Driveline-Quero

[PaleAleSox]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47754884/mlb-2026-driveline-baseball-hitting-lab-analytics-edgar-quero-chicago-white-sox

[PolishPrince34]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47754884/mlb-2026-driveline-baseball-hitting-lab-analytics-edgar-quero-chicago-white-sox
 

Great read-Big focus on Quero

[Tony]

That was a very good read and always interesting to get a better understanding of what baseball is looking at and what improvements are trying to be made. I suggest everyone give the article a read, especially for some of our more "veteran" members who are less analytics focused. 

[Falstaff]

23 minutes ago, Tony said:

That was a very good read and always interesting to get a better understanding of what baseball is looking at and what improvements are trying to be made. I suggest everyone give the article a read, especially for some of our more "veteran" members who are less analytics focused. 

I couldn't agree more, excellent article.

[almagest]

This is great. Really interested to see how this work benefits Quero this season. In particular:

Quote

[Quero] was shown his realistic potential: Josh Naylor, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Addison Barger, players with far more power.

"If we kept everything in your profile exactly the same, but we added 2 miles per hour of bat speed alone, you're looking at being more like that type of hitter," Hirsh told him. "And a couple of these guys made a lot of money very recently."

I would like a Josh Naylor at catcher please and thanks.

[Tony]

One thing I'm curious about, and I don't believe the article mentions (I also could have missed it)...do the Sox (and other teams) set this up for someone like Quero, or was this something Quero wanted to do on his own? I'm curious of the teams involvement. And I'm not looking for some "gotcha" moment against the Sox, I'm genuinely curious how that works. 

[chitownsportsfan]

Quero had 4th percentile bat velocity last year. Chisholm was at like 67th percentile. Color me a bit skeptical that he just needs a 2mph boost to get 20-25 HR power. Good article otherwise.

Edited 7 hours ago by chitownsportsfan

[almagest]

17 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Quero had 4th percentile bat velocity last year. Chisholm was at like 67th percentile. Color me a bit skeptical that he just needs a 2mph boost to get 20-25 HR power. Good article otherwise.

Quero would need to add 3.5 mph to his bat speed to match Naylor. 6.4 to match Chisholm. 8.4 to match Barger. Quero is really good at squaring up the ball though, so even adding a small extra % to his bat speed would likely help him a lot.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking?sortColumn=squared_up_per_bat_contact&sortDirection=desc 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

6 minutes ago, almagest said:

Quero would need to add 3.5 mph to his bat speed to match Naylor. 6.4 to match Chisholm. 8.4 to match Barger. Quero is really good at squaring up the ball though, so even adding a small extra % to his bat speed would likely help him a lot.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking?sortColumn=squared_up_per_bat_contact&sortDirection=desc 

No guarantee he maintains that bat control and ability to square up as he gains MPH. Swinging slower makes bat control easier.

[almagest]

10 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

No guarantee he maintains that bat control and ability to square up as he gains MPH. Swinging slower makes bat control easier.

Yeah, but the changes Driveline is suggesting aren't to "swing harder". They're working on his lower body to naturally gain some bat speed without changing his arm effort. They are also working with him to make contact in front of the plate more often to give his swing more time to accelerate - this one is a bigger change and could result in some bat control issues, but Quero is so good at bat control I'd posit he could drop a few % points and end up with a net gain in productivity if his bat speed goes up.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Everytime I read these articles every off season I think two things:

1. Glad to see this guy trying to get better and exhausting all avenues

2. Driveline has a great PR and marketing team

I'm not saying they don't do good work, but there are many great shops and coaches that players work with in offseason.

Edited 6 hours ago by Look at Ray Ray Run

[ptatc]

2 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

No guarantee he maintains that bat control and ability to square up as he gains MPH. Swinging slower makes bat control easier.

Not only that but if they have him swing earlier before the ball gets deep, it may adversely alter his selectivity which is currently a strength. Increasing power always has trade offs.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

2 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Not only that but if they have him swing earlier before the ball gets deep, it may adversely alter his selectivity which is currently a strength. Increasing power always has trade offs.

100%, and sometimes the gain exceeds the loss. It's not a guarantee though. Making big changes to what got you there is always a risk. People are hyper critical of guys who are hesitant to change, but it makes sense why guys are. It's almost like admitting what youve done your entire life isnt good enough. Unless of course you've always been a tinkerer - i was known (mocked) in college for having 90 different batting stances in 4 years. 

Change is foreign, scary and unknown but also exciting. Hope this one works for Quero positively. Glad he's trying to check every box to be the best player he can be.

[ptatc]

2 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

100%, and sometimes the gain exceeds the loss. It's not a guarantee though. Making big changes to what got you there is always a risk. People are hyper critical of guys who are hesitant to change, but it makes sense why guys are. It's almost like admitting what youve done your entire life isnt good enough. Unless of course you've always been a tinkerer - i was known (mocked) in college for having 90 different batting stances in 4 years. 

Change is foreign, scary and unknown but also exciting. Hope this one works for Quero positively. Glad he's trying to check every box to be the best player he can be.

Always worth a shot to increase power.

[Jake]

Quero hit 17 HR in 111 games as a 19 year old and 16 HR (mostly in Birmingham) in 98 games as a 21 year old. I suspect his power outage has a strong mental component, letting the ball get very deep and taking a contact-oriented pass at it because that was the most comfortable way for him to deal with the very talented pitching he faced. But sometimes it can be as simple as giving yourself permission to start attacking the ball out front. I have a little bit of optimism for Quero just because he's flashed that power before and frankly he doesn't need to do a lot more to be a super useful player.