None of
this is new news, but I did find the part about the hitters tracking pitches in the bullpen interesting:
"In baseball, there is a trend toward evaluating plate discipline," says Jeff Albert, the Astros minor league hitting coordinator who oversees a program that combines reams of data on their players with practical application on the field. "We say it's important," Albert says. "We're actually backing that up." In the Astros' own way: Albert insists this is not a walk-happy approach that boosts on-base percentages and at the same time inhibits some hitters' best qualities.
Where the Astros take a step forward from the crowd is in their staunch belief plate discipline can be taught. "Selectively aggressive," barks out hitting coach Darryl Robinson to a JetHawks group that features 20-year-old third baseman Rio Ruiz batting cleanup behind Correa and 22-year-old leadoff man Tony Kemp, who has more walks than strikeouts and a .425 on-base percentage. "We're not looking for walks," Robinson says. "We're looking to do damage. Now, the walk is a by-product of getting a good pitch to hit. We know if we can put a ball in play or not. We know if we can put a good swing on a pitch and hit it hard."
Lancaster is just one stop in a coordinated approach from Houston all the way to the club's Dominican academy. And they're not feasting on younger prospects: The Astros' top three farm teams each have hitters with the lowest average age in their league.
You'll often find their hitters in the bullpen, part of a plan that bucks a widely-held notion that plate discipline can't be taught. "We track pitches," explains Kemp, a Vanderbilt product and second baseman in the diminutive mold of Houston sparkplug Jose Altuve. "When a pitcher is throwing live 'pens, we'll stand there and, when the pitcher releases the ball, call 'Yes' or 'No.'" The idea is to become so adept at identifying whether it's a good pitch to swing at that batters can make the call just as the pitcher releases the ball. And not just whether it will be in the strike zone, but also in the area where that particular hitter is most effective. "That stuck out the most to me in spring training," says Kemp, who silently notes "yes or no" in games. "It's a difference for sure. Jeff Albert also talked about making sure you're focused in on a pitcher's release point." Kemp says that's helped him identify what pitch is coming. "You can see different things like trying to pronate his hand for the change-up," Kemp says.
