Jason Heyward got mad.
The offensive struggles following an All-Star rookie season were a source of anger for the Braves young outfielder. Heyward followed his impressive first season by hitting just .227 last year, when he was plagued by an injured right shoulder most of the season. Those struggles at the plate carried over into this season. On May 30, Heyward was hitting .233.
What Heyward did not get was frustrated.
He has been on a tear the past two months. He comes out of the All-Star break with a .272 average, 14 home runs and 41 RBIs. There is an important distinction between getting mad and getting frustrated, according to Braves hitting coach Greg Walker.
"The toughest thing in this game is to not get frustrated when you are not getting results," Walker said. "I've seen him mad. I've seen him really mad when he didn't get results. But he's let it go by the next at-bat and got right back after it.
"That's how you get better. Getting frustrated is the easiest thing to do. He's been as good during the first three months of the season about not getting frustrated as anybody that I've ever coached."
Reasons for Heyward's recent success are varied. When asked recently to explain the turnaround, Chipper Jones began his reply with, "You got all day?"
"In a nutshell, he's using the whole field," said Jones, who has worked in the batting cage with Heyward. "He is driving the ball the other way. He is taking the pitch in. He's not trying to hit every ball out to right field. That was a big part of his problem.
"It's mechanics, his mechanics. He got away from them for a long time. He's gotten back and is pretty fundamentally sound now and you are seeing the results."
Heyward, 22, is sixth on the Braves with his .272 average. His 80 hits are only 10 less than he recorded all last season in 128 games. He has already matched last year's home run total (14) and is leading in the Braves in that category and slugging percentage (.497). He is second in stolen bases (tied with 11) and triples (four), third in hits (80) and OPS (.837) and fourth in doubles (16), RBIs (41) and walks (29). His strikeout total (74) is tied for second on the team.
After hitting as low as seventh in the batting order earlier this season, Heyward has been a staple in the third spot for the last two weeks.
Heyward also leads Braves outfielders in assists (six), one more than his previous best set his rookie season. He threw out three runners in a recent nine-game stretch, getting the Nationals' Rick Ankiel at second base and the Astros' Jason Kubel and Yankees' Mark Teixeira at the plate.
"Health," said Heyward of his turnaround. "When you are not healthy, with an injury such as a shoulder, you are not able to make adjustments. I wasn't able to make adjustments to a pitch inside or away. I've always been the type of hitter who was able to stay inside the ball for a long time and hit the ball to left field with more authority than right field. Right now, I'm learning and coming to a point where I can hit the ball anywhere with some authority consistently.
"Baseball is a game of adjustments. You let someone keep getting you out 10 times in a row, you are not making adjustments."
Since June 1, Heyward is hitting .331 (40-for-121) with eight home runs and 18 RBIs. He won the National League Player of the Week award on June 25th with a .522 (12-for-23) average and accounted for three home runs, three doubles and a triple.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Heyward has been more aggressive this season. Walker went back to review video from 2010, when Heyward hit .277 with 18 home runs and 72 RBIs and started the All-Star Game. He suspects that the shoulder injury resulted in bad habits that took time to resolve.
The rest was up to Heyward to get his timing back.
"Jason really understands the swing plane, how to swing the bat," Walker said. "We knew there was one piece missing and that was the timing issue of it. He's put some unbelievable swings on balls but because he was late and letting the ball get too deep at times, he wasn't getting the results that he is now. Somehow he's figured out a way to take that same swing and catch it a click farther out front.
"We've been just sitting back waiting, knowing that there wasn't anything else to work on until he kind of got a feel for that. He's got it right now. All those good swings that he was taking early in the year and fouling balls off, now he's putting them in play."
HEYWARD HITTING AGAIN
Here is a look at how Jason Heyward ranks among the Braves in several statistical categories this season.
Home runs/14/First
Slugging percentage/.497/First
Stolen bases/11/Tied second
Triples/4/Second
Hits/80/Third
OPS/.837/Third
Doubles/16/Fourth
RBIs/41/Fourth
Walks/29/Fourth
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