he's chasing dreams hitting seams.
she's chasing dreams talking sports.
I’ve thought labeling prospects is a dumb concept for as long as I can remember. But I never thought I could really write that because Matt wasn’t on a prospect list. BUT now he is AND guess what…I still think labeling prospects is dumb. And now I’m going to write why I think that.
In sports, prospects are labeled all the time, but in baseball labeling prospects is most common because there are so many minor league players. Usually each MLB organization has a list of 30 prospects then there is a Top 100 prospects list, which is just the top 100 players throughout the entire minors. First things first — according to Wikipedia, “a prospect is any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team, or is not established with the team yet.” Second thing, you’re probably wondering who makes these prospects lists. So Baseball America and MLB Pipeline each make lists. Baseball writers are the main people who are making these lists. And I’m here to say as a writer I’m not dissing those writers who make the lists. I’ll be the first to tell you I think it’s so cool that Matt is on the prospect list — mainly because he earned it/deserves the recognition. But that also doesn’t mean I still can’t think labeling is dumb. I will say though I would love to know how many of the people making the lists have actually seen Matt (or a majority of players on the list/considered for the list) play a game of baseball. Sure they’ve watched him on film, right? But that’s minimum to me to get the whole picture of what kind of player he is. And again I know they’ve done their research and definitely know what they’re talking about. They really go off numbers — especially with someone like Matt. But anyway, the people making the lists aren’t the point of this post.
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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.
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 I went to my first Vols game when I was in the womb.
I’ve probably said that too many times in my life— some take the line as a joke. I see it as a big part of trying to get people to understand the point I’m about to make. You know who else took his first trip to Neyland in the womb? My brother. My Grandaddy has had four Tennessee season tickets since 1985. Row four in the corner of the north end zone with a perfect view of the Running through the T. My grandparents co-owned Big Orange Kountry — a Tennessee team store — for most of my childhood. I remember loving when new gear came in, and my Memaw would say we didn’t need it. But would usually get it for Christmas. One of my favorite days of the year was “The Big Day” where orange tents would be outside Big Orange Kountry. Food, drinks, sales on Tennessee gear, friends and family flooded the tents outside. My brother, our two cousins and I grew up getting to choose which Tennessee games we wanted to go to each season. We’d make the trek to Knoxville from West Tennessee in the white van with orange stripes, Tennessee flags on the windows and Tennessee magnets on the sides. We’d get to our parking spot and set up our little tailgate with sandwiches, chips and dip, you name it. Then the Vol walk. We would be in our seats a couple hours before kickoff, and that’s just how we liked our game day to go. Shortly after we made Arizona home for the offseason, I sent my resume and some clips to a few newspapers here.
We got busy with baseball and training for my part-time job at Lululemon that I forgot to follow up. On Thursday (Nov. 16), I decided to forward my first email to make sure the email got through blah blah. After my spin class Friday (Nov. 17) morning, I checked my email to see a couple responses. One response from the Glendale Star read a little something like this, “I didn’t receive your first email. Can you resend it to me? And also, if you’re available can you cover a high school football game tonight? Let me know asap.” After re-reading the email like five times to make sure that’s what it said, my first thought was ‘no way. I know nothing about either team. I never even heard of these teams until right now.’ But then I thought ‘I can’t say no because I’m nervous or a little intimidated by the situation. I have plenty of experience and know what I'm doing.' I think I would have felt a little better if the editor had read my work/seen my resume and felt I was OK enough... Still not sure if that’s a good or bad thing BUT I took it either way. Newspapers need all — random Jes —hands on deck these days. |
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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