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Curtis Granderson Working to Cut Down Strikeouts

Curtis Granderson led the Tigers and the American League in strikeouts in 2007.  While on the face of it, this is a bad thing especially for a lead off hitter but he also walked 66 times, which was second to only Carlos Guillen.  He was also tied for first with Brandon Inge with 4.1 pitches per plate appearance.  Regardless, had he cut that strikeout total down to even 150 and considering his .338 batting average on balls in play, he probably would have added about 7 more hits.  If he gets it down to 130, then we’re talking close to 15 hits and we’re really making a difference.  He might have even hit another homerun or two.

Now Granderson comes into spring training with a new, more compact swing that he’s been working on with hitting coach Lloyd McClendon.  The end result cuts out any unneccesary movement in the batters box and in Granderson’s swing.  He made a good first impression in camp yesterday and if it means Granderson can get on base a little more, it’ll just mean more RBIs for Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez.

Granderson’s PECOTA card looks pretty nice.  He comes out at .265/.342/.463 with 21 homeruns.  With a 20% breakout and a 47% improve rate, I can see Granderson hitting his 75th percentile line, which puts him at .283/.362/.504 and 24 homeruns.  Oddly, over his entire range, Granderson’s strikeout total pretty much stays the same (130 give or take).

***UPDATE***

Here’s a little more on Granderson and his strikeouts.



[…] I don’t think it is a dire concern. Many successful hitters, and teams (see Cleveland Indians offense circa 2006) can exist with high strike out totals. However, because Granderson’s strike outs are so extreme he probably does need to cut them down by at least one a week. Brian points out that if Granderson maintains his BABIP of 338 and reduces his strike outs by 20 that means another 7 hits over the course of the season. […]

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Posted by The Detroit Tiger Weblog » Blog Archive » Curtis Granderson and his strike outs on February 24th, 2007 at 9:18 am

[…] About a week ago I discussed how Curtis Granderson could improve a bit just by striking out 20 fewer times, which kind of goes along with how important it can be to make contact.  You strike out, nothing happens.  If you put the ball in play, you never know how the ball could drop.  You also have the chance of moving runners over. […]

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Posted by TigerBlog » Blog Archive » Cameron Maybin - Non-contact Hitter? on March 3rd, 2007 at 8:40 am


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