Daily dose of Yordan (Game 116)

Today's statline:

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At bat 1 (Top of second): 4 pitch single to center

Yordan started the at bat by watching two pitches right down the middle, a slider and a fastball, to put him down in an 0-2 hole. He then watched a fastball middle but outside for a ball, and then on the fourth pitch got another slider, this time in the zone similar to where the third pitch was. He smashed it into center field for a clean single, nice job here to capitalize on a very sloppy pitch here from Barria and do damage on the offspeed. He would later advance to second on a Diaz single, but wouldn't score, as McCormick grounded into a double play to end the inning.

At bat 2 (Top of third): 2 pitch double to right, RBI

The at bat started with Yordan watching a noncompetitive fastball from Barria to begin the at bat. Then he got a much more hittable fastball high but still well within the zone, and Yordan punished Barria again for throwing such a sloppy pitch, again hitting it hard into the outfield, scoring Brantley from second. The announcer crew mentioned his quick hands and good eye on the replay of the double, both of which were perfectly encapsulated on this hit here. He would not score again though, as although Diaz walked, Gurriel struck out to end the inning.

At bat 3 (Top of fifth): 3 pitch triple to right, RBI

Facing the new reliever, Yordan started the at bat by taking a huge hack and missing badly at a splitter in the dirt. He then missed again on another splitter, this time in the zone but kind of low. Down 0-2, he adjusted and put a one-handed golf swing on a splitter on the zone, dumping it into the right field corner. The positioning of the hit allowed Brantley to come around to score all the way from first, and Yordan's creaky knees ran all the way to third on the resulting chaos and throw. While it wasn't pretty to watch, still a great job by him to adjust on a pitch he looked bad against and settle for a hooked corner triple instead of the long ball. He wouldn't score himself on the inning though, as Diaz struck out to end the inning.

At bat 4 (Top of sixth): 5 pitch groundout to third

Like many Yordan at bats, this one started with him taking an offspeed pitch low and outside for ball one. He then took back to back fastballs, one juicy and in the zone and the other questionably called a strike, to put him down 1-2. He then watched another low outside slider, nearly identical to the first pitch he saw, to even the count before hitting a hard bouncer, but right to the third baseman playing shallow in the infield. He threw out Yordan easily for the out.

At bat 5 (Top of ninth): 3 pitch flyout to center

Now facing reliever Mike Mayers (author of the worst MLB debut of all time, highly recommend you check out the video on that), Yordan started by watching a slider right down the middle for a strike, and then watched another one way outside in the dirt for ball one. He then got a nice swing off on a Mayers fastball and elevated it nicely, but unfortunately right at the center fielder for a routine flyout.

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Pitch data:

Fastball – 8

3 put in play (double, flyout, groundout), 3 strike looking, 2 out of zone

Splitter – 3

2 strike swinging, 1 put in play (triple)

Slider – 6

3 out of zone, 1 put in play (single), 2 strike looking

Another nice job today by Yordan to shrink the zone and force the pitcher to throw what he wanted him to throw. He again could have been a bit more aggressive on the good count fastballs in the zone, but overall I was very impressed by his work against the fastball and more importantly the slider. Nice job by him today, hopefully he continues the hot hitting. Not really relevant to his strike zone discipline but was great to see him running well and doing well on the bases (in particular that triple), hopefully it's the start of him being more than just a one-dimensional power bat.