Fangraphs has an article up today on the mechanical adjustments Abrams has made that seems to have fueled his hot start:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/cj-abrams-is-taking-over-at-the-plate/The article has some short gifs that more clearly show the mechanical change but here's some quotes:
Up until this year, the lefty had a steep, pushy entry into the hitting zone. That resulted in a suboptimal launch angle distribution. In 2023, he had a 32.6% sweet-spot rate, which was in the 30th percentile. (A player’s sweet spot percentage is defined as the percentage of their batted balls hit between eight and 32 degrees.) So instead of hitting balls at launch angles that would result in line drives and hard-hit fly balls, Abrams hit a ton of popups and groundballs. His swing had a limited range of quality contact points.
[This season,] Dude has been a walking barrel. Instead of the 32.6% sweet-spot rate he posted last year, he’s sporting a 48.2% mark. That sits in the 97th percentile. Abrams might not have light-tower power, but he hits the ball hard enough that he is going to make pitchers pay for their mistakes.
He has now tailored his swing towards crushing mistakes. Even if he has an overly aggressive approach with too much chase, he is still going to get to middle-middle pitches. That’s a valuable trait to have. When the inevitable slump comes, the power will still be there to carry him through.
