Royals offensive weapons Whit Merrifield, Jorge Soler welcome return of in-game video
3.jpg "Kansas City Royals Whit Merrifield hits a two-run home run off Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood during the second inning on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.")
Last season gave Royals All-Star outfielder Whit Merrifield one more reason to hold a grudge against the Houston Astros.
Merrifield hasn’t been shy about his disdain for the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. He told The Star last year that he’d lost respect for the Astros as a result of their use of technology to intercept the signals between pitcher and catcher and then identify and relay coming pitches to batters.
Merrifield described the Astros’ method of cheating as worse than using performance-enhancing drugs.
In part because of the nefarious use of technology, MLB eliminated players access to in-game video last season. Neither hitters nor pitchers, during the pandemic-shortened 60-game season in 2020, were able to view their at-bats during the game as they’d previously been allowed.
However, that access will be restored this season though the catcher’s signals to the pitcher will not be visible. For some hitters such Merrifield, the MLB hits leader in 2018 and 2019, and outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler, the American League home run champion in 2019, playing without in-game video seriously ruffled their feathers.
“Not being able to see in-game video last year was really tough,” Merrifield said. “We do have that back this year, which is great news. That was a huge adjustment. Really, to be able to go back and look at video and see some things and make that adjustment in the middle of the game is huge for hitters. We didn’t have that.”
Despite batting a career-worst .282 last year, Merrifield’s 70 hits still ranked third in the AL behind José Abreu (76) and DJ LeMahieu (71).
Merrifield went 0-for-17 during a four-game stretch in late August and early September that matched the second-longest hitless drought of his career.
Merrifield espoused the importance of a hitter’s ability to pull up an at-bat between innings or for a pitcher to review how their inning unfolded.
With video, something mechanically might be observed and a quick adjustment made. Video also gives hitters like Merrifield a better idea of pitch location.
“I’m not going in there to bash an umpire,” Merrifield said. “I’m going in to see, ‘OK. Is my approach right?’ Was that ball a strike or was it a ball. Because if it was a strike and I thought it was a ball, now I’ve got to make that adjustment. Not having that video, you’re just kind of blind with it all.”
Soler, coming off of a career year in 2019, had similar objections about not having access to video during the 2020 season.
“I’m definitely very excited about having the opportunity to do it again,” Soler said with assistant strength and conditioning coach Luis Perez interpreting from Spanish to English. “I’m one of the players that gets done with my at-bat and heads straight in, watches to see what’s up.”
Soler served as the designated hitter in 107 of the 161 games he started in 2019. Not playing a position in the field for the majority of the games afforded him the time to view and analyze his at-bats using video.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound slugger slashed .265/.354/.569 with 48 homers, 117 RBIs and 95 runs scored that season.
“The video helps with everything, there’s just a good amount of adjustments,” Soler said. “Right after an at-bat, you know exactly where the pitches are. If there’s something mechanically that needs to be addressed. In the past (year), you had to get through four at-bats and not have an idea, and have to wait a couple days to actually see some footage that will give you some help. It’s definitely going to be better this year.”
Not every hitter felt the angst of not being able to view their at-bats while games were being played.
Infielder Hanser Alberto batted .305 in 2019 and .283 in 2020. He struck out just 80 times in 781 plate appearances and batted .394 against left-handed pitching the past two seasons, an MLB-best among players with at least 100 plate appearances against lefties during that stretch.
Alberto said he prefers to keep things simple when approaching his at-bats.
“I don’t like to put so much information in my head,” Alberto said. “Just go out there, see what he’s got, see his pitches, and go try and make a plan. It depends on what kind of pitches they use, what kind of pitches he’s throwing the most.”
Royals manager Mike Matheny didn’t see the return of video as a clear black and white proposition, particularly when adverse effects on team dynamics are considered.
“I think there could be a benefit,” Matheny said. “Unfortunately, I thought we were getting to the point in our game where it was taking away from our players. They’d lose feel for the game. They would have their at-bat and then they were Pavlov’s dogs.
“They would be straight down into the tunnel, regardless if it was good, bad, indifferent, they were straight down watching video instead of watching the game. I believe guys learn a lot of times between pitches, and a lot of times they learn from each other. I saw a lot of that last year.”
Matheny, who played 13 seasons in the majors, sees value in hitters sharing observations from their respective at-bats with one another, comparing notes, describing how a pitcher is attacking, what his repertoire looks like on that particular night.
Hitters in the dugout relaying to one another that a sinker doesn’t have the depth it did in an earlier meeting or the pitcher’s velocity is down from what they’re used to seeing from him have big-time value in Matheny’s mind.
But those interactions can be limited if not eliminated if players immediately proceed from the batter’s box through the dugout, past their teammates and to a video screen.
“That kind of conversation gets missed when they get in that routine, but I don’t blame them,” Matheny said. “It’s a resource for them to kind battle what they think they saw. Believe me, at 95, 97, you think you saw something, but it looks a lot different when you slow it down and you can go frame-by-frame.”
As for some of his team’s top offensive players having strong feelings about the return of video, Matheny doesn’t seem intent to protest their use of video as a tool.
“You’re talking to some players who really had some success doing it a certain way,” Matheny said. “I wouldn’t want to change it either. If I led the league in hits and I had a rhythm, I don’t want anybody taking that away. I get it with Whit, 100 percent. Solely just hit 48 bombs and he would come in watch his at-bats. Especially a DH. There’s a lot of value there. So I would certainly understand why those guys wouldn’t like it.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Royals offensive weapons Whit Merrifield, Jorge Soler welcome return of in-game video."
