Paul Articulates – A tribute to working smart

If you have read much of my work, you know I am a Jeff McNeil fan.  From the first time I saw him step up to the plate, eyes surveying the field, thoughtful look on his face, I knew this guy had a plan at the plate.  Then I saw him make contact with just about anything near the strike zone – this guy has incredible bat-to-ball skills.  I was convinced that he was the second coming of Daniel Murphy or better.

Jeff hit for average right out of the gate.  In his first year (63 games, 225 AB) he hit .329 with a .381 OBP.  It was not uncommon for him to put up multi-hit games.  In his second year (2019), McNeil hit .318 with a .384 OBP in a full season with over 500 at-bats and earned his first berth on the all-star team for the National League.  More success would follow in the shortened 2020 season, and he was on his way to becoming a star.

This story is not about his stardom, but about player development and the choices players make.  You see, McNeil’s advisors felt that to become a real star, he needed to increase his power numbers.  Why hit like Felix Milan when you can be Jeff Kent?  So they went to work on his swing – increase launch angle, improve bat speed, pull the ball over the shift.  As most players do, he listened intently and followed the advice working hard to develop a powerful swing.  The result was not as expected.  The power got him a lot of deep fly balls, but only 9 homers in 2021.  His batting average fell to .251, and along with a good deal of time on the injured list he began to fall out of favor with the Mets faithful.  As the Steve Cohen remake of the New York Mets was underway, you heard many of the voices in the media calling for him to become trade bait for some “big bats” because that’s what the Mets needed.

This happens to many players.  Everyone that makes it to the major leagues is an extremely talented baseball player with a record of stardom in their past.  But to become the best of the best, you need that extra edge, and players put a great deal of faith in their player development personnel and coaching staffs to help them get there.  Some take the wrong path – Barry Bonds and Robinson Cano had the skills to be easy HOF selections but PEDs will probably be their permanent barrier.  Others fail in adapting the changes to their swings or their approach and failure begins to erode their confidence.  They end up in that vast graveyard of prospects that never made it.

Jeff McNeil took a different approach.  The power swing wasn’t getting him there, and he recognized that his ability to put bat on ball and direct it where he wanted was a very unique gift that should not be squandered.  To the credit of Eric Chavez and the Mets hitting development team, they listened to Jeff when he wanted to return to contact hitting.  They supported him on that journey and after thousands of hours working on his swing, he emerged as the 2022 MLB batting champion with a .326 average. Another all-star berth and a spot in the playoffs quickly make everyone forget that he only hit 9 home runs.

So this is a tribute to working smart.  Almost all the ballplayers you see in MLB games work very hard at their trade even though they have tremendous talent to start with.  Hours and hours of batting practice, drills with coaches, early starts and late finishes are not only the calling cards of the great, but of the many.  The difference is being smart enough to understand what you can do and refining it to be better than everyone else at it.  Many of the readers love to point at all the former Mets players that were traded away for mediocre performances only to become great players with other teams.  It’s not that they wouldn’t or couldn’t play in New York – it’s that they got a new start somewhere else with some different advisors that helped recognize their unique skills and strengthened them.  I’m happy for Turner and d’Arnaud and Davis and many others that they have reached their potential but also disappointed that former Mets player development did not get them there.  I’m hopeful that the current staff and future enhancements will refine those great draft choices into MLB star talent and can’t wait to see them flourish.

Above all I want to recognize Jeff McNeil for working smart as well as working hard to become the MLB Batting Champion in 2022.  I hope he can continue to be among the best hitters in baseball for years to come.