Preface this by saying sample size, but looking at his numbers, there are a lot of positives to his game right now. He has the best ISO, wRC+, and SLG% of his career so far this season all with a .260 BABIP. In addition, he's seen a drop in his GB% while seeing relatively big jumps in his FB% and hard hit %. Still want to see these numbers stay consistent over a couple months, but I think this is something to be somewhat excited about. If he is starting to put it together, that's a big boost for this team.

Lets hope. It would be a very nice surprise

I can't say for sure if he's really putting it together because we have seen flashes of brilliance before. Just from watching him, he has show that he can be patient and look for a pitch in the zone, as well as tattoo the ball he does hit. He needs to continue to be patient, don't swing at junk and force pitchers to pitch in the zone. It's very important for this team that he starts putting it together this year. We need another force in this lineup.

Last 7 games he has been en fuego to the tune of a 1.164 OPS.

 

In the 14 games he has hit 7th he has a .988 OPS......Maybe he was just pressing a bit when batting higher.

He's doing a couple of the things he needed to do, like hit it on the ground less and swing at less junk. A 19.6% HR/FB rate is the stuff of top power hitters, but plenty of guys pull it off every year. Hopefully he keeps it up because it'd be nice for the front office to be able to devote its attention to the starting rotation.

I don't know if it will last, but we really were in need of a Avi hot streak. When he's on he's on.

Avi is all mental. Dude is powerful! He can one hand a HR to straight away center FFS.

 

The tools are there but the brain is not.

I still bet on him failing miserably but I hope I'm wrong.

Feel the momentum of winning. He's one of the guys that has a 3-40 streak during the 2-8 run coming up.

The whole key for Garcia is to take some pitches. He has the tools and ability if he works into hitters counts, and gets good pitches to hit. When he is laying off of ball one and ball two, he gets much better stuff to hit. Early this year pitchers would just throw garbage up there, he'd swing, and he'd be down 0-1, 0-2, in no time. It is not a coincidence that things have improves as he is taking more pitches.

 

I don't know who finally got between his ears, but hopefully it sticks.

The whole key for Garcia is to take some pitches. He has the tools and ability if he works into hitters counts, and gets good pitches to hit. When he is laying off of ball one and ball two, he gets much better stuff to hit. Early this year pitchers would just throw garbage up there, he'd swing, and he'd be down 0-1, 0-2, in no time. It is not a coincidence that things have improves as he is taking more pitches.

 

I don't know who finally got between his ears, but hopefully it sticks.

 

I would say that this is easier than it sounds for a guy that has obvious pitch recognition problems. That said, one of the few points that Hawk still makes well is that you can have great success as a guess hitter. You just better crush the ball when you guess right. I'd have no problem if Avi goes up there every AB this year taking a pitch or two and then looking fastball when he's ahead. Eventually, if he starts lacing fastballs, pitchers will adjust and he'll have to adjust as well but I don't see any reason he can't have success with this approach as long as he keeps hitting more balls in the air.

We have been here before with Avi a couple of times. His first 23 games with the Sox, he hit .349. As late as June last season, his OPS was above .800.

 

He will get ridiculously hot. That HR last night was amazing. The only HR I have ever seen with less air under it was Dave Winfield back in the 80s.

 

The key will be can he stay away from swinging at pitches he can't hit. He's doing it now. I actually saw an AB with pitch trax where Avi only swung at strikes the other night. That doesn't happen too often. He has all the ability, but old habits tend to resurface.

 

They should ride him when he's hot, though. And hide his glove so he can't go out to RF.

Edited May 6, 20169 yr by Dick Allen

If he gets behind in the count and can't catch up with (or lay off) high fastballs, he's eerily reminiscent of Viciedo and Beckham struggling with that same issue.

 

Dayan, in particular, where you felt once the count wasn't in his favor, the at-bat was pretty much doomed.

 

It seems (and I haven't watched enough games or highlights, mostly following throw apps/online) that a lot of his heavy damage is done on offspeed stuff, whereas fastballs often result in flares that drop in. Perhaps that's changed recently.

 

I do know that eventually he has to prove he can consistently drive that high fastball into the RCF gap (ala Quentin or Abreu) or he's going to face a steady diet of pitching high or inside, challenging him to turn on it (like Lawrie has shown the ability to do, even high and on the outside corner at 95-96) and pull it way out.

 

 

 

 

If he gets behind in the count and can't catch up with (or lay off) high fastballs, he's eerily reminiscent of Viciedo and Beckham struggling with that same issue.

 

Dayan, in particular, where you felt once the count wasn't in his favor, the at-bat was pretty much doomed.

 

It seems (and I haven't watched enough games or highlights, mostly following throw apps/online) that a lot of his heavy damage is done on offspeed stuff, whereas fastballs often result in flares that drop in. Perhaps that's changed recently.

 

I do know that eventually he has to prove he can consistently drive that high fastball into the RCF gap (ala Quentin or Abreu) or he's going to face a steady diet of pitching high or inside, challenging him to turn on it (like Lawrie has shown the ability to do, even high and on the outside corner at 95-96) and pull it way out.

 

Speaking of Viciedo, he's tearing it up in Japan this season. .327/.433/.637 slash with 9 HRs, 8 2Bs, 24 RBIs, 13% BB rate, 11% K rate. I could totally see him being the next Tuffy Rhodes over there.

 

https://fan-interference.com/2016/03/30/day...aying-in-japan/

Edited May 6, 20169 yr by lasttriptotulsa

Speaking of Viciedo, he's tearing it up in Japan this season. .327/.433/.637 slash with 9 HRs, 8 2Bs, 24 RBIs, 13% BB rate, 11% K rate. I could totally see him being the next Tuffy Rhodes over there.

 

https://fan-interference.com/2016/03/30/day...aying-in-japan/

 

He's a guy that can absolutely hammer 88 mph fastballs so perfect league for him.

Well, he's talking to himself a lot more at the dish....he seems to have some sort of strategy or thought process he's trying to follow and is taking his time to make sure he's doing what he needs to do. He was hammering the ball last night.

 

 

Also, it seems the air humping is working for him. I can't help but think he's acting like he's about to f*** the baseball to get a mental edge.

We have been here before with Avi a couple of times. His first 23 games with the Sox, he hit .349. As late as June last season, his OPS was above .800.

 

He will get ridiculously hot. That HR last night was amazing. The only HR I have ever seen with less air under it was Dave Winfield back in the 80s.

 

The key will be can he stay away from swinging at pitches he can't hit. He's doing it now. I actually saw an AB with pitch trax where Avi only swung at strikes the other night. That doesn't happen too often. He has all the ability, but old habits tend to resurface.

 

They should ride him when he's hot, though. And hide his glove so he can't go out to RF.

 

I wasnt in the park last night, but I saw Harold Baines hit an oppo homerun in 96, and it looked like it stayed 12 feet off the ground for the entire flight.

 

This was the game on my birthday when Baines, Thomas and Ventura went b2b2b and then Kreuter hit a homer 1 batter after our favorite piece of trivia, Lyle Mouton, had singled

Hittrackeronline had Avi's HR last night as tied for the lowest one hit in the majors this year with an apex of 46 ft.

Edited May 6, 20169 yr by lasttriptotulsa

Hittrackeronline had Avi's HR last night as tied for the lowest one hit in the majors this year with an apex of 46 ft.

 

Had an exit velocity of 113mph

Had an exit velocity of 113mph

Anything that flies that far that fast oughta have a flight attendant on it!

I've seen Avi hot before... but this is different.

 

I've never seen him this patient before and its the entire key for him (really a lot of hitters who struggle).

 

Let's just hope he can keep it up and not fall into his old habits.

Anything that flies that far that fast oughta have a flight attendant on it!

 

Or, if I really wanted to extend this joke out for no reason, an astronaut could also be on that ball.

 

 

I've never seen Avi this patient... really looks awesome.

 

I wish a couple of our other players would take notice.

 

Making the pitcher throw you strikes works pretty well.

I'm not buying it but I'm loving it for now. Hope he keeps this up!