Newman overcomes long slump at plate
This season has been a poor one for Kevin Newman at the plate.
Entering T u e s d a y night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Newman had a .578 OPS through 114 games. It is the lowest OPS among qualified hitters in MLB, and if he ended the season with that mark, it would be the 20th- worst single- season OPS in team history. He has a meager .266 on-base percentage, which is the third lowest in baseball and would be the 11th worst in franchise history.
So, yes, it has been a rough go of it.
Much of that is because of how much he struggled out of the gate this season, suffering that stretched deep into the season. On July 24, he stood with a .511 OPS. Since then, he has been quite good. That day, July 24 against the San Francisco he went 4 for 5 with four singles. That seemed to spur something. From July 24 to now he has an .856 OPS in 25 games, with 10 doubles, a triple and a home run.
To illustrate this better: Prior to this season’s AllStar break, Newman had 12 extra-base hits. Since July 24, he has 12 extra-base hits. It is a turnaround Newman was striving to produce.
“[I tried] too many [adjustments] to count. Too many to count,” Newman said Tuesday. “I seriously couldn’t tell you. I struggled for a while, and you’re constantly making changes, so I couldn’t tell you.
“I was a in a good head space, to be honest, because I never really lost the confidence in myself. It was almost more frustration, just kind of like, ‘Shoot, man. When’s it going to show up?’ ”
So what clicked? After all of that time, Newman gave up trying to spray the ball the other way or commit to just making contact and hoping some hits fall for him.
Instead, he says, he stopped choking up on the bat and simply took on an attacking mindset. Drive the ball to gaps, get it to the outfield.
It’s a simple physical adjustment, it would seem, but Newman says it’s hard to explain how much of an adjustment it was for him, and it took some time to show up in his results.
Basically, Newman says, the adjustments have worked in his mind, but part of it is better luck. He points to a game during the Pirates’ last homestand, on Aug. 14, when he hit four doubles against the Milwaukee Brewers, a game that bumped his OPS up 25 points. One of those four doubles, Newman points out, was just a chopper that got over the third baseman.
Newman, of all people, knows how good luck on balls in play can change everything. After all he had a batting average over .600 in spring training, an all-time record in baseball.
Newman says he does not pay attention to counting stats or OPS, even as it begins to improve. He also doesn’t feel any sort of pressure to perform, given the bevy of middle infield prospects the Pirates have coming up through the minors.
“It was me competing with myself, just like, I’m not OK with this,” Newman said. “I’m not satisfied with this. I need to figure it out. It wasn’t like, oh, shoot, these guys are behind me and blah, blah, blah, because I prepare, and you’ve seen me, I come out and I do everything I can to prepare for the game, get my work in. I pride myself on how much work I put in, so at the end of the day, I can look at that and be OK with whatever happens.”
Top pick injured
High- A Greensboro placed Henry Davis, the first overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, on the 7-day injured list prior to Tuesday’s game. The nature of his injury was not disclosed. After being called up to Greensboro on Aug. 12, Davis, a catcher, is 5 for 19 through six games with two homers and a triple.
Polanco clears waivers
Perhaps this was much ado about nothing. The Pirates placed right fielder Gregory Polanco on outright waivers Sunday. They did so without designating him for assignment or releasing him or trying to send him to the minors. They were simply giving another team an opportunity to claim Polanco, if they so choose.
While he was on waivers, he was allowed to remain active with the Pirates. He started in right field for them Monday. Now, according to sources, he went unclaimed and will remain with the Pirates.