The Christian Vázquez Resurgence: How Driveline Training and In-Season Adjustments Saved His Season - Caretaker Exclusive

[Parker Hageman]

Development isn’t linear.

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This offseason at Driveline, Christian Vázquez went through many strength assessments and had his ample figure loaded with electrodes, to determine how to optimize his swing. Driveline’s hitting program is not as vaunted as their pitching side, but they have had their fair share of clients who have had success. At its core, Driveline’s hitting philosophy focuses on two key aspects: bat speed and pulling the ball. The numbers show that increasing bat speed leads to more hits, and pulling the ball leads to more power. Combining the two should help players improve their productivity over the season.

Of course, the peril of focusing on bat speed and pulling the ball can result in some bad habits. If a hitter tries to pull the ball, they may be susceptible to offspeed and breaking balls, or exposed on the outer third of the plate. Pull-focused hitters may also find themselves hooking the ball instead of driving through it, resulting in more foul balls or balls that don’t carry as well. Develop the approach correctly: pull balls with backspin that don’t hook or die. It’s a fine needle to thread, to be specific.

In their offseason promos, Driveline also highlighted players like Lars Nootbaar (currently hitting .231/.322/.385), Paul Goldschmidt (.230/.290/.391), and JD Martinez (.257/.344/.432) using some of the same bat speed training techniques as Vázquez. For various reasons, none of those players have enjoyed career years or even improved results from their prior season. This isn’t to suggest that Driveline’s training is the issue, but it means that simply going to the facility in one offseason might not be a magical salve for hitting. Bat speed is essential, but how you use that tool in games is just as important.

While his work at Driveline prepared him to pull the ball more – which he did 40% of the time in April and at the highest pace of his career – Vázquez was chewed up in the initial month. At the month’s end, he was hitting .231/.255/.288, while chasing 37% of out-of-zone pitches and posting a 15% swinging-strike rate. Those numbers continued to crater in May. 

Few expected Vázquez to contribute much offensively in a Twins uniform. Historically, outside of the juiced-ball 2019 season (wherein he hit an improbable 23 home runs), Vázquez has been a below-average hitter even for the catcher position. For the Twins, the bar to clear would be to hit enough to not erase his defensive contributions, not necessarily regaining his output from the aeroball era. Still, he had hit .223/.280/.318 in 355 plate appearances in 2023, lousy enough to make him trek to the Driveline facility in Seattle to undergo a transformation of sorts. 

Yet, as the 2024 season bled into mid-May, Vázquez’s stat line was a paltry .171/.195/.207 through his first 89 plate appearances. The lesson here is that development isn’t linear, and work done in the cages does not always translate in the field – at least not without some refinements and ongoing adjustments. For Vázquez, that adjustment was in the form of a timing mechanism.

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[bean5302]

Vazquez's exit velo, hard hit rates, etc. haven't improved as the season progressed. His ability to roll doubles and land on free parking have.

Early in the season, Vazquez was rolling doubles 3 times in a row sending him straight to jail without the ability to buy properties. He was landing on spaces like Luxury Tax a lot, too. Now, he's getting doubles only once or twice and he's landing on Community Chest more than Chance, which was cruel to him.

[umterp23]

Another love fest article to justify $10MM per year for the guy.  Great clubhouse guy (which makes me laugh), calls a good game but isn't his fault when pitches get pounded (what pitcher on record will ever say a catcher doesn't call a good game).  

So, a .230 guy with below avg OPS, Slugging, etc with 1/3 of the HR, RBI's compared to Jeffers, etc is a god send and Jeffers is bag of poo makes me laugh.

Glad Vazquez has finally woken up this year to give our catcher position 2 solid guys.  

[Parker Hageman]

1 hour ago, umterp23 said:

Another love fest article...

I'm definitely gonna need your definition of a "love fest article" because, brother, that's not what I do. 

[Blyleven2011]

I did not know or hear Vazquez  went to driveline this past off season  until now ...

When players are struggling  , it's nice that the players who want to increase their production  can go hear a different voice  ...

Vazquez has been quite productive  the past couple of months  , hope he carries it to the end this season  ...

[LambchoP]

Hopefully he can keep this good run going. If he can keep this up through next year, he's well worth the 10 million. If he reverts back to how he hit in the beginning of the year or his defense starts to decline, the twins will have some decisions to make. Unfortunately Camargo doesn't look ready for MLB pitching and we have nobody else knocking on the door of the upper minors either.