Back in the WBC and Spring Training I noticed that David Wright's stance had changed from last year. He was open and stood a bit further from the plate.
At the time I worried that he would struggle early as he didn't seem able to drive the fastball to the gaps and make good contact with breaking pitches.
Furthermore his swing became very upright and loopy as he tried to "re-plane" his swing from the more open position.
From the article I wrote on April 5th:
Have you noticed that David Wright has opened his stance up about half a foot?Well we are now one month into the season, and my worst fears have been realized.
I'm very curious as to why he would do this right before the season opens. His stance this weekend was more open than I've ever seen it, and it's changed even since the WBC.
Could this lead to a bad start by our superstar third baseman?
Anyway, no alarm bells here, just something I'll be keeping a close eye on this week and as the season progresses.
2009 Season Stats | ||||||||||||||||
SPLITS | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
Season | 21 | 82 | 15 | 23 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 27 | 3 | 2 | .280 | .372 | .390 | .763 |
Career | 724 | 2732 | 479 | 842 | 187 | 11 | 131 | 497 | 352 | 526 | 95 | 24 | .308 | .388 | .529 | .917 |
Last 7 | 7 | 29 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | .241 | .290 | .345 | .635 |
Projected | 162 | 633 | 116 | 177 | 31 | 8 | 8 | 62 | 93 | 208 | 23 | 15 | .280 | .372 | .390 | .763 |
That is not a typo...he is on pace for 208 Ks and 62 RBIs.
DW has actually closed his stance back up to last year's position, but his early struggles have obviously gotten into his head and the loop is there. This has thrown his timing off, and the results have been disastrous.
Thankfully DW is extremely hard working, and he is battling to groove his swing back to keep the bat on the correct plane and recognize pitches early.
This leaves the question of when is he going to break out of this slump? For all Mets fans, the hope is that the work he has been doing with HoJo will pay off this weekend.
At some point he has to hit, and that time is now.
2 comments:
Damn....just....damn.
Though I think he needs to get some bench time during perhaps a Weekday matinee I honestly thought his projections will be that way throughout this season let alone the end result. He is a slow starter.
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