Zach Dezenzo might play an necessary function for the Astros this yr. The 24-year-old tasks to be a “viable third baseman,” as Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice wrote in Dezenzo’s prospect report in June, however relying on how Houston’s roster comes collectively — an Alex Bregman return stays a chance — Dezenzo is also utilized in left subject. Certainly, at Astros FanFest on Saturday, supervisor Joe Espada mentioned Dezenzo will get a whole lot of reps in left subject throughout spring coaching.
No matter the place he’s stationed defensively, extra-base oomph would be the righty-hitting Dezenzo’s calling card. A Twelfth-round decide in 2022 out of Ohio State College, Dezenzo has 70-grade uncooked energy that he’s nonetheless studying to faucet into in video games (55 FV recreation energy), based on our prospect crew. Final season, he posted a 131 wRC+ between Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Sugar Land. He made his huge league debut in early August and was optioned a month later earlier than getting known as up once more simply earlier than the top of the common season. Throughout his 19 main league video games, he went deep twice whereas slashing .242/.277/.371 (84 wRC+) over 65 plate appearances.
Dezenzo mentioned his improvement as a hitter when the Astros visited Fenway Park in August.
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David Laurila: You didn’t get drafted your junior yr, regardless of stable numbers [including a .933 OPS]. Why was that?
Zach Dezenzo: “Good query. I put collectively a fairly sturdy freshman season at Ohio State [in 2019] — freshman All-American honors — then the COVID season clearly acquired minimize quick. My junior yr, I hit .302 with 9 house runs, though we solely performed 42 video games. I knew I used to be good, however I’m undecided that I did sufficient to boost many scouts’ consideration. That’s most likely form of the place I used to be at, needing yet one more yr to point out what I used to be really able to. However that’s OK. All of it labored out completely tremendous.”
Laurila: You will need to have drawn some consideration as a junior…
Dezenzo: “I did have some. The Astros had been truly — they had been most likely the primary crew involved with me — so sure, there was positively curiosity. It simply didn’t pan out the way in which I needed it to.”
Laurila: Leaping to your hitting profile, how does it now evaluate to while you signed? Are you principally the identical man within the field?
Dezenzo: “Mechanically, there are some comparable elements to my swing, however I’ve positively quieted some issues down. If you happen to return and have a look at my swing after I signed out of faculty, I used to be fairly open within the field with my setup. I additionally had a very huge leg kick. I nonetheless have a leg kick, but it surely’s not as huge because it was. The primary focus there was to simplify my transfer, and my swing, in order that I’m giving myself the perfect likelihood to place the barrel on the ball.”
Laurila: When did you make that adjustment?
Dezenzo: “It was the offseason after my first yr — the yr I acquired drafted. I did it working with my head coach from faculty, again house in Columbus. Matt Angle is his title. We had been within the cage, dissecting the transfer, dissecting completely different stuff on video, a number of instances per week. I credit score a whole lot of my enchancment to him. I additionally credit score the Astros for bringing it to my consideration, and ensuring that I used to be making the changes I wanted to make.”
Laurila: Did you alter your swing in any respect, or simply the mechanics to get to it?
Dezenzo: “The bat path is analogous, however the way in which I collect — the way in which I transfer previous to my swing — modified. That’s the most important adjustment I made.”
Laurila: Are you an influence hitter?
Dezenzo: “Yeah, I’m. I believe my potential to drive the ball to all fields is form of what acquired me drafted. There’s my body, clearly. I present a bit of little bit of pure energy in that sense. However actually, what I’m engaged on is being an total extra full hitter. The contact side is necessary for me. I need to be mixing the facility with contact.”
Laurila: How are you going about balancing the 2?
Dezenzo: “I made the changes with my swing so as to improve my contact proportion. Once more, I’ve tried to condense issues, quiet issues down, and be so simple as attainable. Making certain that I nonetheless have the facility is about choosing and selecting my spots. It’s selecting the counts after I look to hammer a fastball, or get the top out on an offspeed pitch. Choosing and selecting these instances is necessary. That method I’m not all the time promoting out for one pitch all through the entire recreation.
“Letting the ball journey has form of all the time been my thought course of. I’ve all the time been a bottom, line drive kind of hitter. Having that method, the place I’m attempting to drive fastballs to the right-center subject hole, permits me to remain again and be on time for offspeed pitches which might be within the zone. A number of my energy is that method. Popping out of faculty, nearly all of my house runs had been from the batter’s eye to proper subject. However I’ve slowly been studying to get to the pull facet a bit of extra. That’s a credit score to the Astros’ improvement crew. My hitting coaches right here have been working with me on that. Guys at this degree are pitching me in a bit of extra usually, and I’m attempting to work on my weaknesses as a lot as I can”
Laurila: I’ve learn that you just are inclined to get beat on elevated heaters. Do you agree with that evaluation?
Dezenzo: “Previously, I’d have agreed with it. I deal with the highest of the zone loads higher now than I used to. However yeah, popping out of faculty that was positively a weak spot for me.”
Laurila: I observed that you just hit loads higher in Triple-A [a 149 wRC+ in 113 PAs] than you probably did in Double-A [a 93 wRC+ in 91 PAs] this previous season. Why do you suppose that was?
Dezenzo: “Double-A was a interval the place I used to be attempting to get again on my toes after rehabbing [a wrist injury] for the primary couple of months. Even so, the underlying information had been truly nonetheless there. I used to be hitting balls exhausting, however a whole lot of them had been hit proper at individuals, so the common and residential runs don’t inform the entire story. It’s all about trusting the method. If you happen to hit the ball exhausting constantly, good issues are going to occur.”