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Prospect Focus: Gavin Sheets (or, where is the power?)


NorthSideSox72

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Nice article.  I was never that concerned re HRs because everything else looked fine but I do wonder about making changes at higher competition levels messing someone up.  I am fine with a team of guys who don't k but have OBP of .800

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3 hours ago, NorthSideSox72 said:

Is it a problem that Gavin Sheets, drafted for his plus power, has yet to hit a home run in 2018? Probably not. I dove into the question in detail here, with video and quotes.

What do you all think (after reading the article)?

 

The approach is way more important than power at this stage of his development.Same can be said of Rutherford and I am genuinely amazed so many treat minor league players as if they are finished products. Sheets seems like a throw back type who knows striking out doesn't accomplish anything.

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Nice article. I'm still just so surprised he hasn't accidentally run into home runs down there. But for a guy like him, he needs more than contact, he's going to need to learn soon which pitches he can hit for power, vs just hit. So I hope this pays off.

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11 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

The approach is way more important than power at this stage of his development.Same can be said of Rutherford and I am genuinely amazed so many treat minor league players as if they are finished products. Sheets seems like a throw back type who knows striking out doesn't accomplish anything.

Yeah I would much rather see him showing approach and minimal power, versus LTP and no approach.

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Nice article and an observation. When he faces a sinker baller, he doesn't seem to be skilled right now at making the pitcher get the ball up. Have seen a few games this year where low pitch after low pitch, all he did was chop it on the ground 

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Nice article. The swing is not bad. As a hitting coach working with kids I see one thing though. He is losing his posture a little, the head dives slightly forward and down. This shifts his rotation axis forward and costs him some loft. Most sluggers keep the head more over the rear hip during the turn. There are some guys who succeed with the head forward though. Arenado come to mind but he as a very vertical bat path were the bat head goes down steeply and then turns up like a ferris wheel while really getting the front elbow  up.

 

For comparison here is Bryant who keeps the head back and stays behind the axis

Both can work but when you lose that axis it gets a little tougher and you need some workarounds.

 

 

 

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23 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

The approach is way more important than power at this stage of his development.Same can be said of Rutherford and I am genuinely amazed so many treat minor league players as if they are finished products. Sheets seems like a throw back type who knows striking out doesn't accomplish anything.

Most teams focus in the minor leagues is developing an advanced approach at the plate so that when they are called up they don't have holes in their game that pitchers can exploit.

The focus on raw power numbers always comes much later for clubs. Rutherford was never a guy who was projected to hit 40HR and had the natural power of some other prospects. He more of a line drive guy who will hit 20 most years maybe 30 every couple or so. I'm glad after last year reading the articles he is more focused on hitting the ball hard and correcting his approach and swing.

In his own words.

"I'm still a young guy. I'm still trying to find my approach and my swing," he said. "I still have a lot of growth to do and weight to put on. There's a lot of time to learn to hit home runs.

"I definitely think the power will come down the road. Who knows when it comes or if it will come, it's not really in my hands. I'm just going to try and compete every at-bat. ... I don't want to turn into a guy that just swings up. I want to be able to hit line drives all around the field."

Edited by wrathofhahn
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