He still has a ways to go to get his average and on-base percentage close to something he’s comfortable with, but Braves right fielder Jason Heyward had made considerable progress in the past two weeks.
The world’s largest leadoff man was 16-for-48 (.333) with nine strikeouts and a .360 on-base percentage in his past 11 games before Saturday, after going 6-for-56 (.107) with 16 strikeouts and a .242 OBP in his previous 14 games.
Batting .223 overall with a .304 OBP before Saturday, he was asked if it was safe to say he felt better at the plate the past couple of weeks.
“Safe to say the last three games I felt better,” said Heyward, who was 6-for-14 with two doubles and only one strikeout in those three games.
He went on to clarify that it had been a gradual process to make adjustments with which he was starting to feel comfortable.
“Just gradually making the changes, getting my hands in a good position to hit early, not diving in so much, not overthinking hitting the ball to left field, timing,” he said. “So now I feel like the last few days what I mean by feeling better, I can go up there and actually say in at at-bat against a lefty, know where you’re looking for a pitch to hit versus, how are my hands supposed to feel or how my bat’s supposed to feel, what kind of position I’m supposed to be in. Once you get those things out of the way, then you can go compete.”
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