Bondag said:
bearkatag15 said:
How does pena have warning track power?
Honestly - just watch how pitchers are pitching him. He get so many pitches away, especially low and away because he can't lay off. It feels like he rarely gets pitched inside anymore, or at least inside to the point a mistake ends up over the plate and he can crush it.
He gets so little pitches to drive. Tons of stuff that moves and away from him. That pitch in the 9th was left up and a fastball, and he almost drove it out.
He has to do extensive pitch recognition work on the low and away slider in the offseason, because I've seen pitchers almost get a free strike throwing a fastball in the same location.
If you look at the way the Rangers pitch him yesterday, he only had 3 or 4 pitches inside or even in the middle of the plate. Everything else was on the outer third or away.
He's got to drive the ball opposite field to get pitchers to change their approach. And he's got to do it with power. Until he can hit a few oppo HRs / double / triples, he's not going to see a lot he can pull to drive.