Alert the Ripley’s Believe it or Not people. Get the National Enquirer on line one. There has been an Adam Duvall home-run sighting.
And just so no one could brush off his first home run in a game of any kind in more than seven months as an apparition, he did it again. That’s right, two home runs in Sunday’s, 5-6, win against Miami.
It shouldn’t be a complete surprise. Duvall is a one-time All Star who got there during a 33-home run 2016 season. And he hit 31 the next year. But this was the first hint of the pop the Braves traded for at the end of July last season. For after arriving in Atlanta, he hit all of one extra-base hit (a double) in 53 at-bats.
Sunday was the first time Duvall left the park in a game of any sort since July 25, when he was still with Cincinnati.
“It feels like about five years, to be honest,” he said afterward.
“When you’re used to driving the ball and hitting home runs, when you go that long without hitting a homer, you know it. So, it was good to get those two balls out.”
Duvall has been putting in long hours in the cage, along with Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, trying to correct a swing that was late and off-kilter. Prior to Sunday, he was 0-for-10 in a busy spring that is going to stay busy for him.
“It’s definitely good for his confidence,” manager Brian Snitker said. “When a guy works hard, you like for him to get results. I’m going to try to get him a couple more at-bats tomorrow, because when you get something positive going, I want to keep trying to build on it.”
Yeah, it was just an early spring training game, but: “It feels good,” Duvall said. “Just to get the barrel to some balls and really drive something. It’s what we’ve been working on in the cages and during batting practice, so it was good to take that into a game.”
Duvall’s struggles — he hit .132 for the Braves last year — left him needing to make a good impression with the team this year. His spot on the roster was hardly guaranteed.
“He’s the kind of guy who’s a definite asset on your team if we can get him right,” Snitker said.
Duvall’s attitude entering this spring was straight-forward enough: “Not that I wanted to show anything, I wanted to get back to who I am,” he said. “That’s what we’re all working toward.”
