Drayer: The reason Cole Young is having a good spring isn’t what you think

Let’s talk some Cole Young. He’s having a very nice spring training, but maybe not for the reasons you’re thinking.

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Let’s take it back a little bit. Heading into spring training, there were some people that thought that there was going to be a position battle at second base. I don’t think that was ever really the case.

The Mariners want Cole Young to be their second baseman for a long time to come. That’s why they drafted him. That’s why they spent the time they did with him in the minor leagues, and even more importantly gave him the at-bats as their second baseman last year.

Now, his rookie season? Up and down. He hit a little bit, and then he didn’t hit. The defense was a little bit questionable at times and he ran out of gas at the end of the season. A disappointing end of the season for him being left off the playoff roster, but it’s clear he went to work on everything in the offseason. Showed up in spring training a little bit bigger, having the look of somebody that could play a full 162-plus games. He also improved his footwork over at second base. We are seeing a noticeable difference there, so that’s good.

What about at the plate? Well, he was a little slow to get going. He didn’t get his first hit until the sixth game of Cactus League play. And when he got that hit, it went a long way – 442 feet out to right field. Were the Mariners excited about that? Meh. It wasn’t exactly what they wanted to see. Yes, they will take the home run off a slider in the middle of the plate any time, but that is not what his focus was. That was just kind of a little bit of extra.

What they had been working on with him was being on time for the fastball – getting on the fastball. That has been his challenge. His first year in the big leagues, he hit just .188 off that pitch, his OPS just .239 against fastballs. You’re not going to live at the big league level with those numbers.

Now, it’s not that he can’t hit the fastball. He did that in the minors. He can catch up with a fastball no problem. But when he got to the big leagues, things happen. There are other things that are in your head. You’re trying to make an impression. You’re trying not to hurt the team. Sometimes you’re not quite who you are when you get to the big league level, and he wasn’t quite that at the plate.

Yes, his strikeout rate was good, and it always has been. Yes, his walk rate was good, same there. He can hit to all fields, yes. But what he was doing is in an effort to not chase, he was getting caught in between on the fastball. You’ve got to be ready for that pitch. He was taking time to make his decisions. He’s aware of it, he knew he was out of his approach, and that is something that they’ve gone to work with him in spring training. And it took a little bit. It took until about the seventh or the eighth game – after another firm conversation was had with him. And it’s like, look, this is what we need you to do.

Cole Young absolutely committed to it. And for the Mariners on their side, they were OK if he struck out a little bit against the pitch if it was in the strike zone. They just wanted to see him going after it. So in a game at Scottsdale against the Giants, they put him at the top of the lineup, Robbie Ray on the hill. In that game, Cole Young saw 10 fastballs, and he swung at them all. They were all in the zone, so that’s good. Did he get a hit? No, but it was a successful day for him because he did get after that fastball, and he may have ultimately found his timing in that outing. He talked about that as being a turning point for him.

What happened two days later? Against the Rangers, he hit not one but two home runs, the second against the fastball.

And he has continued to have success here in Peoria. On Wednesday, he had a three-hit day. One was against a 97 mph sinker, another on a 98 mph fastball, and the other against a cutter. Not a bad day at all for him, and again, exactly what they’re looking for.

So what does this mean? Well, it is spring training, but we’ve seen noticeable differences with him, and it appears he has committed to that pitch a little bit more. Will there be a little bit more swing and miss? We’ll see. But knowing that he is able to get after the fastball, it’s going to make it a little bit less comfortable for the pitchers that he is facing, and I think that we should see results if he is able to carry it over into the regular season. And that, of course, is always the challenge.

But if he does, that’s going to make that bottom of the lineup that much better, the lineup that much longer. And then the other thing that will have to be in the pitcher’s head is there’s no question he has got some crazy kind of sneaky pop. We have seen the distance home runs from him, and he can hit velocity. So maybe he gets a little bit there as well. But the most important thing at this point is he’s in a good spot. Hopefully that’s where he is when spring training camp breaks.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity.

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