Last year Courtney Hawkins, the Chicago White Sox #1 prospect, was having problems adjusting to the pitching in the Carolina League. When he was drafted in the first round of the 2012 draft he was considered a “boom or bust” player. He had an unlimited amount of power and actually had decent speed for a guy his size but he was undisciplined at the plate which helped him to strike out 160 times in 383 at bats ( a percentage that comes out to an incredible 41.7% of the time!). Pitchers knew if you threw a pitch out side and low that he couldn’t lay off of it and it would be an easy strikeout.  Here are a couple of pictures of an at bat during the 2013 season.

There are 3 things to notice in his swing:  his original stance, the back elbow and his front leg when he starts his swing. Typically a wider stance  will help a player make contact because it creates less motion at the front part of the swing but usually a player will lose power to compensate for control. Most power hitters want to use their legs and hips to drive through the ball but with Courtney already having a wider stance he has pretty much forced his power to be all upper body. It’s also much harder to hit a pitch away because you have eliminated stepping into the pitch and going after it.  Secondly, his back elbow is at eye level.  If you take a look at most hitters who hit for power and average, they will have the elbow level with their shoulder. Anything different can cause a batter to have a looping swing which will create holes in the strike zone and cause his head to lift up losing site of the ball. Last is that front leg. By having the front leg bent he has basically taken his entire lower body out of the swing. Now take a look at his early 2104 stance:

His stance, although still a bit wide, has closed. He is able to step more into the ball and start to generate power at the initial part of the swing. He has lowered the back elbow significantly. Having the elbow pointed down and not having it even can still create holes through the strike zone but it forces him to now use more of his body and have a more natural swing. It also allows him to stay down on the ball and see the ball better at contact. But the biggest thing is the extension of his right leg. Not only does the extension allow him to use his hips and drive the ball, it helps him to have better balance. In the early part of the season, the change appears to have paid off. He is still striking out quite a bit (13 strikeouts in 10 games) but he has 3 home runs, 14 RBI and batting .316 which is about 140 points higher than what he ended the season on last year (.178). The one thing that he still needs to work on at this point is patience. If he can lay off the low and away pitches, it will force pitchers to throw the ball more over the plate which would be a mistake on their part. Hawkins could see his name back in the top 100 very soon!

If you like this post and you’re a fan of  minor league baseball, feel free to stop by my face book page https://www.facebook.com/baseballfuture . I have break downs and pictures of other top prospects. I look forward to seeing you all there!