“I think it’s just who I’ve been since the beginning, practicing with my dad and my grandfather. He thinks his rare contact ability is part nature and part nurture. Astudillo’s objective was to hit the knuckling projectiles with a broomstick. Astudillo remembers a drill in which his father would kneel a few feet away and flick corn kernels toward him in their backyard in the coastal city of Barcelona, Venezuela. His father had played professionally in Venezuela. They look at history to then look at the future.Īstudillo is interesting for another reason, too: He’s getting better.Īstudillo’s grandfather and father were obsessed with baseball. That’s the way projection systems are built. If you have a similar batted-ball profile, strikeout rate, swing-and-miss rate, all those things, there’s a chance you might become someone like him over time. You know what his track record was through the minor leagues. Take a random player, like Jonathan Schoop. “It’s a simple reason: Projection systems are based upon history. “He’s an interesting guy because he’s not someone projection systems would easily pick out,” Falvey said. He was such an outlier that Minnesota’s own projection system struggled to find comps when the Twins were scouring minor league free agents after the 2017 season. “I’d say was probably fringe-average, in that range, toward average. “They weren’t necessarily projecting the power or the on-base skill because of the lack of walks,” Falvey said. The Twins’ scouts were perplexed by Astudillo, said Derek Falvey, the chief baseball officer for Minnesota. No one has looked, or hit, quite like the 5-foot-9, 225-pound catcher/utility man. So why did it take him 10 years to make the major leagues? It’s probably that the sport didn’t know what to do with him. Two players have had lower K rates for a season since 1989: Tony Gwynn (1995) and Felix Fermin (19).Īstudillo has always hit. In his brief major league career, he’s striking out at a 2.8 percent rate. He walked on just 85 occasions (a 3.5 percent walk rate) across nine seasons in the minors. But in an age when walks and on-base percentage are prized, Astudillo has shown little interest in watching pitches go by. With velocity and strikeouts at record levels across the majors, it’s never been more difficult to make contact with a pitch. Across his entire minor league career, he struck out just 81 times in 2,461 plate appearances (3.3 percent). In the farm systems of the Braves and Phillies in 20, he had the lowest K-rates in all of the minors. With the Twins and Diamondbacks Triple-A teams in 20, Astudillo posted the lowest strikeout rate each season among all Double-A and Triple-A batters with at least 100 plate appearances. While he looks something like Bartolo Colon, he’s hitting like Ty Cobb. No one in pro baseball hits quite like he does.Īmong all major league hitters in history to record at least 100 plate appearances, Astudillo ranks first in batting average (.382). Willians Astudillo may have broken every single one of baseball's unwritten rules on one home run ÑѤР/LD6e73C1Ehīut there’s another thing that makes the 27-year-old rookie nicknamed La Tortuga is perhaps the most interesting man in baseball: his bat.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |