swing) very well due to the steepness.

In my opinion, the main reason Thomas can’t get on plane with these curveballs, and sometimes fastballs in the heart of the plate, is because he gets stuck on his backside during his slow leg lift, keeping him from creating enough barrel depth to get on plane earlier with center-cut pitches. I’m not saying he should permanently remove the leg kick from his profile, but if the extra movement is negatively impacting his process, then it’s something he should consider. Olson and Nootbaar both provide examples of how simplification of movements can be beneficial. When your baseline of bat speed and bat-to-ball skills are already above average, all you have to do is put your body in the best position to make the most of those skills.

Like I said at the start of this piece, it’s all a game of adjustments. Olson has 183 career home runs, and he is still adjusting to be the best version of himself on a consistent basis. Nootbaar realized he got away from his best swing, promptly returned to it, and now looks fantastic at the plate once again. Like many hitters, Thomas is still figuring out what he needs to do to be the best version of himself. Perhaps he can benefit from the old mantra of KISS (the kinder version): (K)eep (I)t (S)uper (S)imple.