Buxton and Hunter

[jorgenswest]

Prior to the Texas series near the end of April Buxton worked with Torii Hunter after a month of struggle. At the time he had strike outs in 27 of his 58 plate appearance. A rate of 47%.

 

http://www.startribune.com/twins-hope-extra-swings-torii-hunter-help-byron-buxton-break-slump/420382233/

 

Since that work with Torii, Buxton has struck out 43 times in his next 164 plate appearances for a rate of 26%. A significant drop from his career rate of 35% prior to working with Torii. Strike out rate becomes stable reasonably quickly and 164 plate appearances is enough to support the possibility of a skill change.

 

Of all of the off season additions, Torii may prove to be the most valuable.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Truthfully, I'm not sure Hunter is the guy you want mentoring Buxton if lower Ks is the what you want the result to be 

 

But the results are encouraging, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

[Oldgoat_MN]

As pointed out by Brock in Fun With Numbers - 2017 Edition, Buck has a career low K rate right now. That's impressive, given how he started the year.

His walk rate is also at a career high.

Castro? Hunter? The jury is still out.

[nicksaviking]

In my recollection, Hunter had ambitions to be a front office guy.

 

If he can get Buxton to approach his potential, his calling should probably be on the field.

 

And I had little interest in bringing back all the old players. I'll gladly eat my words if they prove to be more than the figureheads I kind of thought they might be.

[Respy]

I agree that Torii may not be the best at teaching how to avoid a strikeout, but he knows a lot about composure at the plate and the mental side of the game.  Torii in my opinion learned how to be a more clutch hitter and hit smart in different counts later in his career.  Don't forget also that Torii played a big part in Dozier turning around his hitting in 2016.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Hasn't Hunter been mentoring Buxton for 3+ years now? Did he not talk to him in spring training this year? I'd caution against reading too much into one particular visit they had.

 

Also, Buxton was never going to stay at a 47% strikeout clip -- it was an outlier slump. Heck, as essentially a second year, well-regarded player, he was probably likely to improve on that career 35% K rate to a comparable degree going forward, regardless of external factors.

 

History suggests that virtually anyone could have met with Buxton in the cage that day, and he would have stood a good chance at achieving a similar turnaround. Not that I'm against giving any credit to Hunter, just that the information we have doesn't support much confidence in giving him significant credit.