Young makes swing changes...

[82CardsGrad]

I'll go on record right now and state that if he is FINALLY able to take pitches to center and right field, my views on CY will do a complete about face. He could easily hit .300 if he finally figures out how to go the opposite way!


Diamondbacks' Chris Young seeing offensive results after tweaking his swing

The change in his swing is so subtle that if you're not looking for it, you might not see it. But Diamondbacks center fielder Chris Young has noticed a difference this spring training. His manager has, too.

Young's results in the Cactus League have been outstanding. He's 17 for 42 (.405) with five doubles, three homers and eight walks. It's the way Young has compiled these numbers that has him encouraged.

"It's more the type of hits that I've been able to get," he said. "I've had a couple of line drives up the middle, a double to right-center, a couple of base hits to right field. Not driven, but tough pitches. That was the category I wasn't getting enough of -- singles. It wasn't the doubles or the homers, it was just the base hits."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/dia...is-young-offensive-results.html#ixzz1qMF4YJJy

 

[Chris_Sanders]

He has been our best hitter in spring and it isn't close.

Not sure about .300, but if he can hit .260 this will be the CY that everyone has been waiting for.

The only question will be where you hit him. I would guess first in that case.

June DBacks Lineup:

Young
Hill
Upton
Kubel
Montero
Goldschmidt
Drew
Roberts

Crazy that Roberts might hit 8th.

 

[82CardsGrad]

He has been our best hitter in spring and it isn't close.

Not sure about .300, but if he can hit .260 this will be the CY that everyone has been waiting for.

The only question will be where you hit him. I would guess first in that case.

June DBacks Lineup:

Young
Hill
Upton
Kubel
Montero
Goldschmidt
Drew
Roberts

Crazy that Roberts might hit 8th.

.260?? No way! If that's all he can do, my opinion of his value to the team will definitely not change. He needs to be, at minimum, a .280 hitter. And if he is, his position in the lineup gets a whole lot easier to deal with. If he's batting .280, he should be our leadoff hitter - uncontested. If he can't hit .280, I would remain in favor of playing Parra full-time!

 

[BC867]

I have been outspoken, including recently, about Chris Young uppercutting every pitch since he arrived in the Majors. With his range of skills, if he intends to hold this new philosophy of a level swing, I will be a happy camper.

I could say, "It took him long enough." or "Only time will tell if he sticks with it.", but I'd rather say, "Better late than never." and expect the best.

If he could hit .280 (his speed should bring it to that level), with 30 HR, 30 stolen bases, 100 RBI's and 100 runs, what a benefit it would be for the D'backs and for D'back fans.

I am hoping for the best!

P.S.: I didn't see 82CardsGrad's post -- above -- setting a goal of .280, as did I, until after I hit "Save". That makes it unanamous.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I have been outspoken, including recently, about Chris Young uppercutting every pitch since he arrived in the Majors. With his range of skills, if he intends to hold this new philosophy of a level swing, I will be a happy camper.

I could say, "It took him long enough." or "Only time will tell if he sticks with it.", but I'd rather say, "Better late than never." and expect the best.

If he could hit .280 (his speed should bring it to that level), with 30 HR, 30 stolen bases, 100 RBI's and 100 runs, what a benefit it would be for the D'backs and for D'back fans.

I am hoping for the best!

P.S.: I didn't see 82CardsGrad's post -- above -- setting a goal of .280, as did I, until after I hit "Save". That makes it unanamous.

There is the rub with CY... he has all the tools required to do all of that and then some. The fact that he continually falls epically short is why I have remained anti-CY. I have never seen a guy with all of those tools be so incredibly one-dimensional at the plate. CY has never, and I mean NEVER, been able to take a pitch the opposite way. He simply uses one side of the diamond, period. It's nearly impossible to be an everyday, productive player when you are that limited at the plate. As evidenced by his putrid career stats...

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Well .260 would be his career high. He hit .254 in 2010 when he was an all star with 28 and 27. League average is around .270 now.

If he hits .280 then he will be dangerously close to 30 / 30 which is MVP level.

An improvement on 2010 will likely put him back in the all star game.

 

[Nash2Amare]

What the ??

If CY hits .250/.330 with 20+ HRs, he's more than fine playing everyday. His defense is so good that he can do what he did last year and we'll survive.
Don't forget about his injury last summer: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/dia...na-diamondbacks-chris-young-thumb-excuse.html that threw him in that bad slump. He was leading the MLB in XBH's prior to the injury.

He can't hit .193 in the 2nd half again, or any half, which still wasn't the end of the world since he put up a .320 OBP. He won't, though. He has gotten much better with his approach since his stint in Reno a few years back and is injury-free right now.

I'm gonna bank on a .250 avg/.340 obp from him this year -- which is pretty good. He was 4th in the majors last year in doubles, and still hit 20HRs. .250 isn't bad when he's posting a very respectable .340 obp, which he did in 2010.

 

[Nash2Amare]

Well .260 would be his career high. He hit .254 in 2010 when he was an all star with 28 and 27. League average is around .270 now.

If he hits .280 then he will be dangerously close to 30 / 30 which is MVP level.

An improvement on 2010 will likely put him back in the all star game.

He'll hover around .260, IMO. I'd be shocked if he ever put up a .280 season.

 

[Nash2Amare]

There is the rub with CY... he has all the tools required to do all of that and then some. The fact that he continually falls epically short is why I have remained anti-CY. I have never seen a guy with all of those tools be so incredibly one-dimensional at the plate. CY has never, and I mean NEVER, been able to take a pitch the opposite way. He simply uses one side of the diamond, period. It's nearly impossible to be an everyday, productive player when you are that limited at the plate. As evidenced by his putrid career stats...

Very true, not sure we'll ever see that from him (opposite field hits); which is why I love Goldschmidt, fwiw. Still, .250-.260 with a solid OBP is pretty good considering what we get from him defensively. Parra is very good defensively, but his routes on balls is what would make him look very average in CF. We need a great CFer in our park.

 

[BC867]

He can't hit .193 in the 2nd half again, or any half, which still wasn't the end of the world since he put up a .320 OBP.

The only way Young's bases on balls (.193 BAVG vs .320 OBP) are going to make a significant contribution to the team are as a bread-and-butter hitter. Certainly not in the power part of the batting order.

CY is not a bread-and-butter hitter. Craig Counsell, who was fearless (and skilled) with two strikes was, and it helped the rest of the team.

It is why he took over the leadoff position from Tony Womack.

CY's value will come in the power part of the batting order, if he sticks with his current plan to do it with line drive shots rather than high fly balls.

 

[Lefty]

Don't forget CY was hurt for most of the second half last year. Hope he can continue his spring hitting into the regular season.

 

[Gaddabout]

I was surprised to find out Chris Young's OBP has slowly climbed while the MLB average has dropped -- and the past two years he was slightly above average. It makes more sense when you look as the seasonal OBP graph. It looks like the Rockies, with massive ups and downs. He's a very streaky player.

He's posted .341 and .331 respectively the past two years. If he could get that up over .350, he'd not only immediately resolve the lead off spot, he'd be one of the best in baseball. I don't ever see him being a 2/3/4 type of guy, and his speed is wasted in the bottom half of the lineup. It's all very frustrating.

But I maintain hope.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Still on fire for our first two games.