Five weeks ago, Josh Bell was a liability in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup. Today, he is arguably the best bat in the order and a Rookie of the Year contender.
Bell’s low point came April 14, grounding into a double-play in his only at-bat of the day. 10 games in, he had a .138/.219/.207 line and only one RBI. Just about every player will go through a similar 10 game stretch this year, but when a rookie does it at the start of the season, it sticks out. Surely, Pittsburgh Pirates fans took notice.
He’s really turned it on since then. The only players on the club who better his 130 wRC+ are Adam Frazier (131) and Antonio Bastardo (gotta love small sample sizes). His nine home runs lead the team and all rookies in baseball, and he has recorded an extra-base hit in seven straight games, which is the longest streak since Pittsburgh fan favorite Sid Bream did it in June of 1986. Raw power has always been a part of Bell’s scouting report, but a lot of experts projected him as more of a 25-30 home run type of guy. Right now he’s on pace for about 35 in his rookie year.
Bell said the biggest difference between now and that early season slump is he is no longer pressing. “Before I was just trying to force the issue, and right now I’m seeing a lot of pitches and getting better timing for them,” Bell said on May 17.
There is evidence of him doing just that. In April, Bell pulled 51.9 percent of his batted balls while an average of only one in six was hit up the middle. Entering play Friday, his May percentages were 44.2 for pulls and 30.2 to center. On Friday his two hits were a clean single up the middle and a 399 foot double into the notch in left-center. His walks might be down a tad and his outside swing rate a little higher, but he is producing good swings, and this is an offense that needs all the good swings it can get.
But not pressing was only part of the equation. He said his timing has also improved, citing later in the same interview the work he has done with his legs.
Here is Bell’s swing when he was struggling earlier in the year. Pay attention to how much of a leg kick he has.
Now here he is on May 18 clobbering a two run homer. The leg kick is simplified and practically gone.
Both of those pitches were curveballs low and inside. In April, he was fooled by the speed and his timing was clearly off. In May, he waits for the ball to get to him and puts a swing on the ball that made every hitting coach he’s ever had proud.
Bell deserves kudos for being able to recognize the pitch before it’s too late in the first video, but this is not a good swing by his standards. That is an example of his potential NFL tight end body and strength bailing him out. Odds are if you gave him five more tries with that swing on that pitch in that location, at least four of them are going to be foul or gobbled up by the first baseman.
In the first video, his leg is in the air for roughly six-tenths of a second. In the second, he shaves about half of that time off. A hitter has roughly four-tenths of a second from the time the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand until it gets to the plate to identify what type of pitch it is and its location. In that same time frame, he needs to complete his stride and get his foot down so he can swing. Cutting the amount of time it takes to get the foot down helps immensely.
So what could stop Bell from this hot stretch? I touched on a few earlier- a slowly declining walk rate and chasing a few more balls out of the zone- but he also seems to have a tendency to tinker more than other batters. Tinkering can be good- his leg kick was tinker- but with every change, there is potential for failure as well as success. The Pittsburgh Pirates will undoubtedly do everything he can not to let the bad habits sink back in.
For example, Bell changed his bat from his traditional 35 inch, 32 ounce to a 34/31 model before a series in Cincinnati at the beginning of the month. He went 3-15 against the Reds in that four game set. In his first game back at PNC Park after the series, he went back to the 35/32 and homered. After the game on the 17th, I asked him if he was still using the 35/32. Nope. The home run that night was with the 34/31.
My kingdom for Josh Bell bat size splits.
Do I think an inch and an ounce on a bat is going to make a big difference? No, but I don’t like the idea of tinkering too much when things are going good. Keep it simple. That’s what worked for his approach and leg kick.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have to love what they are seeing from a bat they held onto at all costs.
Image credits – Daniel Decker Photography
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