How Jake Lamb evolved into a power hitter for the Diamondbacks
NEW YORK - Midway through last offseason, Jake Lamb nearly abandoned the change that has changed the trajectory of his career. He had decided to scrap his old batting stance and swing and try something new. It was not just a cosmetic tweak either.
Lamb was 25 and coming off his first major league season -- a respectably average one. He was a former sixth-round pick and in contention to be the Diamondbacks’ everyday third baseman. His style had taken him far enough and this required gumption. By lowering his hands to his chest and adding a noticeable leg kick, Lamb wasn’t just seeking change for the sake of it.
But two months into this new approach, it wasn’t going well. Lamb was struggling with the timing and the mechanics.
“It was terrible, terrible and I was getting pretty pissed off,” he told Paste BN Sports. “I almost said screw it, I’m not doing this.”
If he had abandoned it, Lamb could hardly be blamed for his lack of daring. Even for professional athletes, conservatism can be an opiate. Instead, he stuck with it, taking his new swing into spring training and then the regular season. The results have been pronounced.
In a lost season for the Diamondbacks, Lamb has been one of the few bright spots. He has developed into one of the best hitters in the National League. He’s hit 24 home runs, tied for seventh in the NL, and posted a .924 OPS, ninth-best in the league. Most surpisingly, his eight triples tie him for the major league lead.
It’s been a welcome sight for an organization that spent so many resources this winter acquiring stars, only to see one flourish from within. They came into 2016 hoping to throw themselves into the National League’s upper echelon and instead have posted the second-worst record in the sport. Zack Greinke was lavished with the highest annual salary in baseball history this winter and has failed to live up to his exemplary form, and spent more than a month on the disabled list. Arizona gave up a bounty for Shelby Miller, only to watch him run up a 7.14 ERA and find himself in Class AAA.
Lamb, however, nearly missed a spot on the All-Star team -- he lost the fan vote for the final spot on the team -- but has hit like one behind Paul Goldschmidt in the lineup.
“That’s also been the tough thing,” Lamb said. “I’ve had this great year but the team isn’t doing well. I’d rather win games than put up great numbers so it’s kind of been up and down.”
All across the Diamondbacks, the swing change has been pointed to as the cause for Lamb’s improvement. Lamb decided to execute it after watching teammate A.J. Pollock make similar changes and turn into an All-Star in 2015. He had shown little proclivity for discussing the finer points of his mechanics but he began to shift his thinking after talking to Pollock. A diagnosis from Alex Burg, a friend, swing swami, and minor leaguer in the Rangers’ system, led to a similar idea. Lamb decided to go through with it.
Still, when he arrived to spring training, he and Dave Magadan, Arizona’s hitting coach, were somewhat dubious. He couldn’t get his timing down until he faced live Diamondbacks pitchers. If he struggled when games began, the experiment may have been scuttled altogether.
“It was definitely a drastic change from what he’d done his whole life,” Magadan, a 16-year major league veteran, said. “He was always a guy who hit for a good average but didn’t hit a lot of home runs. He was kind of similar to the way I hit, last year and years previous, and if somebody would’ve told me ‘Hey, lower your hands and do a leg kick,’ I would’ve been like I don’t know about that. He did it. He was open to it. What was great was that he got results right away...Who knows if he’d had a bad first two weeks of the spring, he might have (trashed) it and gone back to his old ways.”
Now, the Diamondbacks have a young building block going forward. Lamb is under team control through the 2020 season. With him in the fold, along with Goldschmidt, Greinke, Miller and Pollock, they can reset this offseason and still have a strong core to take into 2017.
That may not mask the disappointment this season has become but it at least sets Arizona up with enough talent that they don’t have to deplete reserves like they did last winter.
In the meantime, perhaps it will also give Lamb enough time to adjust to his own swelling statline. He remains skeptical of his own feats. He had never hit more than 15 home runs in any complete professional season and had just 10 triples over 247 minor league games -- both totals he has already eclipsed or is nearing this year.
“I’ve never hit for this much power in my whole life,” he said. “It’s been a little weird but it’s a good problem, I guess.”
He adds: “The triples are a little weird. I wouldn’t get used to that.”
Lamb might be his own biggest critic at this point. Chip Hale, the Diamondbacks manager, sees a player given the time and patience to develop into productive hitter -- a commodity that coaching staffs and front offices don’t dole out enough, he believes.
But told that Lamb refuses to pronounce himself a power hitter, Hale does not buy into the ruse.
“He is, though,” Hale replied, knowing he has numbers on his side.