Comments on: 3-2-1 Contact: Why Is Derek Jeter Swinging So Much?

By: Making of a Wild Card: 2010 Season Recap « The Captain's Blog

Making of a Wild Card: 2010 Season Recap « The Captain's Blog — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:57:48 +0000

[...] As early as May, I noted a disturbing trend in Derek Jeter’s at bats. Despite still posting a strong OPS of .833, Jeter’s expansion of the strike zone had been very evident. At the time, the Yankee Captain was swinging at a whopping 33.3% of pitches out of the strike zone, which caused me to express some worries. Unfortunately, those concerns proved warranted as Jeter’s production declined significantly over the passing months. As 2010 progressed, Jeter never really corrected his sudden lack of discipline and ended the year offering at 28.2% of pitches out of the strike zone, a problem exacerbated by making contact on nearly 70% of those offerings. [...]

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:34:58 +0000

It definitely is comforting to hear he realizes the problem. People have always characterized Jeter as a free swinger, but that’s never been the case. He is has always stuck a nice balance of swinging at strikes, but taking balls (kind of in between Nick Johnson and Robinson Cano). Hopefully, he gets back to that soon.

By: ms october

ms october — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:16:52 +0000

jeter said something to kim jones after a recent game (maybe the beginning of the week) that he was swinging at too many balls out of the zone – so i am slightly comforted that he is at least aware of the issue.

hopefully he does get a bit more selective.
jeter has never been a guess hitter the way alex and po are, but it seemed to me, especially at the beginning of the season, that he was guessing fastball early in the count and swinging at it – totally just speculation on my part.

there are a few weird trends early in the season – such as alex’s strikeouts down but power as well.
hopefully all the various players settle into their patterns soon (except of course gardner, cano, and swisher whose different trends seem to bode well for them).