Golden:
Last year, hitting coach Darnell Coles worked on getting Robles’ hands higher in order to create a quicker path to the baseball. He also opened up his stance to better see the baseball and avoid chasing. But Coles said recently that Robles struggled with getting his hands through the baseball on time consistently. Robles finished last season with an average exit velocity of 84.6, which ranked in the bottom 1 percent of the league. It was the fourth year in a row that Robles finished in the bottom 1 percent, according to Baseball Savant.
This year, Robles’ hands are lower and his feet are wider. Coles believes that will allow him to have more control and recognize pitches that are out of the zone with a simpler approach. The Nationals also introduced a dodgeball this offseason to help Robles stay direct to the baseball instead of casting his arms out and swinging around the baseball. Keeping his hands inside the baseball has allowed him to hit the ball to the opposite field with more force more often.
“He’s in a better hitting position than he was last year, he’s on time,” Coles said. “He’s working more linear where he’s able to get through the ball and not rotational where he’s working around everything. The linear portion of his swing allows him to drive the ball to right-center field, not look to pull as often. And then when he gets a pitch inside, he just reacts and hits it hard.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/04/13/victor-robles-early-success-2023-season/His Pull % has dropped from about 50% in 2020-21 to 31%, while his up the middle % has gone from about 30-31% the past couple of years to 45+% so far. In terms of contact, his medium velocity contact has dropped 9% and his hard hit contact is up 10%.
https://www.fangraphs.com/players/victor-robles/18363/stats?position=OFIt's kind of odd to see a guy hit the ball harder by pulling less.
