DUNEDIN, Fla. – Hector Olivera had six hits and a sacrifice fly in 14 plate appearances this spring entering Monday, and the Braves third baseman-turned-left fielder had effectively applied much of what he worked on with Braves hitting coaches during the offseason.
But it’s worth noting, the hits were all singles and his front foot, which he’s kept on the ground in his swings during batting practice and during early work in the cage, has begun to come off the ground again during in-game swings.
In other words, the nearly 31-year-old Cuban remains a work in progress approaching his first full season in the majors.
“He’s breaking down a little bit in the game,” said Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who went to Puerto Rico during winter ball to work one-on-one with Olivera. “He’s still (working on) his timing and stuff, but it’s so much better than it was last year. We’ve just got to keep him tall. He’s kind of crouching down a little bit. He’s not turning (in his swing), which, that’s the biggest issue. But that front foot is starting to flip up in the game, which it doesn’t do at any other time.”
Seitzer watched Olivera take batting practice before Monday’s road game against the Blue Jays, and saw the foot stay down and the “bat wrap” remain subdued, not like the exaggerated bend he had last season when he appeared to aim the bat end toward the sky just above the pitcher’s head as Olivera went into his stance.
“He’s improved, cleaned up a lot of things,” Braves assistant hitting coach Jose Castro said. “(Sunday) he got in the game, game adrenaline kicks in…. We’re trying to get away from that front foot elevation, back foot turn. Which was looking really good, and still is, but he’s gone back a little bit.
“Things happen during the game. But he’s worked, man. Good worker. Listens. And he’s cleaned up a lot.”
Since Olivera was still getting hits – he had two Sunday – Seitzer has waited to address the in-game regression he’s observed lately. But he will talk with him this week and have Olivera try to focus on staying with what they’ve worked on in games, rather than reverting back to bad habits, which also included turning his back foot and crouching in his stance.
Seitzer said the 6-foot-2, 220-pound hitter was reducing his power by getting too low in his stance.
“While he’s getting his timing, he’s getting his hits and having decent at-bats, I’m just letting it go for now,” Seitzer said. “But I’m hoping things will settle back in to where he’s repeating what he does in his early work and his batting practice, that it carries over into the game.”
“All hitters will revert in games because you’re just locked in, the adrenaline and everything. So it’s a process, to where it starts to carry over into games. He’s much, much better than (last season). But when he sinks down and then he swings and starts to come up, that’s costing him power. He loses leverage (he would have) staying tall.
“I’m going to give him a few more games to see how things unfold.”
The positives, Seitzer said, are that Olivera has stayed on top of all the points in his much-improved stance and stroke during batting practice, and even during games he’s avoided turning his body like he did last year as a rookie, when scouting reports told pitchers they could exploit that habit and get him out with pitches inside.
“As long as he’s not turning,” Seitzer said. “The wrap is still there a little bit, but not as pronounced as it as last year. So as long as he’s not turning he’s going to be able to get to pitches on the inner half. He’s got the ability to put the barrel of the bat on the ball, it’s just a matter of staying closed, staying tall, and not getting too low to where he becomes a little man instead of a big man.”
Castro, who worked with Olivera several times near his home in Miami before he went to winter ball, said the player is onboard with the changes in his swing and understands why they are necessary if he’s to reach his potential in the big leagues.
“He wants to do the things we’ve talked to him about because of the quality of pitching and the velocity (in the majors),” Castro said. “I asked him this question, and I knew what the answer was going to be. I asked him about the Cuban pitchers — man, those hard throwers. (Castro smiled.) He said, well, if we have a hard thrower, they’re on the way here (to majors).
“You see a lot of guys (in Cuba) with a lot of off-speed stuff, so hitters can get away with some things when it’s that type of pitching. Here in the United States of America, we have the best players, the best arms throwing at you every day. And it’s not just one or two guys, it’s the whole staff coming at you. They’re bringing the noise at you.”
In all his years playing in Cuba’s top league and for the Cuban national team, Olivera also never had the kind of coaching and technical analysis of his swing that he’s getting here. He didn’t need it, frankly, against the competition.
“Not a lot of instruction over there,” Castro said. “You’ve got your manager and your team, you’ve got your best players going, and they just go over and bang. Fundamentally? Instruct? No. Not like here.”
