4/25/24 - Astros (Justin Verlander) @ Cubs (Javier Assad) - 1:20P WFT on Marquee

[Bertz]

I actually kind of love that PCA is so aggressive.  We had some conversation over the winter, I forget the genesis, but basically I think the perfect lineup is not 9 Juan Soto types it's like 7 Juan Sotos and two Pablo Sandovals.  You want some aggression in your lineup and you want some hair on fire to make sure you never get to the point of being passive.

So with PCA he does not need to try and cosplay as Mike Tauchman or Ian Happ at the plate.  If he wants to swing at like 60% of the pitches he sees, great.  I think there are two areas to work on though.  First he's got to tone down the chase.  He definitely did not do that frequency at Iowa this year, but hopefully made progress in terms of degree.  The other is to find the specific areas in the strikezone to hyperfocus on.  This is where 1908's note about him getting worked up and away comes in.  If Pete can hold back a bit there and then go hog wild down and in that's plenty.  Luis Robert has great success with a similar deal where he swings 80%+ in and especially up and tones it down to a still pretty high 70% down and away.

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, Bertz said:

I actually kind of love that PCA is so aggressive.  We had some conversation over the winter, I forget the genesis, but basically I think the perfect lineup is not 9 Juan Soto types it's like 7 Juan Sotos and two Pablo Sandovals.  You want some aggression in your lineup and you want some hair on fire to make sure you never get to the point of being passive.

So with PCA he does not need to try and cosplay as Mike Tauchman or Ian Happ at the plate.  If he wants to swing at like 60% of the pitches he sees, great.  I think there are two areas to work on though.  First he's got to tone down the chase.  He definitely did not do that frequency at Iowa this year, but hopefully made progress in terms of degree.  The other is to find the specific areas in the strikezone to hyperfocus on.  This is where 1908's note about him getting worked up and away comes in.  If Pete can hold back a bit there and then go hog wild down and in that's plenty.  Luis Robert has great success with a similar deal where he swings 80%+ in and especially up and tones it down to a still pretty high 70% down and away.

Oh yeah, I think there's a place for a more-free-swinging option to be apart of a lineup. With that said, with all things, moderation is key. Too much of anything, patience, aggression, whatever rarely results in a positive outcome. PCA has needed a refinement in his aggression, at least IMO, for a while, to reach the ceiling. I'm all for PCA having controlled aggression: swing a bunch in 0-0 counts, in hitters counts...etc. He makes enough contact and barrels that it's a fine strategy for him. I just want him to cut the chase down.

Triple-A pitchers have seemed to zero in on this, upping his non-competitive strike% from 16% to 22%. PCA is just too aggressive right now. If he can tone it down, and just be...aggressive, he's going to be a pretty good offensive player, IMO.