Follow-up: Mason Robbins

On 6/21, I posted a Game Highlight on Mason Robbins. I included a hitting chart showing how Mason was more successful hitting the ball the other way. I still believe that Mason’s power is to the right-center gap, but he has hit one home run to right and the other to left (in the same game). My only defense, other than watching batting practice, is his only triple of the season was to right-center. Regardless of where his power lies, he has found more success going to the opposite field. He has more hits, and made less outs, hitting the ball the opposite way. Robbins has 12 hits to left this season and 6 to right (hitting chart below).

His recent hitting success can be attributed to an adjustment to his swing, as well. In the video below you can see Mason on 7/1 pulling his front shoulder off of the baseball. I am referring to his front shoulder opening up to the pitcher rather than staying under his chin. This tends to cause a loss of power, not letting the ball travel deep enough in the zone, a reduced rate of contact, and hitting the ball directly into the ground (topping off). Since 7/1, Mason's batting average has risen from .306-.390, and his OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) from 0.776 to an outstanding 1.056. He has hit 3 doubles and 2 home runs. It is obvious in the video, that after the first hit, his chin goes from shoulder to shoulder. I slowed down the last hit for two reasons. The first is to show how well Mason goes to the opposite field. The second is to show how, on a similar pitch, Mason not only makes contact, but he hits the ball with great authority. Currently, he is 10th in the entire Cape Cod Baseball League with 15.429 runs created (sabermetric stat). Runs created is a formula, which is based on hits, walks, at-bats, and total bases, and predicts the number of runs a batter scores in a season. If Mason continues to stray true to his swing, this number will continue to rise!