He had the 4 error yips ALCS in 2020 where he also batted .219 for the regular season (1st post cheating scandal revelation season) and started the 2022 postseason 0 for 23. Plus, the endless baserunning ridiculousness throughout his career. It's a Texas Cyclone of ups and downs.
He is an emotional guy and absolutely is prone to letting things spiral up or down. But that is good ole Altuve … the worry was whether he was aging in dog years, and that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Was looking up avg swing speed by season for bregs. His avg swing speed was down several mph last year. This year it’s back at his historical average. Hitting coaches don’t make a difference. Now recovered but speed, that makes a difference. So was he hurt last year or did he hookup with lebrons trainer this year
Option three: He was uninterested last season. I actually think too highly of him for that, but I do know organizations can push people into a corner that destroys their incentive to produce. I have seen it happen more than once.
I discounted that alternative as it was a contract year. Which is also why I lean to it being injury he played through
Bregman bWAR: 3.0, OPS+ 160, $36.7M Paredes bWAR: 1.8, OPS+ 127, $6.7M ...also, Bregman career at Fenway: .316 .430 .616 1.046 Bregman career at The Juice Box: .269 .369 .477 .846
Didn't the Red Sox change up his stance/load? Maybe he locked himself up and couldn't generate the requisite bat speed. He was always big on beating the pitcher to the spot, conceivable that those pop ups were a manifestation of that reduced bat speed.
They say they did (I've seen about 4 ABs of his this year, so?). Players and coaches like to say stuff like that when a guy goes on a hot streak, whether it's true or not (hell if I know in this case)
Someone needs to do an overlay of him set up in the box from '19, '24, and '25. I remember when the (then) Root Sports guys did that for Chris Carter* and you could see how he changed the way his bat started and then he locked in and went on a tear. * = first time we've had two Chris Carter references in a week since probably 2015, right?
stance and load can change where your swing starts but don’t generally impact swing speed. Load can impact it negligibly. The 7 mph drop and recovery are out of what I would call stance change adjustments. Last year you could tell he was making decisions earlier in the pitch sequence to determine if he should swing. Results were lower walks and higher strike outs. What I’ve seen of him this year is allowing the pitch to present itself before initiating swing.
