About four years ago while talking about batting with runners in scoring position, Kevin Seitzer experienced what he calls “one of those 2-by-4 moments when you get hit upside the head with something so simple yet so profound.”
The epiphany he experienced then is one the Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach preaches to his players to this day.
“The guy who always steps up in big situations, that guy you want at the plate with the game on the line is not a guy who really steps up in those situations, it’s the guy who stays the same all the time,” says Seitzer. “That’s a message I brought to them in spring training, and continue to remind them at times when I feel like they’re trying to do too much in pressure situations.
“The pressure is on the pitcher – you do what you do in the batter’s box, and just be yourself. Don’t try to be the guy who steps up. Just be the same guy.”
With that in mind, we present the case of Brett Lawrie, who heading into Tuesday night’s action featured an absurdly extreme split in his numbers when batting with the bases empty, and when hitting with either runners on or men in scoring position.
In 39 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, the 24-year-old features a remarkable slash line of .429/.462/.857. With a man on first those numbers dip to .226/.250/.355 over 32 plate appearances and decline to .154/.224/.256 in 85 trips to the plate when no one’s aboard.
Generally, hitting coaches seem to be working with players to treat their at-bats with RISP like any other trip to the plate. With Lawrie, the opposite may be necessary.
“For me it’s not a difference in approach, it’s like he takes his concentration level and intensity, grinding-out at-bat level to a whole new place, from what I’ve seen,” says Seitzer. “It’s not that he’s not trying, he doesn’t care, but when he gets guys on base, it’s like he goes to a whole new place.
“In an ideal world (staying the same) is exactly what you want to do. But it’s just like some guys will rise up in certain situations like that, like you’re in for a battle, that’s what he’s been.”
Lawrie is at a loss to explain the spike in his numbers.
“The game just seems a little bit different when there are runners in scoring position because you know the pressure is on the pitcher,” he says. “That’s when pitchers have a tendency to leave balls up or do certain things like that. For the most part it’s just getting ready to hit, zoning up and trying not to swing at balls.”
Part of the differential may be attributed to what’s so far been a strong May (.333/.388/.511 in 12 games) after a slow opening month (.192/.243/.384 in 26 games). The Blue Jays offence as a whole has been good this month, as well, creating additional opportunities.
Still, not letting such chances slip away is easier said than done, and Lawrie has regularly made pitchers pay.
“I’m just being loose, man, up there trying to see the ball, trying to get ready to hit,” he says of his May improvements. “That’s catching the ball out front not catching the ball (deep in the zone). If I do see it deep that’s OK because my hands are still back, little things like that. Just going up there with a plan to try and do damage, that’s really it.”
While the Blue Jays will certainly take the production Lawrie’s provided – he’s third on the team with 24 RBIs and fifth with seven home runs – they’d also love to see more of the guy who tears it up with men in scoring position when the bases are empty, too.
“He’s got a good idea of what pitchers are doing based on the way they’ve been pitching everybody else, what we watch on video, all our prep work going in,” says Seitzer. “He gets after it, he’s been a big guy for us and he’s gotten some big hits.
“He’s come a long way since the slow start he got off to.”
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QUICK-PITCH AXFORD: Last week in Toronto, Cleveland Indians reliever John Axford caught Jose Bautista looking at strike three to end the seventh with the Blue Jays right-fielder walking out of the batter’s box before the ball even hit catcher Yan Gomes’ mitt.
What happened?
Well, the right-hander from Port Dover, Ont., delivered what’s called a quick-pitch, throwing the ball immediately from the set position rather than pausing before starting his delivery. It’s a technique some pitchers use on occasion when they feel they can catch a hitter off guard or disrupt his timing.
“I did it for the first time last year, I had never practised it or anything, I just noticed that somebody I was facing didn’t like it, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m just not going to come set this time,'” says Axford. “Sometimes I’ll come all the way down set, and other times I’ll just go while I’m coming down just to disrupt it, other times I won’t have the full leg, I’ll just have a quick leg.
“I did one in the World Series last year (with St. Louis), struck out Cody Ross looking, and (Bautista) is the first strikeout of the year on a quick-pitch.”
Bautista turned toward the dugout muttering under his breath after the quick pitch, which is permissible but grey under Rule 8.01. Pitchers must take signs while in contact with the pitching rubber, and once they do, they “may not step quickly onto the rubber and pitch.”
But in comments pertaining to Rule 8.05 (e), the quick-pitch is described as illegal with umpires to “judge a quick-pitch as one delivered before the batter is reasonably set in the batter’s box. With runners on base the penalty is a balk; with no runners on base, it is a ball. The quick pitch is dangerous and should not be permitted.”
“Reasonably set in the batter’s box” leaves some room for interpretation, although that so far hasn’t stopped pitchers from employing it when they sense an opportunity to use it.
Asked how he decides when to deliver a quick-pitch, Axford smiles and replies “Well, I don’t want to give anything away for the hitters, but I just choose it randomly.”
“Yan didn’t even know (against Bautista), he was setting up outside, looked up and saw me already delivering the ball. He had a slight panic I think. It just happens sometimes,” he adds.
“The key is to make sure you’re not going too fast. You want to make sure you’re not falling off. If you can stay within your mechanics, do the same thing you do when you come set, you’re just missing that one step in between.”