A shoutout to Jeanne Kenney who forwarded me this article written by Chandler Rome of The Advocate. It talks about the work and mentality Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros organization has made to grow his game. It's always about the process:
“I had never seen him hit balls that far in my life,” said Goldstein, the Astros’ director of pro scouting. “Just was consistently barrelling balls and throwing them over the fence like that. This was the first day of spring training. We had never seen that kind of power before, ever, out of him.”
Bregman, a nonroster invitee, added 20 pounds in an offseason when he and his longtime hitting coach, Jason Columbus, split home plate in half. The focus was twofold for a right-handed hitter who had yet to showcase the power major league evaluators knew was present.
Bregman concentrated on fastballs that tailed in on the inner half of the plate. He’d grown accustomed to rolling over them for grounders to the left side. Columbus emphasized line drives, lifting to the opposite field.
“Sacrificing what you are now for what you’ll become,” Bregman said Tuesday night. “That’s kind of the mentality for making that change.”
“Wherever it is,” Bregman said. “I don’t care where I play. I just want to try to help contribute and win games.”
