On the finish of the 2019 minor-league season, Alex Name checked out his hitting numbers, then seemed himself within the mirror.
A former third-round draft decide who had already modified organizations as soon as, he knew he had simply had the type of yr that usually portends a brief skilled profession.
As a 24-year-old outfielder on the double-A stage within the Cleveland Guardians group, Name had taken 325 plate appearances that yr with the Akron RubberDucks. In 93 of them — a charge of practically 30% — he recorded a strikeout.
It wasn’t the one ugly stat in a season that noticed Name bat simply .205, attain base at a .266 clip and hit solely 5 dwelling runs. However it was the most important signal of a elementary flaw plaguing the right-handed hitter’s sport.
“That,” he recalled lately, whereas reflecting on what turned a turning level second in his profession, “just wasn’t gonna get it done.”
Six years later, Name joined the Dodgers as a commerce deadline addition final week with a polar reverse popularity. Now, the defensively versatile outfielder is likely one of the more durable outs in all of the majors. For the reason that begin of final season, his .297 batting common ranks eighth amongst MLB hitters with no less than 350 plate appearances. Extra vital, over that very same span, he ranks prime 60 in strikeout charge and stroll charge (with a 55-to-39 ratio general), and twenty second in chase charge; constantly placing collectively a number of the higher at-bats in all the game.
“This guy’s just a straight grinder, works at-bats,” normal supervisor Brandon Gomes stated after the Dodgers acquired Name from the Washington Nationals in trade for 2 pitching prospects. “Playing against him, he’s always incredibly frustrating to try to game plan for and get out.”
“I’ve faced Alex a few times,” added future Corridor of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw. “He’s tough against lefties, a great defender. A good add, for sure.”
The Dodgers, in fact, may have made splashier provides on the deadline. They had been linked to All-Star caliber names, together with Steven Kwan of the Guardians, however didn’t splurge to pay such inflated deadline costs.
As an alternative, they settled for Name, who was a smaller identify however got here with workforce management by 2029. They put their religion in his overhauled offensive ability set, hopeful a private transformation greater than half-a-decade within the making will make him a key piece of their pursuit of a second straight World Sequence title.
“That is my whole game,” Name stated on the day he arrived with the membership. “I am going to grind out at-bats, put the ball in play, take my walks, make it tough on the pitcher, lengthen out the lineup.”
The origins of that mindset date to that 2019 season, and the pandemic-altered yr that adopted.
Coming into 2020, Name dedicated to a change on the plate. In what was a crowded pipeline of outfielders within the Guardians system — highlighted at the moment by Kwan, who has since blossomed into among the finest left fielders within the sport — he acknowledged he wanted a brand new identification. If he was going to achieve the majors, it was going to begin with merely working higher at-bats.
“It’s a bad feeling,” he stated, “having a cloud hanging over your head after a season like that.”
The one downside: COVID-19 got here, the 2020 minor league season was canceled, and Name (like so many different minor-league lengthy photographs clinging to big-league goals) was left successfully on his personal.
So, he discovered other ways to enhance his bat.
Because the baseball world shut down, Name purchased a transportable Junior Hack Assault hitting machine with a self-feeding ball dispenser. And in all places he went that yr — from spring coaching housing in Phoenix to his childhood dwelling in Wisconsin to his household’s offseason residence in Indiana — he sought out anyplace “I could find a hitting cage and an outlet” to make use of it, he stated laughing.
His focus was easy. Work on hitting fastballs up within the strike zone. Get rid of what had been one of many greatest holes in his swing.
“For me, it’s just about having that mentality to where, it doesn’t matter if I have two strikes or if it’s an 0-0 count,” he stated. “Believe I’m comfortable in every situation. I’m going to put the ball in play.”
By that winter, Name sought out a extra superior piece of coaching expertise as effectively.
Over the earlier couple years, an organization known as Win Actuality had begun manufacturing digital actuality hitting goggles — utilizing data-driven fashions, precise video and computer-generated photographs to recreate digital at-bats in opposition to actual pitchers from a hitter’s standpoint inside Oculus-style headsets.
A handful of MLB groups, together with the Dodgers, had invested within the system for his or her groups. Within the months main as much as the 2021 season, Name determined to do the identical for himself, shopping for the $300 product (and paying for its annual $200 software program program) to assist couple his new swing with a extra discerning strategy.
“[I was] just really practicing the zone,” Name stated. “Knowing what pitches are my strengths and what pitches I don’t want to swing at until two strikes. Developing that plan and developing that approach.”
The coaching paid off.
At first of the 2021 season, Name was despatched again to double-A Akron. When he arrived, he was knowledgeable by supervisor Rouglas Odor that he would solely be slated to play 2-3 video games per week — a fast reminder of how far down the group depth chart he’d fallen.
“I remember him being very disappointed,” Odor, now the Guardians’ big-league third-base coach, recalled this week. “But he took ownership of his career, and didn’t let what I told him affect him.”
Name’s probability arrived that Could, after Kwan went down with a hamstring damage. And virtually instantly, his COVID-year modifications took impact. Over 180 plate appearances, Name hit .310, drew 21 walks and — simply as he’d hoped — minimize his strikeout charge by half, punching out solely 26 instances.
“He was a totally different hitter,” stated Odor, who had additionally been Name’s supervisor throughout his dismal 2019 marketing campaign. “Defensively, he was already to play in the big leagues. He made some unbelievable plays … But offensively, he found his stroke. His plate discipline was more consistent. And he had an unbelievable season.”
By the top of the season, Name had been promoted to triple-A. The following July, he earned a promotion to the majors.
The ascent from there wasn’t linear. In August 2022, he was designated for task and claimed off waivers by the Nationals. In 2023, he performed in 128 big-league video games however hit solely .200, sending him again to triple-A for many of final yr.
Alex Name bats in opposition to the Houston Astros on July 28 as a member of the Washington Nationals.
(Karen Warren / Related Press)
Nonetheless, his plate self-discipline didn’t waver (he struck out solely 78 instances in his 439 plate appearances in 2023, an 18% charge, whereas additionally drawing 53 walks). His VR routine solely turned extra ingrained, seeing upward of 54,000 simulated pitches (or, basically 25 seasons’ price of throws) by his headset annually, as he informed the Washington Publish final month.
All of it has clicked during the last calendar yr, with Name following up a productive return to the majors on the finish of 2024 along with his finest full-season efficiency this time period.
“The type of player that I am, I can hit the ball over the fence, but it’s not really my full game,” Name stated. “So for me, it was about trying to create as many opportunities to get on base as possible … I have to be able to hit the ball at good angles.”
Name is one in every of solely 4 gamers with no less than 200 plate appearances this season (together with Kyle Tucker, Gleyber Torres and Geraldo Perdomo) who strikes out lower than 15% of the time, chases lower than 20% of the time and whiffs lower than 20% of the time. He has hit .236 with two strikes (higher than everybody else on the Dodgers besides Hyeseong Kim).
He had his first standout sport with the Dodgers on Wednesday, when he singled, doubled and made a catch whereas crashing into the left-field wall to save lots of an extra-base hit.
Eight at-bats into his Dodgers profession coming into Friday’s sport, he has additionally but to strike out as soon as.
“I’m always proud of players like Alex, because he wasn’t this big prospect, but he became an everyday big-league player,” Odor stated. “He had the urgency to make something happen in order to reach his goal, and his dream.”
And now, Name is aiming to take his profession one step additional — to be not only a productive big-league bat, however one able to taking part in an impactful function on a title-contending membership in Los Angeles.
“I always knew that I could do it and be an established major leaguer,” Name stated. “It’s just, sometimes it takes a little bit of time. And I’m grateful that I was given that time, and just continued to get better.”
