Thoughts about hitters & stupid s***

[The Ultimate Champion]

Okay so I wanted to make a thread about something so now I am doing it.

 

Daayan Viciedo: I was just thinking now (or remembering) about JPN making posts about this guy when he was playing 3B for the Barons and how he seemed to have issues recognizing bounces and depth and etc. which is why they moved him to LF in the first place. Now I know Viciedo has pretty elite bat speed and above average raw power, and his hand-eye coordination skills are very high because of his contact rate. But just thinking about this guy, I don't ever think he's going to make it at all, because he just can't barrell the ball up consistently.

 

Normally with pitchers it is pretty easy to judge talent level because all you are looking for is velocity, break, release point, etc. but with hitters I have always found it much more difficult to judge talent level, and it seems like mechanics are always shrouding potential in this like dark mystical funerial pall where you think "if only this guy could take this hitch out of his swing" or if only he could decide on this toe-tap or this stance or whatever then maybe he could make enough solid contact to actually take the next step. But I was just thinking about Viciedo and also Carlos Sanchez being called mini Maggs by Hawk, and neither of those guys seem to barrell the ball up with any consistency. Viciedo obviously has huge pop naturally and Sanchez is up there with a newspaper in his hand & if he doesn't barrell the ball up the ball goes like four feet and wheezes and it's done, but Maggs, like Abreu, just seemed to barrell that motherf***er up whenever he wanted to, I mean roids or no roids that guy got the barrell of the bat on the ball with regularity.

 

WTF are paragraphs for?

 

So with pitchers I was thinking the talent level is pretty easy to judge if you've seen enough of them but with hitters the focus is so often on mechanics, pop, etc. I've been thinking about it, and I think now that really the "talent level" of a hitter is all in that hitter's ability to naturally barrell the ball up. Now you take Abreu, and scouts talked about his bat speed as a negative, but guess what? That guy puts the barrell of the bat on the ball with regularity. In Maggs case we must assume he was more clean that not due to lack of evidence, but even if he was a roider, sure the roids are going to help his recovery on a game to game basis, sure they are going to increase the strength and durability of his wrists and forearms, and sure they are going to help him get the bat through the zone quicker, but Viciedo is a perfect example of a guy with very strong wrists and forearms and elite bat speed with big raw poewer - bigger than Maggs power was - but he just CAN NOT barrell that ball up consistently. So Maggs, roids or not, that guy had some hand-eye coordination skills and internal timing abilities that Viciedo apparently never has had nor ever will have. And so this gets me thinking about potential and so forth, and hitter talent level, and what I am thinking is that the ability to consistently barrell up the baseball should be the #1 first and foremost quality ever looked at in any hitting prospect or young player, and in the case of Viceido (and Carlos Sanchez potentially also, although it's not fair to judge him just off the little I've seen) I think once you've seen that the guy just can't sdo this stuff consistantly you need to (as a GM) put it in the back of your mind that (unlike an Abreu or Maggs) this is someone you can give up in the right deal.

 

I think that the ability to barrell up the baseball is more than just a tool or something, it is an innate, unteachable ability that can never be gained and maybe never even lost either. IE mechanics, steroids, workout routines, etc. may put a hitter in better position to use his innate abilities to find the ball with the barrell, but you just can't make any changes to gain those abilities if you lack them, because they are acquired abilities and not learnable skills. So Viciedo will never make it, and in the case of someone like Sanchez, you look at extra things like position, speed, baserunning ability, fundamentals etc as you try to define his role and where he fits. But you just can't assume he'll acquire a set of abilities (not skills) that he was never in posession of nor will ever be in posession of.

 

Anyway this all gets me thinking, Marcus Semien seemed to have a lot of the confidence s*** going on while he was here. But he definitely did seem to get the barrell on the ball quite a bit, same thing as Alex Rios. Now maybe with Semien it's just a youth/inexperience thing, we don't know yet, but with Rios all the natural innate stuff is there, but it's just more of a mental thing. I'm going to compare Javy Vazquez to Alex Rios: both have/had the raw "stuff" i.e. Javy has all the pitches, movement, etc. and Alex has the ability to consistently barrell the ball up along with secondary abilities like enough pop and bat speed, but both are not/were not/never will be capable of reaching their true absolutel ceilings. And just like Scott Carroll is never going to overachieve his way into a 94mph sinking fastball with wicked late movement, Dayan Viciedo is never going to suddenly barrell the ball up all time. Sure, you can blame pitch recognition and all that s***, and he can take more walks if you sap his aggressiveness, but just watch Jose Abreu last night, knowing the pitcher was trying to go around him, he's looking outside heat, he gets a hanger and he's able to adjust and smack it right up the middle. That is not Dayan Viciedo and never will be Dayan Viciedo, and it's not just because Abreu is "smarter" or he's "more professional" or has "better mechanics" it is because he posesses an elite ability Viciedo never has had nor ever will have. But maybe Semien has some of that ability, I was just kind of thinking about that, and also wondering if maybe Tim Anderson in the minors does too. Can this guy barrell the ball up regaularly? Because if so I think that ability should be viewed with the same level for hitters as you view "stuff" for pitchers, and we should try to keep the guys who can do this sort of thing regularly and ditch the ones who can't.

 

Also WTF am I talking about? Can anyone tell me? We suck right now.

 

Please enter your thoughts in the fields below. These fileds are comment fields and like to be typed into. It feels good to a comment field when you type in a comment field, but unless you press "post reply" or whatever it is just a tease. Don't be a tease. Also I like turtles but not half as much as wite like Dunn that giant piece of crap. Thank you.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Also I was thinking about players like Andy Wilkins and so on, fringey types too. With Jordan Danks its easy, the bat speed isn't there, so you can write him off as a 4th OF at best. But in the case with someone like Wilkins, who I haven't seen, I'd rather compare Wilkins' ability to barrell up the baseball to the abilities of a more "toolsy" player's ability to barrell up the baseball and forget about secondary characteristics like speed, power, bat speed, age, level, etc. Can this guy find the basebal with the barrell of the bat at all? How often? And then use that as the main determining factor in trying to decide who gets kept when trades are made, who gets promoted, who gets the opportunities, etc. Stats and hits, etc. are just little things, anyone can stick the bat out there and get a hit or make an out, anyone can stand there with the bat on the shoulder and let the pitcher walk him, anyone can read the pitcher and observe the strengths and weaknesses of the pitcher and observe the patterns, but when the ball is in the strikezone and you swing, how often do you find the barrell whether you make a hit or out? Maybe LD% is the best statistical indicator but I think you'd just have to rely on the observations of your coaches and so on.

Edited August 28, 2014 by The Ultimate Champion

[2nd_city_saint787]

All Hawk is saying when he calls Sanchez mini Maggs is that look a like, literally. He's not comparing how they look at the plate or who they are as players.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2014 by scs787

[witesoxfan]

I think the White Sox should sign Adam Dunn to a 25 year deal worth $1 trillion.

[lasttriptotulsa]

I think the White Sox should sign Adam Dunn to a 25 year deal worth $1 trillion.

 

Wait! What? Is that $1 trillion over the life of the contract or per year? I would certainly be willing to do the $25 billion per year, but $1 trillion per is just pushing it.

[witesoxfan]

Wait! What? Is that $1 trillion over the life of the contract or per year? I would certainly be willing to do the $25 billion per year, but $1 trillion per is just pushing it.

 

$25 billion per year. I'm not crazy, only someone as good as Willie Bloomquist or Lyle Mouton is worth $1 trillion per year.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Oh I know it's all a looks thing re: comparing Maggs to Sanchez. But Hawk simply mentioning those two together made me think of both in the way they are able to put the bat on the ball. Carlos is a stocky player, his hands are pretty quick, and while he could never be a big HR guy or anything there is enough there to hit the ball hard if he could barrell it.

 

I know there are timing mechanisms and everything, and mechanics have a lot to do with all that stuff.

 

I guess what I am saying is that with a hitter, there is a general, innate, internal awareness of where the bat is when he holds it in his hand along with where the ball is as it is coming into the specific area the hitter is antipicating.

 

I've compared hitters to fighters before and this might be a good comp. A boxer doesn't need elite hand speed to beat you, nor does he need to pack the most power to knock you out. Anticipation, awareness, feel, etc. these are things that I think apply very much to hitters as they do to boxers, kickboxers, etc. You can improve your footwork as a fighter, you can become more technical in the way you throw your punches, you can work to minimize the time it takes you to land your shot on your opponent and you can do things to open up that opportunity by adopting patterns, stances etc. Hitters are the same way. You can make changes to help you get the bat through the zone, you can stand in a different place in the box, you can roid to the gills to increase the size of your forearms or ramp up your bat speed BUT can you find the ball with the barrell of the bat? Can you find that chin? Just like older boxers with innate natural abilities can compensate for diminished physical attributes so can hitters. It's why Paul Konerko can still give you a good AB and why Barry Bonds on roids was totally different than a lot of the other players who appeared on those lists. It's why an older Abreu or Miguel Cabrera is still going to be a great hitter, because they will be able to start earlier and compensate but still find the barrell. I think most hitters just don't have that extreme level of awareness & it's nothing you can really learn or improve upon. Just watch a great fighter and the way they just know. They have a different level of unteachable internal abilities from everyone else & focus on physical tools and stances and approaches etc. probably clouds what is a "have it or don't have it" type of thing. So I'm wondering who we have that might fit this in the minors. Maybe Anderson, maybe Ravelo. If Ravelo gets the barrell on the ball consistently, keep him, even overvalue him. Trade Hawkins instead (I've been on that bandwago for a while anyway).

[The Ultimate Champion]

I think the White Sox should sign Adam Dunn to a 25 year deal worth $1 trillion.

He'd have to suck SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much dick to rightfully earn such a salary that...

 

 

...you know what...

 

 

I think you might be onto something.

[Eminor3rd]

I agree on Dayan. I think he's always going be tantalizing crappy. I have felt this way for years and will continue to stand by it. I don't if it's approach, pitch recognition, immaturity, folding under pressure, etc., but the fact is the dude can rip but he can't hit. He's not a hitter, and he has shown zero evidence of being able to get better. No adjustments at all, just hot streaks and much more common cold ones.

 

Semien's issue, to me, is that he isn't good enough (yet) to hit with two strikes at the ML level. His ML K rate is super high and his ML BB rate is super low, but both with O-swing (how much he swings at bad pitches) and his contact rate are really high -- above ML average. Marrying that data with what I saw from him, it looked like he's taken an advanced approach to the big leagues but he is simply overmatched on those two-strike put away pitches. He's too good for minor league scrubs, but those big league sliders and changeups are just too much.

 

In time, I think Semien will get better at both shortening his stroke in order to make contact with that nasty stuff and laying off those pitches entirely. His body needs to reset it's expectation of what it's capable of doing. The higher contact approach will see him hit fewer HRs than he did on the minors, but I think his walk rate can be carried over.

[The Ultimate Champion]

If I was Hahn my most basic standard operating procedure on evaluating hitters, whether they are in house or potential acquistions, would be something like this:

1) Have all video data of all current or previous year contact situations analyzed and reviewed. Does the hitter barrel the ball up in this contact situation or not? Take a count of barrell contact. Being "fooled" and so on, that's mostly going to be a swing and miss thing, or a non swing entirely. Just looking at a hitter I would want to know how often he barrells it up when contact is made, and I would want to know the number of occasions total he does that and put it into a ratio that reflects PA.

2) From there I would look at things like player tools, position, etc.

 

You want your SS & C to be defenders first, hitters second, but a good hitting C or SS that is kinda s***ty in the field could always move to another position. Are you looking for a position are are you looking for a hitter? If you want a hitter then really position is secondary IMO.

 

Also, mechanical flaws are indicative of what? I'm thinking that you can't fix an internal incapability with a mechanical change, you can only implement a mechanical change to try to minimize an internal deficiency long enough to capitalize until the opposition makes the necessary adjustments in return. IE you can't hit the fastball with velocity up so you stand back in the box, or you take the curveball that starts high and drops low as a consequence of taking the high hard fastball hoping it's a ball. Or you look fastball and start early, and maybe implement some sort of mechanism to get you to start earlier. But no matter what if you can't consistently barrell the ball up because the coordination abilities are absent then all you can do is listen to you hitting coach and try new s***, but the mechanical stuff is never going to get you over the hump.

[caulfield12]

We're long past the time of dealing Viciedo.

 

If you'd written this thread in 2012 and challenged everyone that a 23 year old coming of a 25 home run season as a rookie (and fielding better than average) was going to regress completely, and also based on how guys like Cespedes and then Puig were having such huge impacts, it wouldn't have seemed possible that Dayan would be the one huge swing and a miss of all the Cuban hitters signed so far, but he clearly has been.

 

As well as they scouted Alexei and Abreu, they missed something this time around that's hard to pick up on in Serie Nacional video or controlled batting practices and "showcases" for scouts.

 

The other thing that everyone really fell in love with Viciedo was his arm strength. If not for that and his ability to drive the ball to the opposite field without much effort, we'd never have heard of him. Those are two tantalizing aspects that don't overcompensate for the lack of walks, the overswinging, the missing of way too many hittable pitches in the zone, the double play balls and numerous defensive lapses, the difficult hitting RHP and just in general hitting pitchers with great stuff (above 93 MPH) up in the zone.

 

As with Crain and Floyd last year, almost every single player that was on the borderline this year has fallen off to the point where they have zero or negligible trade value, except for Alexei Ramirez, who we can't trade if we actually want to compete before 2017. I suppose they could use their magic 8 ball to know Gillaspie, Noesi and Putnam will regress next year, but all three of those "success stories" are likely to be back in Chicago next season for different reasons.

Edited August 28, 2014 by caulfield12

[The Ultimate Champion]

I've seen Semien & I think he may have some real hitting abilities, but like Rios, maybe mentally he can't get there. I like some of what I have seen though. I wonder if Ravelo & Anderson and maybe Wilkins are pretty similar. I haven't seen any of those guys. There are always going to be mental and mechanical things that can come into play but I think there is a base ability that some guys have and others don't. I'm talking to myself here but caulfield is in this thread, and that's great, because he'll talk to me. Anyway I like turtles still.

[caulfield12]

I've seen Semien & I think he may have some real hitting abilities, but like Rios, maybe mentally he can't get there. I like some of what I have seen though. I wonder if Ravelo & Anderson and maybe Wilkins are pretty similar. I haven't seen any of those guys. There are always going to be mental and mechanical things that can come into play but I think there is a base ability that some guys have and others don't. I'm talking to myself here but caulfield is in this thread, and that's great, because he'll talk to me. Anyway I like turtles still.

 

 

Just relax, lol.

 

You're thinking way too much, or overthinking this.

 

Clearly, it's been an issue with the White Sox for a generation of prospects. That said, they've always been able to identify guys like a Dye/AJ/Iguchi...Jim Thome when some thought his career was over with the Phils...two MVP-type hitters in Carlos Quentin in 2008 and now Abreu, not to mention Alexei Ramirez.

 

OTOH, all those big-time failures like Borchard, Fields, Anderson and Beckham are a lot to overcome, and Semien struggling mightily in his call-up didn't help matters much.

 

We're going to have to cross our fingers Eaton can stay healthy and that Avisail Garcia can mature into a middle of the order presence he appears to be physically...but with the homers and doubles to go with it.

Edited August 28, 2014 by caulfield12

[Eminor3rd]

We're long past the time of dealing Viciedo.

 

If you'd written this thread in 2012 and challenged everyone that a 23 year old coming of a 25 home run season as a rookie (and fielding better than average) was going to regress completely, and also based on how guys like Cespedes and then Puig were having such huge impacts, it wouldn't have seemed possible that Dayan would be the one huge swing and a miss of all the Cuban hitters signed so far, but he clearly has been.

 

As well as they scouted Alexei and Abreu, they missed something this time around that's hard to pick up on in Serie Nacional video or controlled batting practices and "showcases" for scouts.

 

The other thing that everyone really fell in love with Viciedo was his arm strength. If not for that and his ability to drive the ball to the opposite field without much effort, we'd never have heard of him. Those are two tantalizing aspects that don't overcompensate for the lack of walks, the overswinging, the missing of way too many hittable pitches in the zone, the double play balls and numerous defensive lapses, the difficult hitting RHP and just in general hitting pitchers with great stuff (above 93 MPH) up in the zone.

 

As with Crain and Floyd last year, almost every single player that was on the borderline this year has fallen off to the point where they have zero or negligible trade value, except for Alexei Ramirez, who we can't trade if we actually want to compete before 2017. I suppose they could use their magic 8 ball to know Gillaspie, Noesi and Putnam will regress next year, but all three of those "success stories" are likely to be back in Chicago next season for different reasons.

 

Viciedo's failure was not hard so see during that 25 homer season -- the 25 HR number was literally the only positive hitting data point he had. It's a hell of a feat to hit 25 homers and still have a below average offensive season, but he did. It absolutely screamed fluke, and when you dug into his plate discipline peripherals, it looked even worse.

[caulfield12]

Viciedo's failure was not hard so see during that 25 homer season -- the 25 HR number was literally the only positive hitting data point he had. It's a hell of a feat to hit 25 homers and still have a below average offensive season, but he did. It absolutely screamed fluke, and when you dug into his plate discipline peripherals, it looked even worse.

 

And yet I'm sure it would be hard to find a lot of people arguing in the 2012-2013 offseason that he should have been traded. Maybe it's there. Yes, there were warning signs. But it's also not like he didn't show some significant progress in the minor leagues in those years, and he looked really dangerous as early as 2010 as a 21 year old up for the first time with Ozzie protecting him with favorable pitching match-ups.

 

There's just no way KW's baby was getting traded away by Hahn at that point.

 

Dumping Keppinger, Paulino and Downs, that's a whole lot different.

[The Ultimate Champion]

We're long past the time of dealing Viciedo.

 

If you'd written this thread in 2012 and challenged everyone that a 23 year old coming of a 25 home run season as a rookie (and fielding better than average) was going to regress completely, and also based on how guys like Cespedes and then Puig were having such huge impacts, it wouldn't have seemed possible that Dayan would be the one huge swing and a miss of all the Cuban hitters signed so far, but he clearly has been.

 

As well as they scouted Alexei and Abreu, they missed something this time around that's hard to pick up on in Serie Nacional video or controlled batting practices and "showcases" for scouts.

 

The other thing that everyone really fell in love with Viciedo was his arm strength. If not for that and his ability to drive the ball to the opposite field without much effort, we'd never have heard of him. Those are two tantalizing aspects that don't overcompensate for the lack of walks, the overswinging, the missing of way too many hittable pitches in the zone, the double play balls and numerous defensive lapses, the difficult hitting RHP and just in general hitting pitchers with great stuff (above 93 MPH) up in the zone.

 

As with Crain and Floyd last year, almost every single player that was on the borderline this year has fallen off to the point where they have zero or negligible trade value, except for Alexei Ramirez, who we can't trade if we actually want to compete before 2017. I suppose they could use their magic 8 ball to know Gillaspie, Noesi and Putnam will regress next year, but all three of those "success stories" are likely to be back in Chicago next season for different reasons.

See this is kind of what I am talking about, he just doesn't barrell the ball up enough. He can't make the adjustment within the AB because the ability to 1) know where the barrell of the bat is when it is in his hand, 2) translate that into a swing, 3) watch the baseball up to that point simply isn't there. In all fairness it is probably next to impossible to judge a player's ability to do this stuff until at least AA ball, probably not until the AAA and MLB level, because so much of hitting in the minors can be a guessing game - literally - where patterns are observed, you look for a certain pitch at a certain spot in the zone and are ready for it, and you don't NEED to use the other faculties that allow for an Abreu-like "adjustment" within the AB. I think barrelling the ball up is probably the best way to know though, if you can count that up, and then you see who can do this and who can't. Because a hit is only the result of a contact situation where a defensive play is not made to r5esult in an out, and an out by contact is only the same thing but where a play is made which records an out. But the ability to take a swing and place a small area of the bat onto the baseball regardless of pitch speed, break, or sequence at a consistent level is the sign of an above average and maybe an elite hitter, and I doubt Viciedo ever showed signs of this stuff, and certainly all our s***ty OF prospects haven't either. They have base fundamental flaws that will never ever get them to the point where we can evaulate their natural coordinational abilities. I want us to be able to test/look for this stuff.

Edited August 28, 2014 by The Ultimate Champion

[greg775]

I still don't really get a feel of what you mean by barreling up. You mean getting great wood on the ball or the ball exploding off the bat?

Some guys just don't make contact enough.

[witesoxfan]

I still don't really get a feel of what you mean by barreling up. You mean getting great wood on the ball or the ball exploding off the bat?

Some guys just don't make contact enough.

 

Yes, he means hitting the ball well with the barrel of the bat. Not hitting if off the end or the handle. If you consistently barrel the ball, you are showing good hand/eye coordination and, so long as contact is made, you should see a good hitter emerge.

 

Gordon Beckham is a guy who did not barrel the ball well. He'd pop it up, ground out, and generally create fairly weak contact.

[oldsox]

I still don't really get a feel of what you mean by barreling up. You mean getting great wood on the ball or the ball exploding off the bat?

Some guys just don't make contact enough.

Hitting it in the sweet spot. Makes a great sound. Scouts supposedly look for this.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

If I was Hahn my most basic standard operating procedure on evaluating hitters, whether they are in house or potential acquistions, would be something like this:

1) Have all video data of all current or previous year contact situations analyzed and reviewed. Does the hitter barrel the ball up in this contact situation or not? Take a count of barrell contact. Being "fooled" and so on, that's mostly going to be a swing and miss thing, or a non swing entirely. Just looking at a hitter I would want to know how often he barrells it up when contact is made, and I would want to know the number of occasions total he does that and put it into a ratio that reflects PA.

2) From there I would look at things like player tools, position, etc.

 

You want your SS & C to be defenders first, hitters second, but a good hitting C or SS that is kinda s***ty in the field could always move to another position. Are you looking for a position are are you looking for a hitter? If you want a hitter then really position is secondary IMO.

 

Also, mechanical flaws are indicative of what? I'm thinking that you can't fix an internal incapability with a mechanical change, you can only implement a mechanical change to try to minimize an internal deficiency long enough to capitalize until the opposition makes the necessary adjustments in return. IE you can't hit the fastball with velocity up so you stand back in the box, or you take the curveball that starts high and drops low as a consequence of taking the high hard fastball hoping it's a ball. Or you look fastball and start early, and maybe implement some sort of mechanism to get you to start earlier. But no matter what if you can't consistently barrell the ball up because the coordination abilities are absent then all you can do is listen to you hitting coach and try new s***, but the mechanical stuff is never going to get you over the hump.

I'm not sure what you mean by "barreling it up " . I assume you mean hitting the ball squarely on the barrel and not getting under it or on top of it too much. I think hitting the ball hard or squaring it up is even more important. That to me sounds like hand eye coordination skills, which kind of leads me into how good ones eyesight is. Ted Williams supposedly had better than 20/20 vision. Now there is "barreling it up" and hitting it on the "sweet spot ".

 

I think we all have these machinations about hitting. Some guys just have a knack for finding the gap or the holes. Some guys hit it hard a lot and always find a glove. I've heard Hawk talk about moving around in the batters box yet I really can't ever recall seeing very many players do it. Same thing with choking up with 2 strikes or when contact is needed . Why do some player have open stances or closed stances or squared up to the pitcher stances ?

 

Why do some use a timing mechanism like toe tap or why do they hold their hands where they do .Why do some wiggle their bat or their body? SOme stand straight up other crouch or have a lot of bend in the knees. If you're having no success how much of all this do you change ? Will some little thing make a big difference or does it all really come down to that hand eye thing . What made Gordon Beckham a star in college but not the pros ? Is it simply that only the elite play in the Majors and all your tools were good enough to dominate at one level but not at another ?

 

 

I know there's such a thing as paralysis by analysis but I see guys lunging across the plate at the ball like De Aza and Viciedo and then I see guys who appear much more balanced like Mike Piazza who hit a lot of HR's to right field but did it on what appeared to be normal swings not lunging at pitches on the outer half. Watch Chris Carter now. He hardly seems to move at all. Very few moving parts in his swing. I think as a hitter you really have to know your strengths and weaknesses and make adjustments based on them .If you K or make a lot of weak contact on pitches away then let the pitcher have that part of the plate and wait for more pitches in your comfort zone then if every pitch seems to be away away away move closer to the plate. Force them to come to your strengths. Why shouldn't a hitter face each pitcher a different way the way a pitcher does to a hitter ?

Edited August 28, 2014 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[ron883]

OP really has a thing for penises...

[kitekrazy]

The ability to catch a baseball was always down at the bottom on Kenny's list. If you can't hit you still have to catch a baseball.

[greg775]

Yes, he means hitting the ball well with the barrel of the bat. Not hitting if off the end or the handle. If you consistently barrel the ball, you are showing good hand/eye coordination and, so long as contact is made, you should see a good hitter emerge.

 

Gordon Beckham is a guy who did not barrel the ball well. He'd pop it up, ground out, and generally create fairly weak contact.

 

 

Hitting it in the sweet spot. Makes a great sound. Scouts supposedly look for this.

 

Thanks for the posts.

I can't decide whether Viciedo or Flowers or Eaton or Dunn barrel it up well. Very few guys crush it like Abreu.