Garcia has now power. He traded swing and miss for hitting weak balls into the ground. Not really an improvement. Ruiz is just a weak contact machine at this point.
This isnt bad luck. This is weak hitting. And considering that Coles' philosphy is swing baby, swing, then it makes sense that that philosophy is directly related to the players' underperformance.
I mean, this sounds like a case of going by the numbers vs the eye test. By the numbers it's indisputable, both Ruiz and García are hitting better this year than last. You can look for yourself:
Ruiz Savant page:
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/keibert-ruiz-660688?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlbGarcía Savant page:
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/luis-garcia-671277?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlbGarcía's hard hit rate is the same as last year, but his whiff rate went from mediocre to elite. His walk rates went from terrible to mediocre. He is hitting the ball on the ground more often but not enough that xwOBA thinks he shouldn't be doing better.
Ruiz has more than doubled his hard hit rate (though to be fair it was atrocious last year so it's merely "mediocre" now). But even more impressive is his barrel rate which has quadrupled.
