From: Elliott
All-American Center Fielder, Jackie Bradley Jr, had a much better game against Vanderbilt after moving into the leadoff role on Sunday. Bradley has struggled all season as he is pitched like the second coming of Babe Ruth. These difficulties appear to be more so with lefties and were highlighted in the Saturday loss when Bradley came to bat with a chance to tie in the 7th and 9th, but was unable to do so. Of note, the wind was blowing out at least 20 mph to right and Jackie was trying to jack it. There is no doubt that Bradley is a big time player and future first round pick, but even the best get discouraged when struggling. One thing about baseball is that everyone struggles sometime-sounds like a REM song.
Here is ESPN's Keith Law scouting Bradley's swing:
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5367520
What you can see in the video is that he does not have a huge stride, which allows great balance and the ability to adjust easily to off speed pitches. Jackie has an open stance that enables him to easily move his hands through the zone while encouraging high power generation from the hips. What we have noticed is that when he loads with the toe tap, his lead foot is rocking back onto his heal instead of staying on the balls of his foot. This causes him to become off balanced and to compensate he has to stick his backside out a bit. By doing this, he loses the stellar hip rotation that Law speaks of and thus a large portion of his power. Hopefully a minor correction and a few big hits will allow Jackie to regain his confidence and lead our team again to a National Title.
