Kevin Plawecki Is Figuring It Out

Image Courtesy of ESPN

 
  In a season where very little has gone right for the Mets, it has been difficult to find interesting topics to discuss (because, ya know, the whole "this team is bad" thing has been beaten to death for a while now). What has been interesting though, is that Kevin Plawecki has seemingly been figuring it out as of late.


   I am not gonna pen this as any sort of breakout, but it is interesting to see what he has been doing during this hot streak. It is important, of course, to pinpoint the game this could have began.

 
   You see the major climb right around game number 60? That was on June 20th when it truly began. Since then, he's been killing the ball. With a .364 wOBA, .218 ISO and 132 wRC+ in this span, you have to wonder what's been behind it.

   First things first, it appears as if he is the next to be buying in to the fly ball revolution. Take a look at what I mean:

	Launch Angle	Pull %	Fly Ball %	Pull In Air Exit Velo	Hard Hit %
Before 6/21	5.3	46.5	27	95.2	27
Since	13.4	58.5	36.6	94.8	41.5

Data from Statcast and Fangraphs

   One thing you may notice from the chart I showed is that Plawecki's exit velocity on pulled balls in the air is virtually identical to what it was before his streak. That in of itself lends perhaps the biggest answer for why he has been hitting well lately (and could continue to stay that way) which is hitting the ball in the air at a higher volume.

   See, he had always been a gap to gap hitter as a professional, but in the Majors, it didn't work out for him (as Mets fans have seen over the years), so he needed to start taking advantage of the fact that when he put the ball in the air, it was usually with authority.

   You can see here that he has geared his swing (particularly the finish of it toward hitting the ball in the air).

 
   And here is how he finished his swing prior to this streak:

   Again, here's where he's typically finishing now:

   I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert hitting coach, but I can observe from these two pictures that he of course has his higher up in the finish, and his head more down and to the plate (which means he's staying on the ball rather than pulling off of it). Now, these weren't taken at the exact same point of each swing, but they're close enough.

   What has helped his streak also is his performance against fastballs. Before, he had an xwOBA of .341, while now, he's had a xwOBA of .394 since June 21st.

   When it comes to his improvements against the fastball, he is well aware that pitchers had been trying to bust him inside with them by throwing them inside 5.59% of the time, and has responded with this:

   In comparison to this:

   He is making the necessary adjustments to these pitches, and has made pitchers pay whenever they throw him fastballs inside. He also has been making sure to pound low and in pitches (it is a small sample, but the numbers still look good there). Just to hammer this point home, against low fastballs, his xwOBA is .508 since June 21st, compared to the .375 he had beforehand.

   What he will eventually have to adjust to is the breaking pitches, as he has continued to struggle against them. To put it in further perspective, his xwOBA against them before the streak was .261, while it is at .258 during it. He's gonna need to work now on hitting offspeed pitches, and that will be a big indicator as to whether he is truly a good hitter. 

   Now, Plawecki is also a decent defender behind the plate, and his framing is average (-.70 calls per game and -3.0 runs above average). His pop time of 2.06 is not good, but it has improved, and is currently a career best. 

   Overall, he has taken massive strides on both sides of the ball, and I think that Plawecki is well, figuring things out and deserves a chance to start. He certainly can be at least an average starting catcher if he keeps up the good work. 

All Stats and Information are accurate as of August 1st, and are courtesy of Fangraphs, Baseball Savant and Brooks Baseball, and Statcorner