Earlier this season, Cougars outfielder Grant Heyman wanted to increase his slugging percentage.
That’s why he adopted the sort of bat waggle reminiscent of former major-leaguer Gary Sheffield.
“I wasn’t producing a whole lot of power, so I thought, ‘Let’s do something with my hands,'” Heyman said. “It worked.”
Indeed, over a 19-game stretch that ended June 15, Heyman hit six home runs. He also had only 11 other hits in that span.
Heyman and Cougars batting coach Jonathan Mathews went to work to find a solution, and it has produced a 10-game stretch in which Heyman is hitting .317.
“I was sacrificing some contact, so we worked on slowing my hands down a little bit,” Heyman said. “I’m just trying to find the happy medium between no bat movement and a lot of bat movement and hopefully get the best of both worlds. That’s what I’m working on right now.”
With the help of video, Mathews realized his bat movement was affecting his timing. While it produced some more power, he was late with his swing more often than not.
“When he isn’t right, he would be late, as is an issue with a lot of our guys,” Mathews said. “We slowed some things down. He had a little barrel-tip thing. We made some minor adjustments to get him on time more often, and he’s really taken to it.”
This week, Heyman had the highest velocity off the bat of any Cougars’ hitter this season at 112 mph. It was after he settled his hands down. Although it resulted in a loud out to second base, Mathews had reinforcement for his message.
“I told him, ‘G, if that ball is elevated, that’s a home run just like the ones you were hitting before,'” Mathews said.
The other key for Heyman this season has been his health. He played 57 games in 2014 after being drafted in the eighth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of Southern Nevada.
Last year, however, Heyman was limited to 61 games, 37 of which came with the Cougars. He lost the last three months of the season with a broken finger.
This year, Heyman has played 69 games, 35 coming with the Cougars.
“That kind of stunk,” he said of the broken finger. “I was hurt the year before a little bit, too. You can’t control that. It’s not something where you can try to not get hurt. That’s how you get hurt.
“I’m just trying to go out and play hard and hopefully the rest takes care of itself.”
Heyman hopes his recent hot streak can be a springboard for the rest of the summer.
“I’m happy with the adjustments we’ve made and hopefully I can finish strong,” Heyman said.
Mathews knows if that happens, he could be on his way back to advanced-Class A Visalia sooner rather than later.
“As much as I love him to death, I hope he’s not here very long,” Mathews said. “That’s the hard part of this job.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.
