Sweeney's Power to Come?
Now, I understand that this is, in fact, Spring Training, and that he has gotten only 13 AB so far. We are dealing with the smallest of sample sizes. But as I was doing my daily A's website jumping, I came across this video about Sweeney doing blah blah blah.
Then I noticed a little something about different about Sweeney's swing. This little video is all I have, but it's interesting. It looks like he has raised his hands slightly to about shoulder level, maybe a little bit above.
In comparison, take a look at this video. His hands are just barely at the letters.
Everyone has always wondered if the power would ever come with this kid. It's always been there. But as people have pointed out, he's basically got a slap-style swing, the kind of swing you'd find on a player that's 5'8" with no power, not 6'4" and athletic as hell.
Now I'm no expert on hitting mechanics, and I wouldn't stake my reputation on this one little video. But I would assume, based on intuition, that you could get more power if you started with your hands higher and didn't slap at pitches. If he does figure it out, and ends up hitting ~20 HR a year, he might end up being one hell of a player. Just remember, he just turned 24. And he is hitting to the tune of .528/.600/.846 in those 13 AB.
almost 3 years ago
NateHST
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I'm a big Sweeney fan
I think he’s only going to become better.
I agree, in these two videos you see Sweeney hold his hands higher in the opposite field swing to plate two runners this spring, versus holding his hands lower in that bomb he hit in Toronto. But also, the pitches were different as well. So I’m not sure that the different results were that much affected by where his hands were just before the pitch was thrown.
It's funny,
But you make a case for Sweeney’s “new” swing being more power oriented and he hits an opposite field single, whereas with his other “old” swing, he hits an absolute bomb.
Not that that really means anything, but you probably could’ve found a better video of his old swing to illustrate your point.
I’m a huge Sweeney advocate too, btw. I think he’s gonna become a f*ckin badass
"Well that's just like, your opinion, man."
-The Dude
That's the only video I've seen of live action from the A's ST games
And with that swing, he only hit 5 HR last year with that swing. That video was the best video I could find that illustrated the position of his hands.
worst point of the month nominee
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
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