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I like Gold Gloves and I cannot lie: the Jason Heyward thread

NOLA

By NOLA,
in Chicago Cubs Talk

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Derwood GOAT

Derwood

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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He's such an enigma. When he squares up a ball, his home run swing is so pretty. Is he just overthinking everything? Maybe he should shotgun a couple beers before every at bat to chill the eff out
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Bobson Dugnutt ACL Cubs

Bobson Dugnutt

Old-Timey Member
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He's such an enigma. When he squares up a ball, his home run swing is so pretty. Is he just overthinking everything? Maybe he should shotgun a couple beers before every at bat to chill the eff out

 

see, my idea is already going places. it could make a killing for Cubs charities.

biittner77 South Bend Cubs

biittner77

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
He's such an enigma. When he squares up a ball, his home run swing is so pretty. Is he just overthinking everything? Maybe he should shotgun a couple beers before every at bat to chill the eff out

 

see, my idea is already going places. it could make a killing for Cubs charities.

 

This reminded me of the time when Reggie Jackson guest starred on The Love Boat

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0636667/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

 

At the end of the episode, a young kid gives him a batting tip that worked for him in little league.

Liam Neeson First Round Pick

Liam Neeson

Old-Timey Member
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There was once a dream that was Fixed Heyward. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the rest of the season.
mul21 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

mul21

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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meh...take what we can get

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

Edmonds was doing the color commentary for the Cards broadcast last night and did a little breakdown of Heyward at the point of contact with the ball that I thought was interesting. The essence was that he's not staying down low enough at contact and that's a big reason for all the 4-3s.

The_Achiever Draft Eligible

The_Achiever

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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As silly as it sounds for a guy with clear mechanical issues, I think it really comes down to confidence with JHey.

 

You could say that about any hitter but I think everyone has relaxed to the point that nobody is expecting him to be a slugger. Any offense he provides is now basically viewed as a bonus. Hopefully he keeps it up into the playoffs.

Transmogrified Tiger All-Star

Transmogrified Tiger

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Interesting that his UZR shows a pretty big dip this year. He was +21 from 2012-2016 but only +11 this year. That appears to be exclusively because of range, but his rate of in zone plays made or number of out of zone plays made aren't any different. I remember noticing screwy stuff about the RZR of other players earlier in the year too. If you consider him the same caliber defender, then he's knocking on the door of a 2 win season after this hot streak. Which is like the most damning faint praise you can give, but something to cling to after how horrific his August was.
Aaron_Kennelly South Bend Cubs

Aaron_Kennelly

Verified Member
Posted
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Heyward started to perform a little better in late August and I argued before the September 14 game that it was all fluky because of his line drive %. Basically he was still hitting the ball like a weakling like he had the previous month, but he was hitting balls at launch angles conducive to getting base hits. They were nearly all singles and it was just small sample size noise that he was getting singles to fall in and I said he'd go back to not having them fall in and he'd suck.

 

In 77 PA from 8/22 to 9/13, he hit .290/.351/.362 and had an average exit velocity of 83.9 mph.

 

In 100 PA in the month before, from 7/21 to 8/20, he hit .209/.280/.297 with an 84.9 mph average exit velocity.

 

Heyward started off the year relatively strong before his swing got all fucked up again, and he was hitting the ball hard. In 131 PA through May 25, Heyward hit .256/.336/.427 and his average exit velocity was 89.7 mph.

 

So I argued in the September 14 game thread that he was still broken and had no hopes of contributing the rest of the year since he was still hitting the ball as weakly as ever.

 

Since I posted that, Heyward's hit .267/.405/.533 in 39 PA with an average exit velocity of 90.9 mph.

 

What I'm trying to say is that he is still completely broken and hopeless and he won't have any big hits at all in the playoffs. And he should just pack it in for the rest of the year.

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
Regular Show ACL Cubs

Regular Show

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
amateur hitting coaches assemble! IT'S JASON HEYWARD SWING WATCH '18! Back with more short internet clips to obsess over

https://www.instagram.com/p/BccVnBZnA7S/?hl=en&taken-by=jheylove22

 

This isn't the best way to observe any changes (if he's made any to his swing). I mean it looks pretty similar to me. I hope Chili Davis can work some magic on his swing.

 

I always thought his swing (during his time on the Cubs) is too dependent on just arm strength and just utilizing his arms. He isn't using his wrists enough to rotate and square up with the ball. The path of his swing is also not great when/if you watch it in slow-motion. He also has problems with his front side opening up, and his weight distribution is also messed up on many of his swings. He relies too much on just using his arms and upper-body strength in his swings. I wanted to make a post about this during the season, but was too lazy and he honestly was hitting decently at the beginning of the year. I never believed in his early performance, and thought he would struggle again because the swing is still messed up. I mentioned all that in this thread. Again, I'm not an expert on swing mechanics so I can't break it down scientifically and tell you everything that is wrong with his swing. I've just watched a lot of baseball like most everyone here. My observations:

 

a7f0f32048824fb3410a706e551746ac

Like I said, his right arm is locked up and way too straight. So many of his swings look like this from the sideview. It's not the worst swing ever, but it's not ideal.

 

619121084.jpg?w=1200

I believe he's late on this one, and again his arms are too straight (especially his right arm).

 

613447576.0.jpg

He looks like this so often when he's swinging from the sideview. Again, just swinging with his arms and his timing is often off as well. If you watch other hitters you really start to notice how rigid his arms are, and how little he utilizes his wrists.

 

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Chicago+Cubs+v+Atlanta+Braves+OpNKS4AHlaol.jpg

Finally, I found a swing from his days in Atlanta, and this one looks a lot better. It also looks pretty different from the other swings. His right arm isn't straight and "locked in" and he has a better angle to the ball in this swing.

 

I had other pics that show the same flaws, but what's the point? Again, I'm not a swing mechanics expert and his swing does look okay occasionally when he times it right. I have no idea how the Cubs intend to fix him, but I hope he works hard and makes some positive changes to his swing. Sorry about the long post lol.

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