Practice Makes Perfect

Most athletes have to wrestle with their demons.  For Clare, there was one in particular, a strike zone as big as the wide open spaces.  My daughter started where Yogi Berra and Vladimir Guerrero left off—what they wouldn’t swing at, she did.

This led to some—no, many—testy practices between BP-throwing parent and batter/child.  Over time, I got Clare to lay off of anything that bounced in, and she never had a problem with inside pitches.  Stuff in her eyes, she’d swing at, and she made hard contact more times than you could imagine.  It was breaking balls outside that drove me nuts.  Clare’s front foot would go one way and her bat the other, almost always resulting in a very sad swinging strike.  That in turn led me to utter these immortal words:  “And where would the ball go if you’d actually managed to hit it?” Equally sad little foul squibs every blue moon were all the answer I needed.

If nothing else, this war of wills led to a better hitter, though I doubt it’ll get much mention during my eulogy.  Still, I wonder if something similar has happened with Matt Davidson of the White Sox, a war that’s led to a change in approach.  It sure looks that way, compared to 2017.

Last year, Davidson hit .220 in 414 at-bats, with all of 19 walks.  So far this year, he’s managed 22 walks in just 115 at-bats, which helps explain the .261 batting average and .383 on-base percentage.  Last year, Davidson had an OBP of .260.  As for power numbers, he’s on track to hit 44 homeruns compared to 26 last season.  So, something’s changed for the better here.

I just hope it didn’t take as much yelling back and forth as with a certain bride-to-be.