Month: May 2021

At bat 1 (Bottom of second): 4 pitch strikeout swinging

I wasn’t actually there to watch this at bat, but based on the box score, it looks like another at bat where Yordan should have been more aggressive early but wasn’t and ended up chasing out of the zone. The first pitch he got, a fastball right down the middle, probably should have capitalized more on that. It’s something I’ve noticed with Yordan, where he is super passive early in the at bat. He didn’t get another fastball the whole at bat, as he fouled off an inside curve and took a slider off the plate before whiffing on the classic Kershaw curve out of the zone.

At bat 2 (Bottom of fifth): 5 pitch strikeout looking

Actually watched the entirety of this at bat, and once again, it looked like one where Yordan put up a good fight and recognized the pitches, but just didn’t capitalize on the mistakes Kershaw made. He fouled off a couple fastballs in the upper half of the zone, and managed to work into a 2-2 count, but ended up striking out looking on a low fastball right down the middle that he definitely should have done more on.

At bat 3 (Bottom of seventh): 3 pitch strikeout looking

Another very frustrating at bat for Yordan, where he fouled off a fastball on the first pitch, and then simply watched as two very hittable pitches right down the middle were called for strikes. It’s extremely difficult to watch, even more considering that Yordan can and does normally destroy mistake pitches like those. It is worth noting that the pitch that rung him up was a pretty bad call, maybe an inch off the plate.

At bat 4 (Bottom of ninth): 9 pitch strikeout swinging

Might be just one at bat, but I loved this at bat from Yordan. He once again went down 0-2, this time with some quick swings, but instead of passively watching strike 3 called without swinging, Yordan protected the zone like the Yordan of old, fouling off offspeed and fastballs before finally getting rung up swinging at a high fastball. Some might say Yordan didn’t do enough with the 4 fouls, as he did get quite a few hittable fastballs, but on a night like today that’s extremely encouraging to see. Hopefully this is a trend of him protecting the zone and regaining that selective aggressiveness that made him so good earlier in the year.

Overall analysis:

Obviously a very bad night for Yordan, 3 quick strikeouts (and 4 overall) without much resistance. He was definitely getting the same pitches as before, he just wasn’t swinging. It’s definitely disappointing to see a hitter of Yordan’s caliber simply watching as he strikes out. It was encouraging to see him battle, recognize and protect the zone like the Yordan of old. Part of being a fan of a player is staying with them during slumps as well as the highs. Maybe mods should add a Yordan flair as a good luck charm to break him out of this slump?

Line Score – Final

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 10:40 PM.