I want to point out something I noticed about D-Wright today. First I’ll fill you in on some background information.
I, like so many other Met fans, have noticed all year that Wright hasn’t been himself. I remember saying two weeks into the season, to my dad, “He’s hitting the worst .300 I’ve ever seen.” His hits seemed to all be sawed-off singles and weak line drives.
Anyway, recently, I was rewatching a game from early in the season on MLB.tv. Keith Hernandez mentioned that in addition to the “loop” in Wright’s swing this year (meaning, it’s gotten much longer, slowing down his bat), Wright was turning his hips away from the pitcher on his load. Keith pointed out how, from a straight-on angle, you could fully see his back pocket as he prepared to swing. As a former high school and aspiring college baseball player, I can tell you that what this will do is slow down the bat immensely.
Wright hasn’t been able to catch up to anything above 91 miles an hour all year, it seems, and he’s fouled off about 1000 pitches right down the pipe. Over the course of the year, I saw Wright FOUL OFF PITCHES IN BATTING PRACTICE. It’s frustrating that as a fan, I can see a flaw in his swing, and that he hasn’t adjusted all year.
Now, tonight, Wright went 3-4 with an opposite-field ground-rule double that brought home a run, and two singles. I noticed upon a replay of the double (which carried A LOT-it hit off the warning track and over the fence just to the right of the 415 sign) that Wright didn’t close his hips the same way he used to. He repeated this much sounder swing in his next few at-bats.
Anyway, he seems to have found his swing. A bit late…but hopefully he can carry it over into “Camp HoJo” in the offseason and into next year. He needs to find his swing for next year, because our lineup centers on him.
