There are lots of reports from the Phillies and from Iron Pigs press that Crawford is working on his swing. That work isn’t significantly changing his ground ball rate at this juncture, however. I don’t know if we always appreciate how hard it is to hit a baseball for these prospects, period. Players are motivated to do well when they play, so a player who is having success (like Crawford) will be less inclined to make big changes in his approach fearing he will lose what has enabled him to succeed to this point.
I was at an IPs’ game 2 weeks ago and Crawford was playing, but wan’t running well, still nursing a leg injury. In his first AB he hit an infield chopper I’ve never seen the likes of before. It looked like a popup to the shortstop. It was so high Crawford could have walked to 1B and been safe. Must have been well over 100 mph off the bat if exit velocity was measured straight down. Probably a result of a downward swing plane through contact. I guess my point is it’s tough to change what you’ve been doing well for 10 years in baseball. Even the best coaching and the best intentions get defeated by circumstance.
