New drill helps get Trout back on track at plate
TEMPE, ARIZ. » Joe Maddon said he learned early in his coaching career back in the 1980s that even the best hitters are constantly fighting to stay at that level.
“Even when you get to the point where you feel a guy’s accomplished, they all struggle, man,” the Angels manager said. “They all struggle, and they need help. They need work. They need a warm fuzzy once in a while.”
Mike Trout has spent much of this month looking for just that, after being uncomfortable at the plate.
“I was cutting off my swing really bad,” he said Thursday. “I was hitting everything on the label. Balls down the middle on the label. I just figured out some drills I can do and some stuff to keep me square. Some at-bats I feel good and some not, but I’m happy with the direction it’s going, because I actually figured out how to fix it.”
Trout said he’s been doing a drill that Shohei Ohtani also started doing last year, and it’s made a difference. Although he said he’d never done this particular drill, he characterized the process as just “minor changes ... not like a swing change.”
Trout had three hits in his first 18 at-bats, but then six in his next 13 at-bats, including back-to-back twohit games Monday and Wednesday.
“When you’re going good, you’re going good, but when you’re not feeling so good, you try to get back to feeling good,” Trout said. “It happens a lot . ... It’s little stuff like this just just get back on track. You know, hitting is hard. It’s a grind. Sometimes you’re in a cage hitting a whole bucket, and sometimes you’re hitting five balls off the tee. It varies every day.”