Going Oppo Has Propelled Christian Yelich’s Resurgence

Watching the ebbs and flows of Christian Yelich’s profession has been very attention-grabbing. From 2018 to 2019, he was top-of-the-line gamers in baseball, profitable the NL MVP in 2018 and inserting second within the voting the next 12 months. He was sending balls to the moon like he by no means had earlier than (a few of which may have owed to the livelier ball, however Yelich additionally hit the ball very onerous these years, and continues to). Then from 2020 to 2022, he was simply a median dude. He had a 108 wRC+ over that span, swatting simply 35 dwelling runs and accruing 4.4 whole WAR.

Typically, I’d say {that a} participant like Yelich already has a blueprint for achievement. Faced with a number of down seasons, his focus must be on regaining the traits that had served him so properly beforehand. However, a variety of what we all know concerning the Brewers outfielder must be thrown out the window. This is a unique participant from the one we noticed throughout Yelich’s MVP run, and he’s additionally a unique participant from the one we’ve watched the final two and a half years. Instead of determining how he might get again to his previous self, Yelich appears to have determined to mix all of his earlier years collectively to create a brand new model. And with a 129 wRC+ and three.6 WAR to date this season, Yelich has proven he can nonetheless be a star participant — it simply appears to be like completely different.

There gained’t be a lot of a deal with plate self-discipline throughout this evaluation. Yelich’s heart-of-the-zone swing charges and basic chase charges aren’t far off from final season and even his celebrity stretch. Instead, our focus will probably be on his batted ball profile and mechanical changes. I’ll begin by exhibiting you some extra basic details about Yelich’s directional hit charges, each vertically and horizontally:

The customary evaluation of Yelich has been that he must get again to hitting the ball within the air like he did in 2019. That hasn’t been what we’ve seen this season, nonetheless. Additionally, there was the concept that he wanted to benefit from his potential to hit the ball onerous (Ninety fifth-percentile hard-hit price) and pull the ball persistently. Once once more, that hasn’t been what we’ve seen. His pull price is in step with earlier years. Instead, he’s been hitting extra line drives and peppering the ball to the alternative discipline. The latter has by no means been a giant a part of Yelich’s recreation, however now it’s. Let’s take a better look.

Among hitters with no less than 100 batted balls to the alternative discipline because the starting of 2022 , Yelich ranks fifth in all of baseball in oppo xwOBA with a .416 mark. In 2022 alone, he was sixth in baseball. If there was one ability he might prop up as a lot as attainable this 12 months to take advantage of out of this success, it was hitting the ball to the alternative discipline with higher consistency, and that’s precisely what he has carried out. Below is a desk detailing Yelich’s reverse discipline efficiency this season relative to the earlier two:

Yelich’s .650 xwOBA on reverse discipline liners final 12 months was his highest mark since 2019 (.769). This 12 months, he has elevated the share of his line drives which can be hit to the alternative discipline and the efficiency has stayed about the identical. Never in his profession have a 3rd of his line drives been hit oppo, however this 12 months practically half of them have been. Similarly, he has by no means hit so a lot of his fly balls to the alternative discipline. Although his wasn’t notably profitable on these batted balls in his earlier two seasons, he has turned that round this season and has a .481 xwOBA on his oppo fly balls. Basically, the story right here is Yelich doing extra of what he was good eventually 12 months (oppo line drives) and refining one thing that he wasn’t so good at (oppo fly balls) whereas hitting the ball to the alternative discipline extra general.

To make these sorts of adjustments, Yelich made a mechanical adjustment. You must do one thing to gear your swing in direction of making reverse discipline contact extra persistently. From a knowledge perspective, this may be one thing like altering your common horizontal bat angle (HBA) – the horizontal orientation of the bat relative to the entrance of dwelling plate – to be extra persistently unfavorable and pairing that with a really perfect higher physique orientation. In different phrases, there must be a physique and barrel adjustment.

Visually talking, we might anticipate to see Yelich make extra of an effort to get his barrel on aircraft with the ball earlier in his swing. If you’re hitting the ball to the alternative discipline extra typically, then you definitely’re possible making deeper contact extra typically. To make sure that this doesn’t end in a fair greater groundball price than Yelich already has, his barrel and physique want be on an angle conducive to hitting onerous line drives. As we’ve proven, this wasn’t essentially a problem for Yelich, however there was room to do it extra typically. Let’s check out a few of his swings. These two are from final season:

While these two are from this season:

At instances in 2022, Yelich dabbled with a toe faucet – notably towards lefties – however by the top of the 12 months he was again to leg kicking solely. This 12 months, you gained’t see him leg kick – that’s the first massive change. He makes use of a toe faucet to get evenly aligned, then strides open as he all the time has. However, the stride open has much less motion to get to the identical level. This has in all probability helped him get his toes below him whereas making a extra aggressive bat tip – the second key change this season. Changing your bat tip lets you change your vertical entry angle (VEA) – the angle of your bat relative to the bottom proper earlier than the downswing. The distinction is simpler to see with gradual movement video:

The bat is just extra energetic in 2023. It begins to tip as he enters his hip hinge and ideas much more as he strides. That is in stark distinction to 2022, when the bat maintained its place for many of the swing and solely had a slight tip through the finish of the stride out. The results of this alteration is a flatter VEA that may get on aircraft to a pitch each extra easily and extra shortly. Given that his vertical bat angle (VBA) – the angle of the barrel at contact – has stayed the identical, a flatter VEA ends in a faster transition into the contact level. In less complicated phrases, he’s making a reciprocal motion by having a extra energetic bat tip that results in a extra adjustable barrel. It’s the proper recipe for a hitter to hit a bunch of onerous line drives to the alternative discipline.

I’ve already talked about this, however I believe it’s necessary to reiterate: Yelich has modified his batted ball profile and mechanics whereas making little to no change in his swing choices. I assumed that since his swing was now extra geared in direction of the alternative discipline, he would assault pitches on the outer third extra regularly, however that isn’t the case. His swing price on exterior pitches is nearly the identical as final 12 months. The identical goes for pitches within the higher third. This really was all about gearing the swing in direction of his strengths and holding virtually every thing else the identical.

Yelich won’t be a seven-win celebrity anymore, however he’s taking part in his greatest protection in years, has already swiped over 20 bases, and is hitting the snot out of the ball. He ranks third WAR amongst all left fielders, trailing solely Corbin Carroll (4.0) and Juan Soto (4.3). His all-around recreation is nearly as good because it’s been in the previous few years, and most significantly, he is without doubt one of the greatest hitting left fielders within the recreation once more.