With sophisticated mechanics

A month ago, the idea of ​​Carson Kelly, the cleaning of the Chicago Cubs, would have suggested that something had gone wrong. Instead, it was exactly the right step for a line -up that continues to participate in the first month of the season.

Manager Craig Punsell's decision immediately paid dividends when Kelly started the goals for the Cubs by beating a Homer with two runs when he organized a three hit evening during the 9-0 victory of the Cubs via the Pittsburgh Pirates in PNC Park. The Cubs moved to 18-12 in the season and have the strongest offensive in baseball.

Kelly's influence on the Chicago Cubs in 30 games of the season is undeniable. At the same time, it is unfair to expect to continue at his current pace. Nobody expects over 50 percent of the time to increase to the base and post a WRC+ over 200. However, there is some hope that Kelly, with the legitimate mechanical changes that Kelly has made, and his role as part -time catchers and continued health that Kelly can put together one of his best offensive times.

There are things that Kelly has always had on the plate.

“He had two really good years in Arizona, a few times in the base in the base of mid. 340,” said Team President Jed Hoyer. “He had a few years in which he rose to the base that the strike zone checked. So he is not a player who has no longer produced in the big leagues throughout the season.”

Kelly has a career of 10.2 percent and a chase rate of 23.7 percent (about four points below the typical league average). He has a demanding eye and knows which pitch should attack. The problem was always his ability to consistently influence the ball.

“I broke wrists, I broke my hands,” said Kelly. “I was very steep and in and out of the zone. So I wondered: 'How do I get to a place where I swing the bats in the zone for a very long time?' Then you only have to connect to the ball in this window.

Kelly knew that he couldn't just jump from swing to swing. He wanted to change things, but find something that he could “take every day and be confident”.

After Kelly returned from a broken forearm in June 2023, he set up some of the worst offensive numbers of his career. He achieved a 56 WRC+ and achieved 26.5 percent in career opportunities. This triggered him to find mechanically for the next 18 months.

After the 2023 season, Kelly decided to meet earlier in winter. He came home and started to fulfill in early October.

“I was in a place where I had to revise my swing,” said Kelly. “In the past, I was on my shoulder, very big, had difficulty getting to the low pitch and swinging on the chase.

For Kelly it was a lot of attempt and error when he worked through a variety of hand and body positions and tried to find the right mechanics. The 2024 season felt better and helped him shop in the process. He knew he was going in the right direction, but he was still not where he wanted to be.

“What fell my gears,” said Kelly, “I was a pitch that I could drive and I would hit it in the ground.”

He swung on the right parking spaces, but too often it has not caused any damage. He had set up a solid 99 WRC+ after a catastrophic 2023, but his ground ball rate had risen to 46.3 percent, by far his highest brand since 2018.

A big change that Kelly made was the weight distribution between the back and its front foot. Before that, it was a 50-50 distribution. But now Force Plate data show him that he is weighted more 70-30 to the rear foot.

“I shifted the weight to keep the entire energy in the back,” said Kelly. “When I am set, I have much weight in this hind leg and attempts to stay.”

The visual difference is clear.

The first video comes from 2023, in which Kelly is a bit more sincerely and just looks more rigid and the racket holds on the shoulder, whereby his front foot is firmly planted until his leg lifts. The second video comes from the past this season. Kelly has more movement with his bat and generally looks more sporty. His front foot moves and keeps the weight on his back and it ends with more loft in his swing.

“I came to a place where I hit the air, hard contact, more consistent, less pursued,” said Kelly. “It was an attempt and mistake and adhered to what I wanted to do.”

Kelly's Fly Ball rate is 48.6 percent, the highest of his career. Its soft contact rate (8.1 percent) is the lowest ever, and its hard contact rate (40.5 percent) is the second highest of his career. Perhaps the most important thing for a player who tries to do more damage has risen considerably, now 24.3 percent, almost twice as high as the brand last season.

Kelly now feels condemned in his swing and with a nice Timesharing at Catcher with Miguel Amaya, he avoids being revised behind the plate. Kelly cannot be expected to continue at this pace. But health, combined with consistent calm, along with a strong approach that now always exists with new mechanics, which seem to have it in a better position to cause damage, the optimism is that it could put together one of his stronger offensive campaigns.

“I think he controls the zone well, I think he knows the strike zone,” said Hoyer. “This year he caused damage to these parking spaces. I think there are many indicators (that he can continue to do so).”

(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)