https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/01/30/jake-alu-nationals-minor-league/Discusses power surge last year. Attributes it to some deliberate decisions like laying off high pitches while in AA. Those were never a contact problem but just ones he did not drive. After promotion to AAA, had to readjust as pitchers were smart enough to know he was laying off high strikes. Was able to do so. Also discusses how, during 2020, he used the long shut down to do extra work on his core and hips, so he was able to build a nice base onto which he added upper body strength without losing flexibility. Much more usable strength now, which probably also helped the power surge.
When Alu, 25, started reading his own scouting report last season, he realized his “blue area,” or his weakness, was up in the strike zone on fastballs with high spin rates. He had no trouble making contact with the pitch, but the result often was weak contact, and he couldn’t drive the ball.
“Instead of working on that pitch and trying to hit that, I just didn’t swing at it,” Alu said recently. “And then if a pitcher throws it three times in a row, tip your cap to him. That’s hard enough to do. That’s what I worked on. It’s not very complex. … It’s just putting [the reports] into use and getting your reps out and getting enough at-bats.”
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“Things started changing because [Class AAA] pitchers started pitching to my weaknesses rather than their strengths, I noticed,” Alu said. “That was an adjustment on its own, and it kind of drove me away from my approach. It kind of took me back a few steps — I had to regress and kind of see: ‘This is what’s going on; this is what they’re doing. Stick to your approach.’ And then it started turning around again.”
It look Alu about two weeks before he started to regain his plate discipline. In just 59 games with Rochester, he had 11 homers, 45 RBI and a .329 batting average.
This offseason he worked with his trainer to maintain the build, add speed, and strengthen his right shoulder. Has been in West Palm this month.
IDK - sounds like this kid is pretty serious about integrating data and working on weaknesses. As the article says, has a lot of guys presumed in front of him at 3rd - Candy, Vargas, Kieboom - so liekly Rochester candidate for the start of the year. Just nice to see a guy with the focus to improve and to identify what needs to be worked on. I'm of the school of thought that sometimes it's the guys with fewer gifted tools but with an intelligent diligent approach who make for good major leaguers.
