The Spring Training Thread

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[Clem Fandango]

Oh man, I almost forgot about that. I can't wait for baseball to start.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

hahahahaha, I thought about doing that the other day but knew you'd come through

[Cubswin11]

Looks the same to me +/- maybe a little more lift/higher finish. Maybe when you slow video down of every guys swing maybe they all mostly have that load back with their hands at the start of their swing like the video shows but that seems problematic.

 

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[Derwood]

He's still rolling his right ankle. I'm sure other players do that too, but the good hitters on the Cubs don't:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Willson does a "half roll"

 

 

 

 

 

Baez has an extreme ankle roll, but he's not exactly the model for good hitting form:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then there's future Cubs HoF'er Bryce Harper

 

[Cubswin11]

Good point and that’s a major concern. Seems to be a likely reason he can’t consistently hit balls hard/for power. That ankle roll is probably sapping a lot of his power/balance

[David]

he's always had a bunch of weird twitchy/hitchy things going on with his mechanics...who knows if the reason he broke even is a mechanical issue

[David]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfgz_LUDUJc/

[PackLandVA]

The trajectory of Heyward’s batted ball in the clip above did NOT appear to be a pop out to the SS behind third base. Crazy.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

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[Cubswin11]

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We’re winning 120 games this year

[Aaron_Kennelly]

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We’re winning 120 games this year

 

You think Drinky Joe will hold us back that much?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

god dammit, Duke. 67-95 now

[MWV]

He's still rolling his right ankle.

Anecdotal evidence, but I just watched a bunch of Heyward's highlights (mostly 2015 on), and literally every well-driven ball he hits, his front foot is flat. There may be something to this.

[Splendid Splinter]

He's still rolling his right ankle.

Anecdotal evidence, but I just watched a bunch of Heyward's highlights (mostly 2015 on), and literally every well-driven ball he hits, his front foot is flat. There may be something to this.

 

Is there a reason why he rolls his ankle? Like he's not balanced/shifting too much or quick from back to front when he swings? Just curious to know what would cause it and if it's somewhat "fixable".

[NewUserName]

So just limited to what i learned and taught my sons about hitting for power. Your front land foot should almost be slightly pushing against your leg/hip to help create torque to have more power. Very similar to pitching. Rolling your ankle seems to very much contridict that.

 

I am not a pro though.

[Bluescale]

Just a little awesome defense to start off the weekend.

 

https://www.mlb.com/cubs/video/happs-sensational-diving-grab/c-1875749883

 

Edit: Obviously I don't know how to embed this video...

[CubinNY]

He's still rolling his right ankle.

Anecdotal evidence, but I just watched a bunch of Heyward's highlights (mostly 2015 on), and literally every well-driven ball he hits, his front foot is flat. There may be something to this.

 

Is there a reason why he rolls his ankle? Like he's not balanced/shifting too much or quick from back to front when he swings? Just curious to know what would cause it and if it's somewhat "fixable".

It’s not necessarily the rolled ankle as much as it is where his foot is pointed. He almost need to pronate his right foot so he doesn’t fly open. That swing is made for the 4-3.

[Bluescale]

I was under the impression that Yu Darvish had moved to pitching exclusively from the stretch. This video from batting practice on the Tribune site shows him doing a full windup.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/95974823-132.html

 

Am I remembering incorrectly?

Edited February 25, 2018 by Bluescale

[Cubswin11]

Chatwood, Lester, Hendricks, Yu, and Q is the rotation order when the big boys start, starting this Monday. FWIW.

[David]

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they will have a bunch of the videos on mlb.com...just search their video section for cubs

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Still got it.

 

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[soccer10k]

Still got it.

 

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So...

 

Best case scenario is he goes 1-for the rest of spring.

 

Worst case scenario is he blows his knee out.

[CubinNY]

Our Cobs are going to rake this year.

[BigbadB]

Still got it.

 

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So...

 

Best case scenario is he goes 1-for the rest of spring.

 

Worst case scenario is he blows his knee out.

 

Because of this post, I now know that Mike Freeman used up his rookie status in 2017, thus cannot win ROY this year. Freeman played for 3 different teams last year, with his work with the Cubs far better than his work with the Padres and Mariners. His stats are trending in the right direction! His major league pitching stats are much better than his hitting stats, but that's not saying much. All in all, I now have a visual of opposing teams lobbing up underhand pitches to Freeman in hopes that the Cubs keep Freeman over Russell and Baez based on Spring Training stats. I used to be able to easily find the link to minor league stats on baseball.reference, but I guess they like playing hide and seek.