The Indians’ No. 1 prospect, RubberDucks outfielder Bradley Zimmer, has spent much of this 2016 season marred in a slump the likes which he had never previously encountered. Now, with an adjusted stance, he appears to be back on track.
Zimmer struggled to get going offensively in April and May before taking a further turn for the worse in June. The swing with which he had found so much success for so long no longer felt comfortable.
“My swing, it just didn’t feel very good,” Zimmer said Tuesday prior to the Home Run Derby during Eastern League All-Star festivities at Canal Park. “I wasn’t seeing the ball well and it wasn’t going my way.”
So Zimmer teamed up with RubberDucks hitting coach Tim Laker, who along with the Indians’ scouting department worked to narrow his stance so that he stood taller in the box. They also had him relax his hands. The hope was that it’d help his timing, improve his swing path through the strike zone and allow him to drive through the ball and pull it with more authority.
“He had some holes in his swing that myself and some guys up the chain, in the front office, we thought there were some adjustments he needed to make and it’s better to make them now than find out he has to make them at the big-league level,” Laker said. “There were pitches in the zone he just wasn’t getting to. … It was more about lining his body up so his swing path could stay through the ball longer.”
The results with his new, taller stance were almost instant. Zimmer is hitting .324 in nine July games with a .410 on-base percentage, two home runs, three doubles and six RBI. It’s a small sample size, but it was also the most promising stretch of Zimmer’s up-and-down 2016.
“It feels great. It feels smooth,” Zimmer said. “My timing’s been really good lately. Everything feels really connected.”
At the All-Star break Zimmer is hitting .244 with 14 home runs, 19 doubles, 50 RBI and 30 stolen bases. Along with being able to play center field, Zimmer has displayed enough power for the position, but Laker and the Indians noticed he wasn’t pulling the ball down the line like he should.
His power has been evident to center field and right-center, but not down the right-field line. Discovering that power stroke is another hopeful byproduct of this round of adjustments.
“We’re trying to get him to pull the ball with a little more power,” Laker said. “A lot of times when he pulls the ball, it’s with topspin. We’re trying to keep the balls staying true, getting a little more carry. He’s got tremendous power, but it shows up more toward the center of the field and the gaps.”
Zimmer has maintained his ranking as one of the top 25-30 prospects in baseball. The Indians are looking to make the last few tweaks to a talented, multi-tool prospect and possibly a future mainstay in the Indians’ outfield.
“He’s got potential with his tools, his length, the leverage he creates, the speed, the bat speed, fast-twitch — he has so many different skills,” Laker said. “There aren’t that many people in baseball as gifted as him with those tools. Now, we want to round him out and turn him into a complete player.”
