he's chasing dreams hitting seams.
she's chasing dreams talking sports.
Last offseason we sat down and discussed Matt’s swing changes over the years. Then we specifically dove into what he was working on during the 2016-2017 offseason, which was his swing path. (aka the uppercut)
You can watch the swing vlog here, and the changes we’re talking in this blog start around the eight-minute mark. Matt started focusing more on launch angle to increase power. If you’re not familiar with launch angle, launch angle is the degree at which the ball comes off the bat. More clubs are starting to look at statistical components – such as launch angle – with more importance. A higher launch angle means more power numbers according to the stats. A good launch angle can be from anywhere between 10-20. Matt’s launch angle average was seven during his 2016 season in High-A. After the swing path changes were made during the offseason, Matt’s launch angle average was 14 during the 2017 season in AA. He hit more homeruns and doubles and had a higher batting average than all pervious seasons. Matt’s average exit velocity also increased from 85 MPH in 2016 to 90 MPH in 2017.
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After Matt’s first and second seasons we wrote recaps so of course we have to keep the tradition going now that Fall League is over and the offseason is officially here!
This recap will be extra fun after the monster year Matt had on the field. And Grainger and I traveling with Matt full-time for the first time. And Dreams and Seams getting some legs. MAN all the things happened this season, and we’re so excited to try and recap it all. First things first – Matt spent the entire 2017 season with the Tulsa Drillers (Dodgers AA) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Matt’s season stats courtesy of MiLB.com Games played: 116 Batting Average: .326 (first in the Texas League) On Base Percentage: .883 (first in Texas League) Slugging Percentage: .505 (second in Texas League) Doubles: 31 (tied for first in Texas League) Home runs: 15 RBIs: 69 (tied for fifth in Texas League) Walks: 35 Strikeouts: 54 Playoff Numbers – 10 games, .357 BA, 3 doubles, 1 home run and 5 RBIs Arizona Fall League Numbers – 17 games, .242 BA, 6 doubles, 2 home runs and 10 RBIs And not to mention some accolades he picked up along the way. Texas League Player of the Year Texas League Batting Title – Drillers first ever Texas League (midseason) All-Star Entered Dodgers Prospect List at #30 Invite to the Arizona Fall League Arizona Fall League All-Star The more the season went on the more I had to realize I’m 100 percent learning as I go and flying by the seats of my pants when it comes to doing things “right” in the WAG life.
(If you do not know what a WAG is, stop right now and click here to find out and read some fun stories from spring training.) Along with the moving lessons, I thought sharing other WAG lessons I learned/realized would be fun — and of course keeping up with/adding new ones in the future. 1) Apartments are not ideal in the baseball life. …But I mean what else can you do? Unless your affiliated team has host families, you have to get an apartment, house or live in the hotel. (Host families are local families who take in players and their families during the season. Matt had host families throughout summer ball and in Rookie Ball and Low A. He had great experiences, and we would definitely stay with a host family if they were available.) I’m not sure we’ll ever get around staying in an apartment without host families, but I now know to ask the team if there are certain apartments they work with. The teams may be able to give apartments who understand the baseball life and won’t make you pay fess if have to break the lease if moved up or down and will allow month-to-month leases. Don’t base apartments off of photos online. Before leaving spring training, we already signed a lease for an apartment in Tulsa with three other roommates. We got to Tulsa, and two of our roommates did not want to stay at that apartment. Apartments always post the most glamorous photos and sometimes when you get there the apartments do not look like they do in the photos. We obviously wanted a place to move into right away, but now we know to just wait until we get to the place we’re going and shop for an apartment in person. (Unless can get name of apartments people have lived in before, and they recommend.) We were only allowed to break the lease because the dates were wrong. But we were stuck with the furniture the first apartment had already contracted out for three months. With another fee, the furniture company transferred the furniture from the first apartment to the new apartment. Which leads me to my next point… Even though there are a few months of the “offseason” in baseball, those months are rarely spent baseball free for most. The options for playing during the off-season involve instructs, fall ball or winter ball.
Instructs — aka Instructional League — is mainly where the guys just drafted go or sometimes guys the organization wants to get more reps. Instructs take place at the organizations’ spring training facility and usually last through the end of the season through November. Players do not get paid during instructs. (I know the Dodgers put their players up in a hotel and feed them.) The schedule is similar to the schedule during spring training. Matt went to instructs after the 2015 season – the year he was drafted. Winter ball has leagues all over the place including the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Australian. Players play winter ball to get more exposure, make good money or get more reps if they were hurt a lot during the season. Usually the teams in each league reach out to players if the team wants said players to play for them. Players can also let their agent know or person in their organization assigned to winter ball business know they would be interested in playing winter ball, and those said people can reach out to their connections in the winter ball leagues. Winter ball runs from October through January, but most guys do not play an entire season if they played a full minor league season. Early on Matt was talking with a team in the Dominican Republic about playing winter ball before he found out he got an invite to fall league (fall ball). Corky and Rachael Britton have been working at ONEOK Field since 2011. The duo will say a final goodbye to DrillVille after the championship series but not before leaving a lasting impression on players, players’ families and fans.
Corky and Rachael met on the Internet, and their very first conversation revolved around baseball. “The first thing he asked me was if I liked sports,” Rachael said. “And I said yes, and I told him my favorite was baseball. He followed up with asking who my favorite team was. When I said the Giants, he said we could talk.” “I married into a Dodgers family the first time, and it just didn’t work,” Corky said. Rachael was living in Tulsa, and Corky was living in California. Rachael was from California, and she visited to explore the relationship. Their first date was on Jan. 31, 2005, and Corky’s mom tagged along. “He wanted to make sure I was comfortable because I hadn’t dated in 32 years,” Rachael said. “By the end of the first date, we were finishing each others sentences.” In October 2005, Rachael moved to California but kept the house she had in Tulsa. On July 7, 2007, the two were married in California. (along with 300,000 other couples in the United States because how cool is that date! The Brittons met a couple on July 7, 2017 at ONEOK Field who were married on the same day.) A few years later the economy tanked in California, and the Brittons lost their business and house in California. Corky had also just retired from being a mailman, and the Brittons were both freelancing for the local newspaper. The renter of Rachael’s home in Tulsa left suddenly. “In the midst of wondering what in the world we were going to do, we remembered we had a house in Tulsa,” Rachael said. |
Matt & Jesica BeatyWelcome in to dreams and seams! A tell-all blog about our career dreams and path to reaching those dreams with some commentary about sports and life plus some videos too. "Strive for the impossible because it makes the possible seem effortless." -Matt Beaty Categories
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