BRADENTON, Fla. -- When the Pirates claimed Anthony Alford off waivers last August, hitting coach Rick Eckstein started to do what he always does when the team acquires a new player. He watched video of him.
It wasn’t just video from 2020, though, or even 2019. Eckstein went all the way back to 2015, Alford’s first season as a full-time professional baseball player, after splitting time between the sport and college football.
Watching those at-bats, Eckstein saw how Alford’s swing evolved and how he moved. He was able to “build a story” for what had happened behind the scenes, seeing what notes Alford had been given by his hitting coaches based on the changes he made. When they began to have discussions about his career, Eckstein told him that story.
Alford’s response when he heard Eckstein's story? “How did you know that?”
Alford’s story is in its most pivotal chapter in 2021. The 26-year-old outfielder was considered one of the Blue Jays’ highest ranked prospects from 2016-2018, with the raw abilities to make him a potential five-tool player. He’s shown elite speed and can cover more than enough ground in center, but his problem has been in the batter’s box.
The Pirates have three outfielders competing for what could be just two roster spots and the center field job. While Derek Shelton has not committed to anyone yet, Alford appears to be the frontrunner for both, thanks in part to a retooled swing that is helping him tap into his power.
It’s nothing really new, though. As Eckstein explained to Alford, he would see him make a positive change one year, but it wouldn’t align with something else he had done well in the past. When working together, the idea was to take ideas from previous years and see if they could finally mesh together.
“I think that’s what we’ve been able to do is identify a good setup position for him, and then the thought behind how his body needs to move to create a more efficient swing,” Eckstein said.
So what pieces make up that more efficient swing? Well, Eckstein went back to 2015 to look for the answer. Let’s do the same.
2015 AND 2016
That was 2015. Here he is in 2016:
I’m cheating a bit to start since minor-league video is a little harder to come by and there aren’t a lot of mechanical changes between Alford’s first two full years in pro ball.
The most striking difference is that Alford bulked up during the 2016 season, which makes sense. He played defensive back in college and looked like one for the 2015 season. After a full year of just the baseball circuit, he added some muscle and got bigger.
That makes it a bit more challenging to determine which of the small changes were deliberate and which were just a product of his extra mass. The leg kick, for example, is more closed in 2015, and he shows the pitcher his numbers. There’s a lot of hip action there, really opening up as he makes his stride. The stance is a little more open and upright in 2015, too.
I don’t want to dwell on Alford’s swing too much before his major league debut because he was rapidly rising at this time. Why nitpick his swing when he was considered one of the top two prospects in the Blue Jays’ system and one of the best young outfielders in the game? This is just a quick look at his foundation as a ball player.
But before we go on, let’s hit on the basics of those early mechanics. Hands are away from his body with a lot of action to get into the load. Medium sized leg kick. Some full-body bouncing while waiting for the pitch. Keep those points in mind going forward.
2017
The 2017 season was a really good one for Alford. He was considered one of the Blue Jays’ top prospects and demolished Class AA pitching so much that they had him skip AAA and come up to the majors. He did fracture his wrist in just his fourth game with the Blue Jays, but even with that setback, he was still in a really good spot. Still a top prospect, still the assumed center fielder of the future. Now he could call himself a major leaguer, too.
It’s why we don’t see too many changes between his swing this year and in 2016 (that’s the last time I say that, I swear). He’s a bit more upright in the box, but the most drastic change is with his hands. They’re a little higher and the bat is more horizontal while in his set position. As a result, it takes longer for his hands to load. This is going to start a years long odyssey with his hands, which took another turn in 2018...
2018
Take a lot of what we saw from 2017 and make it more exaggerated. He’s even more upright in the box. The hands are even higher and further away from his body. The bat is now angled behind the back. There’s even more movement to get his hands into his load. This is his 2017 swing but ramped up to an 11, for better or worse. Probably worse.
The hand load is an important point because it messed with his timing. In a Zoom call this spring, when I asked about his hands, he acknowledged his long hand pump made it more difficult for him to catch up to high-velocity pitches.
“I didn’t have time to just get all those moves out the way,” Alford said.
Alford has a good feel for the zone and can draw walks, but if he can’t catch up to mid-90s pitches, he was going to be in trouble. It might explain why 2018 was his first bad year in pro ball.
He struggled in Class AAA, and as a result, he lost his status as one of the Blue Jays’ top prospects. Something was going to have to change.
And wow, did it change.
2019
If I showed you Alford’s 2016 swing and this one, I could probably convince you they are two different baseball players. This is as upright as he will get. The leg kick was seriously cut down. There’s a lot of movement still going on while in the box, but it looks more random. There is less of a bounce like before, and as a result, there is not as much rhythm. He looks out of sync.
To put it simply: It looks like he made a lot of changes a hitting coach would like, but that doesn't really fit the style of hitter he is. It’s hard to see him generating the torque to tap into his raw power while in this position.
It’s not all bad, though. The hands have been lowered and are closer to his body. They are positioned very close to where his load will be, meaning he can start his swing sooner and that he will have a better path to the ball. That’s a breakthrough.
But it was not nearly enough. Alford once again spent most of the year in Buffalo, where he posted middling results. When he was in the majors, he was on the bench. This was Alford’s last option year, and by this point, he wasn’t considered much of a prospect anymore. He made the opening day team the following year, but it didn’t look like he would ever click with the Blue Jays.
2020
I’m going to preface this year by first saying there isn’t a good way to sum up Alford’s 2020 swing in one gif. By this point, he was either trying anything to see if it would stick, or was so out of whack that he couldn’t repeat his mechanics. But this swing -- a line drive right at the shortstop for a double-play -- seems to best encapsulate his final games with the Blue Jays:
No leg kick. Yes, he did have a leg kick for a good chunk of his swings, but there are more than a handful where he almost looks flat footed. We've reached a point that it doesn't look like Alford would be able to generate any pop with this swing.
But perhaps the most telling thing here is how it doesn’t look that different than his 2019 swing. It’s like the Blue Jays were done tinkering, and he either had to sink or swim with body positioning that really didn’t suit him. In late August, they finally cut ties with him, and the Pirates claimed him off waivers.
There, he met Eckstein and the two started to rework his stance and swing. His final cuts of the season looked very different than his first that year. Almost all of those adjustments carried over to this spring.
2021
He’s a little more crouched, but still fairly upright, like in 2017. The hands are a little further out from his body, like in 2018, but they are lower and closer to his load position, like 2019. It’s a medium-sized leg kick, like in 2016.
Alford’s 2021 swing isn’t new. It takes parts of his old swing and repackages them.
There’s no guarantee that this is the right approach for Alford. Change isn’t always good or enough. It’s just change. We saw him go through a whole lot of change with nothing to show for it over the course of this Mound Visit.
But if he could provide even just average offensive results, then Alford’s defense and baserunning could elevate him to being an everyday regular and perhaps even a key part of the team going forward.
This is a make or break year for him. It looks like his body is moving more efficiently than it ever has before. That might be enough.
HIs hitting coach thinks it is.
“He has a passion to reach his fullest potential,” Eckstein said. “I think that’s the fun part about it for me. You get to show up every day and push the process forward and keep pushing to see where it can take him, and he’s been full steam ahead. The young man has gone through a lot in the last year.
“To see where he’s at and how encouraged he has been and I’ve been, I think it’s [this season] one where Anthony is ready to blossom."
