Author: /u/StevenJeon

At bat 1: 5 pitch single

At bat 2: 6 pitch single

At bat 3: 2 pitch home run (404 ft, 3 RBI)

At bat 4: 5 pitch lineout (Should have been a 3-1 count but ump missed the call)

At bat 5: 4 pitch groundout (Shift)

Before the analysis, I’d like to mention that there is no Yordan flair, or I can’t find one. Just putting that out there. Also shout out to my buddy u/braves2248 for having an amazing Yordan collection. He’s been working on it for the better part of an year, really impressive. Back to analysis.

Anyways, another great game by Yordan. Obviously that Yordan bomb was really impressive, but even more considering what happened the last 2 games. The pitch he hit it off was low in the zone, which is where he struggled last game. In fact 2 of his hits were on pitches low in the zone, which is really good to see. In my opinion it also looks like he’s adjusting a bit to the 2021 baseball vs the 2019 one, as his home run was hit to almost the same place as his deep sac fly in game 1. Also good to see was the opposite field single he hit, it demonstrated that he’s a complete hitter that you can’t just shift on. Good to see him owning the bottom of the zone again, hoping for another great game tomorrow!

At bat 1: 6 pitch strikeout looking

At bat 2: 5 pitch groundout to first (shift)

At bat 3: 6 pitch strikeout looking

At bat 4: 4 pitch double

At bat 5: 7 pitch strikeout looking

Obviously while the stats may say that Yordan had a worse game than yesterday, in my opinion he was doing pretty much the same things he did as opening day. Something I did notice was that he was a little too patient this game, he struck out looking three times after working into favorable counts. All of said strikeout pitches were lower in the zone, which seems to be a trend. However in his 4th at bat he doubled on a pitch that was close to the one he struck out on in his first at bat, which was really encouraging to see. Also it was really good to see him hustling on that double, very important that his knees are healthy and his mobility is fine, which is what he displayed. Overall while the numbers may say his production wasn’t as good as yesterday I still see the same guy with the elite discipline and power as day 1, soon he’ll take those juicy full count pitches and park them into the seats.

Quick disclaimer, I’m not an Astros fan, but I am a huge fan of Yordan, ever since his signing by my Dodgers in 2016. I’ve been hoping for a triumphant return from him for quite a while now, so I thought I’d chronicle his every game this year starting with this one and point out what went right and what didn’t.

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At bat 1: 7 pitch pop out

At bat 2: 5 pitch double, 2 RBI

At bat 3: 1 pitch HBP

At bat 4: 3 pitch flyout (sacrifice fly)

I know it’s just the first game of the season, but damn, what a great first game back for Yordan. Obviously the 2-run double off the wall is great (should have been a home run imo, missed the fence by a couple inches) but I was more impressed by the at bat prior to that one. He quickly went down 0-2 on some borderline strikes, but instead of swinging worried, he worked the count back to 3-2 and fouled off a tough pitch before missing one and popping out. Very encouraging to see the 94th percentile walk rate and the 94th percentile exit velocity that made him such a deadly hitter in 2019. Overall a fantastic debut, hope to see a lot like this in the future.