Conor Gillaspie's Swing

by klemente on Aug 8, 2008 1:50 PM PDT

Gillaspie's biggest asset is his ability to hit for a high average, which he's able to do for a few reasons:

1. A very short swing.

2. Very fast hands.

3. When contact is made, it is usually of the hard variety.

4. Excellent hand-eye coordination, as evidenced by his excellent 37:21 BB:K ratio in college.

Some have questioned Gillaspie's power potential, and it's true that his swing isn't constructed for power but for contact and line drives. However, there are ways for him to improve his power output.

The best way would be to increase his loading process—he has more than a short enough swing to load his hands a bit more. If anything, there are times when his hands can take over his swing and get ahead of his hip rotation, which an increased loading of the hands may help prevent.

Defensively, Gillaspie should be able to stay at third base, though most observers don't think that he'll become much more than average at the position. However, he is athletic enough to make the switch to second base if needed. In fact, maybe that would be the preferred course, since it would raise the value of his bat.

Given Gillaspie's excellent approach at the plate, I expect him to advance quickly, but his upside is limited because of his lack of plus power.

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

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Comments

re:

First, to SoFa King Mike, thanks for the link as it’s much appreciated. I’m the author of that article.

Second, the reason why the animation can’t be seen is because THT recently implemented code on their site that makes it impossible to embed into message boards/external sites the graphics used.

This was because for other articles, specifically on Gerrit Cole and Clayton Kershaw, there were people who would embed the graphics used and the traffic on those sites caused the THT server to really slow down…which means you’ll have to click the link for the animation of the swing. Thanks again.

www.baseball-intellect.com

by NovaO on Aug 8, 2008 3:29 PM PDT reply actions

I'm sorry

Thanks to klemente for the link. SoFa, the second part of my answer was for you.

www.baseball-intellect.com

by NovaO on Aug 8, 2008 3:31 PM PDT up reply actions

thanks so much

for your articles. Keep them up!

BROCK BOND LIKES HIS MARTINIS PUNCHED IN THE FACE, NOT STIRRED.

by SloIsLonelyForTheOrange on Aug 8, 2008 3:33 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks!!

I’ll actually have a Buster Posey write-up within the next week I hope.

www.baseball-intellect.com

by NovaO on Aug 9, 2008 12:05 PM PDT up reply actions

I wonder what skillset Gillaspie has that would make him a flawed defender at 3B, but a quality one at 2B. Does he have bad hands or a weak arm?

by rotorueter on Aug 8, 2008 3:53 PM PDT reply actions

re:

I think it’s because of 1. footwork and 2. hands. HIs fielding percentage over at third was pretty bad, but he’s a good athlete and many think he’ll improve as he gets more experience at the position. His arm is solid, but not great.

The biggest thing about playing 3b is the velocity and the short amount of time it takes for the ball to get to you. A player doesn’t get the same difficulty of batted balls over at 2b.

www.baseball-intellect.com

by NovaO on Aug 9, 2008 12:12 PM PDT up reply actions

If he can hit .285+ and get on base .350+ with some gap power, I’ll take less-than-Feliz defense.

Schulman referred to him as a power hitter in the Chron today. Gillespie noted the lack of people in front of him in the organization at 3B and said he hopes he he’ll be able to move through the minors quickly.

Adoptive father of howtheyscored. The beatings will begin momentarily.

by Goofus on Aug 11, 2008 9:09 AM PDT up reply actions