I ended my Friday conversation with Zach DeLoach by saying the next time I interviewed him, it would be about his first major league hit.
Sigh.
I felt like it was too risky when I was walking away, but he’s an upbeat guy and I was trying to match his energy.
DeLoach is a big advocate of eye training, simulating spin recognition and taking batting practice reps at game speed in order to boost his swing decisions. He credits that work for his strikeout rate at Triple-A Charlotte being trimmed down to 22.6 percent, which would be his lowest mark since spending the first half of the 2021 season at High-A.
“It was definitely an emphasis I had in the offseason to really not so much focus on the mechanics of the swing, but rather the approach,” said DeLoach, who said similar work has continued with hitting coach Cameron Seitzer at Triple-A. “Just knowing my strengths and just knowing ‘You do damage here, you don’t do damage here.’ Even if they are borderline strikes, being able to take those is a good thing for me. Just keying in on my pitch, keying in on my zone that day and letting it fly when it’s in there.”
The subtext to this focus is that the stuff quality DeLoach is facing has driven him to be this granular about where he can have success. Maybe some hitters are naturally gifted enough to ‘see ball, hit ball,’ but he has reached a point where he’s trying to wring out success through preparation.
Of course while DeLoach was making contact and getting on base for a decent clip, it was less than two weeks ago that he launched his first home run of the season after hitting 23 in the previous season. Charlotte is a great hitter’s park. But even playing there, grounders don’t clear the fence, and DeLoach’s ground ball rate had spiked to 47.1 percent in the early going. He has never hit grounders more than 40 percent of the time at any previous minor league stop.
“There’s a few things in my swing where I wasn’t get the ball elevated enough,” said DeLoach, who felt the main issue was contact point. “I was hitting the ball hard but wasn’t getting it elevated. It’s just a timing aspect. Just really keying in on timing and that’s something I’m going to try to do a better job of. I feel like I’ve been late in my at-bats.”
DeLoach isn’t looking to tinker with his swing to get any part of his load smaller or quicker necessary, he just views catching the ball in front as a function of pitch recognition. Which is how he circles back to eye training, drills that shoot foam balls out of pitch machines with extra movement, and the like. Anything that can train him to see the pitch that will become major league hit No. 1. For the time being, he's back in Charlotte, where he went 3-for-5 with a double in his return to Triple-A on Sunday.
Charlotte 4, Nashville 3
- Colson Montgomery was 0-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- Zach DeLoach returned to Charlotte and went 3-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Jonathan Cannon: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 HBP, 58 of 88 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Scott McGarity stranded the bases loaded in both the eighth and ninth innings to help the Knights avoid losing all six games in Charlotte.
Birmingham 8, Biloxi 4
- Terrell Tatum went 2-for-5 with a homer and a double.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Brooks Baldwin also was 2-for-5, with a stolen base.
- Edgar Quero was 0-for-3 with two walks.
- Tim Elko went 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras, 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Jake Eder: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP, 52 of 89 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Birmingham won all six games in Biloxi.
Bowling Green 8, Winston-Salem 2 (5 innings, rain)
- Eddie Park went 1-for-3.
- Wes Kath singled and struck out.
- Loidel Chapelli was 0-for-2 with a strikeout.
Kannapolis 10, Augusta 1
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-3 with a triple and two walks. He was also picked off.
- Ryan Burrowes was 2-for-5 with a double.
- Lucas Gordon: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 55 of 89 pitches for strikes.
