Colt Keith is looking for his consolation zone at baseball’s highest degree. At present day-to-day with a sore knee – which occurred throughout a collision over the weekend — the Detroit Tigers rookie infielder is slashing simply .215/.269/.280. Furthermore, belying his sturdy 6-foot-2, 245-pound body and talent to propel pitches far distances, the 22-year-old has gone yard solely twice in 201 plate appearances.
The potential for far more is definitely there. In January, Eric Longenhagen assigned Keith a 50 FV regardless of questions on his protection, pointing to the promising teenager’s “offensive prowess… rooted in his uncooked energy.” Barely every week after these phrases have been written, the Tigers signed Keith to a six-year contract value $28.6 million — this regardless of his having but to debut within the majors.
He was even farther away from The Present once I first talked to him late within the 2021 season. The 2020 fifth-round draft pick of Mississippi’s Biloxi Excessive College had lately been promoted to West Michigan, and whereas he’d been scorching the ball with Low-A Lakeland, he was on the time struggling to carry his head above water with the Excessive-A Whitecaps. That he was scuffling got here as little shock to the self-aware slugger.
“For no matter cause, every little thing about my swing, and every little thing I find out about baseball, appears to exit the window once I transfer up,” Keith informed me on the time. “Then I’ve to restart and get used to the higher pitching and to the pace of the sport. As soon as I try this, I’m again within the groove.”
That Keith has been gradual to get right into a groove in his first style of massive league motion was one of many causes I needed to speak to him when the Tigers visited Boston as Could was segueing into June. One other was that his latest performances urged he would possibly’ve been near breaking out of his funk. Two nights earlier, Keith had gone 2-for-4 in his first-ever recreation at Fenway Park. The next afternoon, he catapulted a 385-foot house run into the visiting bullpen in right-center area.
Alas, no breakout was forthcoming. Keith’s left-handed stroke has since produced however one hit in 22 at-bats, his OPS plummeting from .607 to its present .548. As for the house run, we’ll get to his ideas on that specific swing shortly.
Like most younger hitters, Keith has each tinkered and developed since his early days in professional ball. A notable adjustment has come this season, which I discovered about once I requested how his present setup and swing evaluate to October 2022, once I caught as much as him within the Arizona Fall League.
“I’d have had a much bigger leg kick then,” Keith mentioned of his erstwhile AFL stint. “It was decrease velocity there, and right here guys throw tougher, spin the ball higher, and likewise find higher. So, proper now I’m doing a toe faucet. I went out and in of a toe prime and a leg kick final yr, however now it’s simply the toe faucet. It’s a little bit totally different, too — a bit shorter, extra easy.”
Even with the adjustment, hitting huge league pitching is proving to be something however easy. Keith admitted that timing has typically been a difficulty — “I’ve been late on plenty of pitches” — and he additionally owned as much as “plenty of frustration.” Discovering constant rhythm and timing has been “type of the battle I’ve been combating since I’ve been within the huge leagues.”
His spray chart displays his frustration. Keith takes pleasure in utilizing the entire area, however on the identical time he feels he isn’t pulling the ball as a lot as he’d like. That’s one thing he’s striving to vary.
“It’s not one thing the place I don’t wish to pull the ball, it’s the truth that I haven’t been in a position to,” mentioned Keith. “That’s considered one of my targets, to have the ability to pull the ball higher. It’s about timing. It’s about consolation degree. It’s about slowing the sport down. The extra I get snug, and the extra I get assured that I’m going to have the ability to pull the ball… I simply must get again to my previous method. I want to simply attempt to hit homers to middle, versus occupied with catching as much as pitches, or mechanics, or making an attempt to get a success to left or to proper. The extra assured I get, the extra I’ll simply go up there making an attempt to hit the ball arduous. That’s what’s going to carry outcomes.”
Which brings us to his Fenway Park house run. What did Keith see when he later appeared on the swing on video?
“My arms have been a little bit bit shorter to the ball,” he defined. “That allowed me to get to that ball inside and pull it within the air. Over the previous couple of months, I’ve type of been casting my arms, dropping them away from my physique after which coming by the zone. That forces me to be late and get jammed quite a bit. That’s why I’ve been engaged on being quick to the ball.”
Simply as importantly, he’s been engaged on regaining the boldness that made him a prime 50 prospect on The Board coming into the season.
“For me, it’s not in regards to the stats or information proper now,” mentioned Keith. “It’s a comfort-level factor. It’s about attending to the large leagues and slowing every little thing down. I’m engaged on getting there. I haven’t slowed it down fully but to the purpose the place I used to be in Double-A or Triple-A. However I’m positively getting there. I believe that’s going to be the difference-maker.”