Sox Officially Sign Edwin Encarnacion (1YR/$12M), Kodi Medeiros DFA

[beck72]

I think this is a great signing. Another professional hitter who can hit pitcher's pitches as well as mistakes. He also seems like a guy like Abreu who can mentor the young guys. 

[oneofthemikes]

5 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

In Cleveland, he made positive impacts on emergent stars Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and with the Blue Jays he could do the same for Guerrero and crew.

It’s a role that at this point of his career, he relishes.

“In Cleveland, we had a lot of young players with great talent,” Encarnacion says. “They knew how to play the game right but sometimes you need a veteran guy. Sometimes they get in a slump and that’s a good opportunity to talk to those guys and it’s a pleasure for me to do that because when I was a rookie a lot of guys helped me with that. I feel blessed to help those young kids coming up.”

This is not launch angle specific but since Encarnacion and Mazara are both Dominican and he seems to like helping the youngsters it seems very plausable if it is something the Sox coaching staff deems necessary.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-reunion-edwin-encarnacion-benefit-young-stars/

Since the statcast era began in 2015 the launch angle phenomena has gained a solid footing in the sport and many clubs are adopting it . There are players who talk about being big proponents of it and that makes other players curious about it. So there is a type of word of mouth grassroots type deal at play or was in the beginning of the statcast era.

I also found this article about the Indians interesting about smaller players like Lindor and Jose Ramirez being taught something more than launch angle but contact point and pulling the ball to hit more home runs. The basic philosophy being when you pull the ball and hit it at the right contact point the launch angle takes care of itself. Also obviously when you pull the ball the chances of hitting a HR increase because you just can't hit as many HR's to CF or the opposite field when you are limited in size and strength.

This kind of philosophy seems to go against how we hear about advanced hitting approaches letting the ball get deeper and hitting the opposite way. So each player has to find what's best for them. Mazara is a big guy and has huge strength so perhaps he doesn't have to do it like Lindor or Ramirez and just a swing plane/path/launch angle difference would allow him to still go the other way and continue what he knows best which is being a gap to gap type hitter and create enough loft to carry the ball over the fence to all fields.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cleveland-has-taken-the-fly-ball-revolution-to-the-next-level/

Eloy Jimenez is another Dominican and also could benefit with an improved average launch angle. Eloy was in the top 8% in the league in hard hit % and many of his HR's go to right and CF but he was below league average in average launch angle, If he increased his launch angle and contact point to pull the ball more no telling how good he could become. However he does seem to have that same kind of hitting style as Mazara so perhaps again all he might have to do is just increase the launch angle a bit more and those hard hit outs he's making on the ground or line drives right at people end up going over the heads of infielders instead and also over the fence more.

Wow, that’s awesome. Thanks so much for gathering that stuff! 

[Capital G]

I am hoping he gets into Eloy and Mazara's heads about launch angle. That alone would make him worth that contract.

Send Collins to AAA to get bats daily and work on his D. We need him as the back-up C next year.

Sign a RP or 2.

 

Not sure this will happen but I really hope we can extend Madrigal and Robert so we can get them on OD. I really think we can compete for the division and those games may end up being crucial. I'd rather have them than Mendick and Angel/L. Garcia (or Pillar) playing on OD.

[MiddleCoastBias]

5 minutes ago, Capital G said:

I am hoping he gets into Eloy and Mazara's heads about launch angle. That alone would make him worth that contract.

Send Collins to AAA to get bats daily and work on his D. We need him as the back-up C next year.

Sign a RP or 2.

 

Not sure this will happen but I really hope we can extend Madrigal and Robert so we can get them on OD. I really think we can compete for the division and those games may end up being crucial. I'd rather have them than Mendick and Angel/L. Garcia (or Pillar) playing on OD.

This is a broader question outside of EE, but anyone concerned about the cyclical nature of the game swinging back from the HRs and launch angle, and limiting Eloy? All it takes is MLB overreacting and changing the ball again, and now we have Eloy's development years geared toward hitting dingers that end up as long pop outs.

Not saying that's guaranteed, just that I want Eloy to be focused on being the best pure, all-around hitter with monster power, and not just limit it to being a Joc Pederson high-launch-angle-dependent guy.

[thxfrthmmrs]

6 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

In Cleveland, he made positive impacts on emergent stars Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and with the Blue Jays he could do the same for Guerrero and crew.

It’s a role that at this point of his career, he relishes.

“In Cleveland, we had a lot of young players with great talent,” Encarnacion says. “They knew how to play the game right but sometimes you need a veteran guy. Sometimes they get in a slump and that’s a good opportunity to talk to those guys and it’s a pleasure for me to do that because when I was a rookie a lot of guys helped me with that. I feel blessed to help those young kids coming up.”

This is not launch angle specific but since Encarnacion and Mazara are both Dominican and he seems to like helping the youngsters it seems very plausable if it is something the Sox coaching staff deems necessary.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-reunion-edwin-encarnacion-benefit-young-stars/

Since the statcast era began in 2015 the launch angle phenomena has gained a solid footing in the sport and many clubs are adopting it . There are players who talk about being big proponents of it and that makes other players curious about it. So there is a type of word of mouth grassroots type deal at play or was in the beginning of the statcast era.

I also found this article about the Indians interesting about smaller players like Lindor and Jose Ramirez being taught something more than launch angle but contact point and pulling the ball to hit more home runs. The basic philosophy being when you pull the ball and hit it at the right contact point the launch angle takes care of itself. Also obviously when you pull the ball the chances of hitting a HR increase because you just can't hit as many HR's to CF or the opposite field when you are limited in size and strength.

This kind of philosophy seems to go against how we hear about advanced hitting approaches letting the ball get deeper and hitting the opposite way. So each player has to find what's best for them. Mazara is a big guy and has huge strength so perhaps he doesn't have to do it like Lindor or Ramirez and just a swing plane/path/launch angle difference would allow him to still go the other way and continue what he knows best which is being a gap to gap type hitter and create enough loft to carry the ball over the fence to all fields.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cleveland-has-taken-the-fly-ball-revolution-to-the-next-level/

Eloy Jimenez is another Dominican and also could benefit with an improved average launch angle. Eloy was in the top 8% in the league in hard hit % and many of his HR's go to right and CF but he was below league average in average launch angle, If he increased his launch angle and contact point to pull the ball more no telling how good he could become. However he does seem to have that same kind of hitting style as Mazara so perhaps again all he might have to do is just increase the launch angle a bit more and those hard hit outs he's making on the ground or line drives right at people end up going over the heads of infielders instead and also over the fence more.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/league

Sox as a team last season had the 4th lowest launch angle, and Mazara falls right in line with that average. I know EE cannot give advice to everybody and get into their head to change their swing mechanics but if he could just get Mazara to make the adjustments and unlock his toolbox, I hope that’s enough convinces the front office and coaching staff to finally start getting on board with the revolution.

Also worth noting the Twins had the highest launch angle of anyone last season.

[Steve9347]

26 minutes ago, MiddleCoastBias said:

This is a broader question outside of EE, but anyone concerned about the cyclical nature of the game swinging back from the HRs and launch angle, and limiting Eloy? All it takes is MLB overreacting and changing the ball again, and now we have Eloy's development years geared toward hitting dingers that end up as long pop outs.

Not saying that's guaranteed, just that I want Eloy to be focused on being the best pure, all-around hitter with monster power, and not just limit it to being a Joc Pederson high-launch-angle-dependent guy.

I highly suggest watching a YouTube clip of Eloy’s homers last year. A ball change isn’t keeping those balls from going out of the park. 
 

a ball change would concern me much more regarding Moncada and Anderson. 

[daggins]

4 minutes ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/league

Sox as a team last season had the 4th lowest launch angle, and Mazara falls right in line with that average. I know EE cannot give advice to everybody and get into their head to change their swing mechanics but if he could just get Mazara to make the adjustments and unlock his toolbox, I hope that’s enough convinces the front office and coaching staff to finally start getting on board with the revolution.

Also worth noting the Twins had the highest launch angle of anyone last season.

This is interesting, thanks. Just at a cursory glance, the Sox had the 12th highest exit velocity but the 4th lowest launch angle. They hit the second fewest fly balls but the 5th MOST line drives. They are primed to do some damage, it only remains to see if they can do so.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 minutes ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

Also worth noting the Twins had the highest launch angle of anyone last season.

A huge reason the Twins should regress quite a bit next year with a de-juiced ball.

[SoxAce]

15 minutes ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/league

Sox as a team last season had the 4th lowest launch angle, and Mazara falls right in line with that average. I know EE cannot give advice to everybody and get into their head to change their swing mechanics but if he could just get Mazara to make the adjustments and unlock his toolbox, I hope that’s enough convinces the front office and coaching staff to finally start getting on board with the revolution.

Also worth noting the Twins had the highest launch angle of anyone last season.

Nice find. 

[thxfrthmmrs]

7 minutes ago, daggins said:

This is interesting, thanks. Just at a cursory glance, the Sox had the 12th highest exit velocity but the 4th lowest launch angle. They hit the second fewest fly balls but the 5th MOST line drives. They are primed to do some damage, it only remains to see if they can do so.

Yea and while Tigers had the 5th highest launch angle they also hit less than half of the HRs Twins did. Something tells me their number is inflated due to a bunch of popups, hence the low barrel % and exit velo.

The Sox however had one of the higher barrel % and EV last season, so they were probably hitting a lot of line drives. That suggests adopting more of an uppercut swing and increasing the launch angle will do wonders for this team.

[Steve9347]

Never change, Reddit. 

[Jerksticks]

Dejuicing the ball would make the white sox the ‘27 Yankees.  We actually have light-tower power at 8/9 positions, juice or not.  

[SCCWS]

5 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

EE should never rest against LHP.  And Grandal should be getting at least 140 starts next year whether at C or 1B / DH.  From an offense only perspective, Collins is a much better fit for a backup role now that we’ve signed EE.

As this roster takes shape, I think Grandal's starts usuage becomes more important. He normally catches 130ish and usually has a post all-star drop-off.  Hopefully the Sox manage his catching starts while giving him DH ones in place. The Sox may very well be in contention down the stretch and we will need his bat in September. 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

2 hours ago, MiddleCoastBias said:

This is a broader question outside of EE, but anyone concerned about the cyclical nature of the game swinging back from the HRs and launch angle, and limiting Eloy? All it takes is MLB overreacting and changing the ball again, and now we have Eloy's development years geared toward hitting dingers that end up as long pop outs.

Not saying that's guaranteed, just that I want Eloy to be focused on being the best pure, all-around hitter with monster power, and not just limit it to being a Joc Pederson high-launch-angle-dependent guy.

I've seen some articles that address this. Old school coaches being afraid of it. But that fact is that it's not anything dramatic and studies do show that ground balls equal outs and elevating the ball equals hits, If you are in the upper 8% of hard hit balls in the league your batting average should be higher than .268. There were not any dramatic shifts on Eloy taking hits away from him. He was just hitting too many ground balls,

In Ted Williams book about the science of hitting in 1971 he also said the bat path should have a slight upward path. I'm not suggesting anything radical. There are documented guys like Donaldson Rendon, Max Muncy, Chris Taylor who all benefited greatly from a change in average launch angle. I don't know if the Dodgers are teaching it specifically.,but I used to wonder "Where is our Max Muncy "? Sometimes there's a thing we call player development that helps young players reach their potential . I'd love to see some of that.

This should address some of your concerns :

https://baseballrebellion.com/articles/launch-angle-the-most-misunderstood-term-in-hitting/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/mlb-launch-angles-story/?utm_term=.64f56207224a

Edited December 26, 2019 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[PolishPrince34]

8 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

In Cleveland, he made positive impacts on emergent stars Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and with the Blue Jays he could do the same for Guerrero and crew.

It’s a role that at this point of his career, he relishes.

“In Cleveland, we had a lot of young players with great talent,” Encarnacion says. “They knew how to play the game right but sometimes you need a veteran guy. Sometimes they get in a slump and that’s a good opportunity to talk to those guys and it’s a pleasure for me to do that because when I was a rookie a lot of guys helped me with that. I feel blessed to help those young kids coming up.”

This is not launch angle specific but since Encarnacion and Mazara are both Dominican and he seems to like helping the youngsters it seems very plausable if it is something the Sox coaching staff deems necessary.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-reunion-edwin-encarnacion-benefit-young-stars/

Since the statcast era began in 2015 the launch angle phenomena has gained a solid footing in the sport and many clubs are adopting it . There are players who talk about being big proponents of it and that makes other players curious about it. So there is a type of word of mouth grassroots type deal at play or was in the beginning of the statcast era.

I also found this article about the Indians interesting about smaller players like Lindor and Jose Ramirez being taught something more than launch angle but contact point and pulling the ball to hit more home runs. The basic philosophy being when you pull the ball and hit it at the right contact point the launch angle takes care of itself. Also obviously when you pull the ball the chances of hitting a HR increase because you just can't hit as many HR's to CF or the opposite field when you are limited in size and strength.

This kind of philosophy seems to go against how we hear about advanced hitting approaches letting the ball get deeper and hitting the opposite way. So each player has to find what's best for them. Mazara is a big guy and has huge strength so perhaps he doesn't have to do it like Lindor or Ramirez and just a swing plane/path/launch angle difference would allow him to still go the other way and continue what he knows best which is being a gap to gap type hitter and create enough loft to carry the ball over the fence to all fields.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cleveland-has-taken-the-fly-ball-revolution-to-the-next-level/

Eloy Jimenez is another Dominican and also could benefit with an improved average launch angle. Eloy was in the top 8% in the league in hard hit % and many of his HR's go to right and CF but he was below league average in average launch angle, If he increased his launch angle and contact point to pull the ball more no telling how good he could become. However he does seem to have that same kind of hitting style as Mazara so perhaps again all he might have to do is just increase the launch angle a bit more and those hard hit outs he's making on the ground or line drives right at people end up going over the heads of infielders instead and also over the fence more.

This is great stuff. Love the article on what Cleveland is doing. Must read!!!!

[SoxAce]

 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

1 hour ago, daggins said:

This is interesting, thanks. Just at a cursory glance, the Sox had the 12th highest exit velocity but the 4th lowest launch angle. They hit the second fewest fly balls but the 5th MOST line drives. They are primed to do some damage, it only remains to see if they can do so.

Exactly and even though all line drives cannot be hits  a line drive should result more often in a hit but if you aren't elevating that line drive enough it won't get over the infielders head. One of the hardest hit balls Eloy hit last year was a groundball out at somewhere at like 115 MPH. It really a waste of exit velocity which is a result of barrel % and  hard hit %.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

8 minutes ago, PolishPrince34 said:

This is great stuff. Love the article on what Cleveland is doing. Must read!!!!

Well its been known for a long time that pulling the ball results in more HR's but it isn't for veryone , You can get pull happy and this makes you susceptible to a lot of breaking pitches. Big guys like Mazara , Eloy, EE , JDM all do not need to pull the ball to hit HR's . Just elevate it a little more and you get more hits and more HR's to all fields.

[ptatc]

8 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

When he catches against lefthanded pitching, perhaps also if still used as Giolitios personal catcher and at 37 Encarncion will need rest so against LH's when resting EE.

I dont think they should sit EE against LH pitching. That's his strength. 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

2 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

Yea and while Tigers had the 5th highest launch angle they also hit less than half of the HRs Twins did. Something tells me their number is inflated due to a bunch of popups, hence the low barrel % and exit velo.

The Sox however had one of the higher barrel % and EV last season, so they were probably hitting a lot of line drives. That suggests adopting more of an uppercut swing and increasing the launch angle will do wonders for this team.

You can have a good average launch angle and still be a bad hitter. I know that's what you are saying. If you are a naturally good hitter jacking up the launch angle a little bit can only help you. Eloy and Mazara fit into that category because they do hit to all fields but they both also ground out way too much when they barrel up the ball and hit it hard.It's not just selling out for dingers as another poster was worried about.

While the best hitters have an average launch angle somewhere in the 15 degrees range, the ideal launch angle for a HR is 25 to 30 degrees. This is where your contact point comes in. We can all probably agree that the highest percent of HR's are balls that are pulled . which means hitters are making contact with the ball out in front of the plate which will always increase the launch angle naturally.

Edited December 26, 2019 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

18 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I dont think they should sit EE against LH pitching. That's his strength. 

I was just using an example . EE will get rest mostly against RH's but if he is hurting or banged up .McCann will be catching more and getting starts against LH's too.

[Jake]

The danger with trying to alter a player's launch angle is that there's more than one way to do it and you need to pick the right one. You could keep the swing the same and improve the launch angle by getting a guy to hit the ball more out front (i.e., earlier). Someone else might need a change to their swing path. Another guy might just need to improve his approach and swing at pitches that can be elevated. Sometimes focusing on the desired end result too much can get in the way of finding the right solution.

[bmags]

Fegan going to do a Q&A in 15 minutes on the athletic

[bmags]

4 minutes ago, Jake said:

The danger with trying to alter a player's launch angle is that there's more than one way to do it and you need to pick the right one. You could keep the swing the same and improve the launch angle by getting a guy to hit the ball more out front (i.e., earlier). Someone else might need a change to their swing path. Another guy might just need to improve his approach and swing at pitches that can be elevated. Sometimes focusing on the desired end result too much can get in the way of finding the right solution.

Right, Lindor and JR were approach driven. JD Martinez was swing driven.

[bmags]

Just now, bmags said:

Right, Lindor and JR were approach driven. JD Martinez was swing driven.

That said, certainly appears Mazaras is approach driven.