MINNEAPOLIS — When the Yankees went out and made the commerce to get Jose Trevino, everybody talked about him being a strong defensive backup catcher. That is sort of what Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson thought too.
But, Trevino had spent the winter decided to be greater than only a good receiver. He needed to be an all-around contributor, not a black gap on the backside of the lineup. He labored on his swing and the Yankees are discovering they bought a bonus with him. Trevino’s confirmed to be an honest hitter.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect coming in outside of the defensive skills,” Lawson mentioned of Trevino’s contributions on the plate. “It’s a great bonus.”
Trevino went into Thursday night time’s recreation, the place he’s anticipated to catch Gerrit Cole, hitting .281/.333/.461 with 4 house runs, 16 RBI and a .794 OPS.
For comparability, Trevino hit his fourth house run in his 86th at-bat of the season. He had 5 in 285 at-bats all of final season. He’s been a profession .250/.280/.379 hitters with 13 complete house runs and 71 RBI.
Trevino has been good for the Yankees pitchers, who’ve a 2.25 ERA and a .561 OPS towards with Trevino behind the plate.
The 29-year-old places his work with the pitchers forward of himself, however this winter, he needed to enhance his work on the plate.
“I did some things in the offseason with another guy down where I am from and he just kind of likes movement patterns … getting my body to move the right way,” Trevino mentioned. “It was understanding more of my swing and that maybe I don’t need to change my swing. Maybe it’s just that I need to understand my movements better. So that started off in the offseason.”
That work continued into spring coaching with the Rangers. Trevino used that point to choose different hitters’ brains, together with Matt Carpenter, who was on a minor league take care of Texas.
“I worked with him a bit, he’s great to work with,” Trevino mentioned. “Just talking to him about hitting, he has so much knowledge from all his years.”
But issues actually began to click on for Trevino when he was traded to the Yankees. The first month, Lawson and assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes and Hensley Meulens let Trevino go and do his issues. Then they approached him with some concepts.
“They said we think you can be better and this is how. I was like, ‘All right, let’s go’ and I mean, they’ve been awesome. Like there’s the communication has been unreal, between me and them,” Trevino mentioned. “And there’s just a lot of intentional work. There are no wasted reps like everything we’re doing is with the intention to be better.”
So what precisely has Trevino modified technically? He’s not speaking about — but.
“I am getting there, where it’s consistent and I am feeling good,” Trevino mentioned. “But I am just getting there. I want to wait to talk about it until it’s normal for me.”
After having labored with Trevino a bit, Lawson will not be stunned by his success or how he’s nonetheless shy about speaking about it.
“I just think that part of him is just, it’s just undeniable. Like there’s always going to be this willingness and ability to find a solution to whatever it is that’s in front of him,” Lawson mentioned. “Whether it’s catching, his recreation planning and serving to the pitcher. He’s good with that. And then from the offensive standpoint, it’s the identical sort of course of, only a totally different goal. And I feel you don’t get to the massive leagues since you lack expertise. So he clearly has the expertise and it’s aligning that arduous work with the expertise and the preparation that he places in, like, the stuff you’ve clicked.
“And I think I respect that he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, and he’s not ready to talk about it yet.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com