It seemed just a matter of time for Royals’ Andrew Benintendi to hit his stride
There was a little bit of a pause followed by a deep breath and then Kansas City Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi smiled and offered an admission.
“I don’t want to jinx anything right now or anything like that,” he said during a video conference after Saturday’s game.
Benintendi hit a pair of home runs in the Royals 11-3 win over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, and he has hit all three of his home runs this season during the first eight games of the current road trip (he played in seven of those).
Arguably the offseason addition that sparked the most excitement within the organization, Benintendi might just be starting to hit his offensive stride as the season enters its second month.
In 16 games prior to the three-city road trip, he got off to a slow start with a .197/.269/.246 slash line.
However in his last seven games entering Sunday, the left-handed hitting Benintendi has batted .435 (10 for 23) with four walks, a double, three home runs, six RBIs. He has reached base in more than half of his 27 plate appearances, and he has scored seven runs.
“The last week or so it seems like I’ve been driving the fastball to left-center,” Benintendi said. “I’m staying on it. I’m not peeling out and rolling over. I’m staying through the ball and kind of just trusting what I’ve been working on and what I’m seeing.”
The two pitches Benintendi clobbered out of the ballpark were secondary offerings. He pulled a slider over the right field wall in the sixth inning. Then he smashed a changeup on the outer half of the plate into the left field stands in the eighth.
He recorded his fourth career multi-home run game and his first since Aug. 12, 2017, when he played for the Boston Red Sox.
He credited his great day at the plate to “staying on” pitches and not trying to do “too much.”
Staying on pitches begins with Benintendi being on time to hit the fastball. Too often, as he alluded to, he found himself peeling off and taking swings with his hips and shoulders seemingly flying open instead of a short, compact swing. He’d deliver glancing blows at pitches if he made contact at all.
Between his conversations with the Royals coaching staff and watching video of his swings from previous seasons in the majors, the minor leagues and even going far back as his college days, Benintendi made an adjustment.
He closed his front leg in his stance to minimize the movement in his swing. It’s something he’d done before.
By making that small change, it has allowed him to see the ball better for longer, stay on the fastball as well as off-speed pitches and execute a plan at the plate instead of feeling like he’s always flailing early and behind in the count late.
Benintendi had started to find a rhythm at the plate during the last homestand. After being dropped in the batting order due to his early struggles, he started making more hard contact.
In Detroit, his first home run with the Royals came with the benefit of the wind blowing out at Comerica Park. But it also came to left field, a sign he was staying on the ball and going with the pitch — or as he says “not trying to do too much.”
In Pittsburgh, he drew three walks in Wednesday night’s win — his seventh career game with at least three walks, and his first since May 5, 2019. That may have been the strongest indication that he’d become comfortable with his swing and was able to be selective and calculating in his at-bats.
“There will be times when I go up to the plate with no approach, really, and I’ll just be swinging at everything,” Benintendi said.” I think the last week and a half I’ve stuck more to it, had a more obvious plan when I stepped in the box. I don’t want to say it makes it easier, but it gives you more of a chance to be successful up there.”
Royals manager Mike Matheny trumpeted strides made and positive signs for Benintendi in recent days. He pointed to Benintendi’s three-walk day as a sign that “he’s got something special” at the plate.
Matheny reiterated on Saturday, prior to the game, that Benintendi was a few great defensive plays by Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton away from a pair of potentially game-changing hits in Friday night’s loss.
So did Matheny speak Saturday’s performance into existence?
“I’m not that powerful with my words,” Matheny said with a wide grin after the game. “But it’s just pretty obvious when you watch the progression of the swing. We watch so many swings from our angle that you can start to feel when the timing looks right.
“I could tell Benny’s first at-bat, I told him, ‘That’s it right there man. You are right where you need to be. Just believe in it and trust in it.’”
Matheny quickly pointed out that Benintendi didn’t need the skipper’s confirmation to know things were in a good place with his swing and approach.
“He just continues to take those good at-bats and quit hitting it to their center fielder, then good things start to happen,” Matheny said.
This story was originally published May 2, 2021 at 12:48 PM with the headline "It seemed just a matter of time for Royals’ Andrew Benintendi to hit his stride."
