The All-Star break and the trade deadline are in the rearview mirror and the we've hit the dog days of summer. We're in crunch time now. The postseason races are really starting to heat up.
Our weekly series examining various trends across the league continues with a look at three West Coast hitters who are poised to have an impact down the stretch. Last week we looked MLB's most clutch team, a reliever struggling since the foreign substance crackdown, and a young pitcher with a new pitch.
Marte giving A's something they've lacked
As is often the case, the Athletics were among the busiest teams at the trade deadline. They're very much in the postseason race again (only the Dodgers have been to the postseason more times than the A's since 2012) and the front office did what it could to fortify the roster while staying within ownership's budget mandate. Oakland's deadline moves:
All three trades have been impactful thus far but the Marte for Luzardo deal is the headliner. Not long ago Luzardo was among the top pitching prospects in baseball, but the A's seemingly soured on him this season, and gave him up to rent Marte for two months (and to get Miami to pay Marte's salary). Trading Luzardo for a rental -- any rental -- 12 months ago would've been unthinkable.
In two weeks with the Athletics, however, Marte has been everything the team needed and then some. He's gone 18 for 45 (.400) with two home runs in 10 games with Oakland, including a walk-off home run over the weekend. He is 16 for 33 (.485) in August. Marte has also brought a speed element the A's typically lack. Case in point: Oakland ranked dead last in stolen bases (217) and 24th in baserunning (minus-29.1 runs per FanGraphs) from 2016-20.
Marte is a dynamic all-around player and he stole 22 bases in 25 attempts with the Marlins, and he ranked among the league leaders in overall baserunning. In 10 games with the Athletics, Marte has already stolen eight bases (in eight attempts) and accrued 1.5 runs of value on the bases. He's spent only two weeks in the American League and he's already 28th in the league in steals. Last week Marte became the first A's player to steal three bases in a game since Rickey Henderson (OK fine, since Rajai Davis in 2017).
"We haven't seen anything like Marte," A's manager Bob Melvin told reporters, including MLB.com's Martín Gallegos, following Marte's three-steal game. "His athleticism and his stolen-base ability."
The A's recently lost Ramón Laureano to a performance-enhancing drug suspension, and while Marte was never truly a luxury, he is essential now. Like every player, he will provide more at the plate and in the field than he does on the bases, but the baserunning is important too. Oakland now has a speed threat, and it's an element they've rarely featured over the years.
"Just all of the above, whether it's big hits, understanding going the other way, knowing when to steal, just creates all kinds of havoc on the bases for opposing managers, catchers, pitchers," Melvin recently told reporters, including NBC Bay Area's Ali Thanawalla. "Just allows the hitters to get some better pitches too, and likely more fastballs. There's a lot of stuff to like about him."
Toro already making an impact for M's
Aside from Marte, the best position player pickup at the trade deadline thus far has been Abraham Toro, who went from the Astros to the Mariners in the unpopular Kendall Graveman trade. Unpopular in Seattle's own clubhouse, that is. "It never changes. They don't care about winning. How do you trade him and say you care about winning?" an unnamed Mariners player said after the deal.
Toro is making the front office look smart, however. Graveman is certainly missed in the bullpen -- Seattle is 3-7 since the deadline and they blew a lead in the sixth inning or later in five of the seven losses -- though Toro is doing his part at the plate. The 24-year-old switch-hitter is 17 for 48 (.354) with three home runs in 13 games with the Mariners.
Beyond the surface stats, two things really stand out about Toro's time with the Mariners. First, he's not striking out. Only five strikeouts in 55 plate appearances, or a 9.1 percent rate that is well below the 23.5 percent league average. Toro has swung and missed only 5.4 percent of the time as well. That's less than half the 11.3 percent league average. The man is getting the bat on the ball a ton.
Toro has never been a high strikeout hitter. He struck out in 17.4 percent of his career plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A, and in 20.5 percent of his plate appearances with the Astros. That's a good, solid number, especially for a young player. With Seattle, Toro has taken the contact up a notch. It's a small sample, sure, but five strikeouts in only 55 plate appearances is impressive no matter what. That's an extreme contact rate in this era.
And second, Toro is playing second base with the Mariners, a position he played exactly once in 93 games with Houston and only a handful of times in the minors. It's essentially a new position for the natural third baseman, and 12 games into the experiment, Toro seems to be handling it well. At the very least, he hasn't given the Mariners a reason to believe he can't do it.
"He centers the ball really well," Mariners infield coach Perry Hill recently told reporters, including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. "His footwork is crisp. But he hasn't played there in a long time. When you play on the left side of the infield, the ball is coming at you and everything is going one way. But when you are on other side of the infield it's different. The angles are different. When you are turning double plays, you are going one way and having to throw back the other way. He's got to learn how to manipulate and turn his body. That's going to take a little bit of time."
Seattle acquired Toro for his bat, first and foremost. He's a switch-hitter who gets the bat on the ball and those guys are hard to find. No, Toro won't continue to hit at a .358 clip because basically no one does that, but there are indications he can be an above-average hitter with contact and power. And if he becomes that, Toro won't have to do much defensively to be worth a lineup spot. Anything he gives them at second base is gravy.
Trading Graveman in the middle of a postseason race was a tough pill to swallow for the players in the clubhouse, I get that, but GM Jerry Dipoto effectively replaced Graveman with Diego Castillo, and Toro has quickly made an impact for Seattle. He's settling in at a new position and providing a lift offensively. The Mariners are fading in the standings and Graveman is missed by his former teammates, but they are a better team overall with Toro.
Adell's improved contact
Last year was a year to forgot for many, many reasons. For Angels outfielder Jo Adell, his dream came true -- he was called up to the big leagues for the first time! -- yet it went about as poorly as possible. Adell hit .161/.212/.266 in over 100 plate appearances and generally looked lost on both sides of the ball. He looked nothing like a touted elite prospect.
Most alarmingly, Adell struck out 55 times in 124 plate appearances (41.7 percent), with an astronomical 19.9 percent swinging strike rate. We saw way too much of this last year. Too many misses on hittable pitches in the strike zone:
Adell always struck out a good deal in the minors (career 26.3 percent) and that was true again this year, when he crushed Triple-A (.289/.342/.592 with 23 homers in 73 games) despite a 29.2 percent strikeout rate. Striking out will likely always be part of his game, though last year's sub-Chris Davis contact rates were untenable.
The Angels summoned Adell to the big leagues soon after the trade deadline and he's gone 7 for 27 (.259) in seven games. He's also struck out eight times, or 27.6 percent of his plate appearances. Super-duper small sample, but after last season, any signs of progress are welcome. Adell's contact rates have been much better this go around too:
2020
33.7%
69.1%
65.6%
60.8%
2021
31.7%
65.6%
90.5%
80.6%
MLB average
26.9%
66.1%
83.8%
75.8%
The swing decisions are still pretty good. Adell is attacking pitches in the zone and his chase rate (i.e. out of zone swing rate) is elevated, though not unwieldy. Chase rate tends to improve with experience and established big leaguers in the 32 percent range include José Abreu, Ozzie Albies, and JD Martinez. Adell's chase rate is fine. It's not a major red flag.
Last year's contact rates were abominable, however, and in the early going this year they've much improved. It's a tiny sample but contact rates tend to stabilize very quickly. You need way fewer swings to get a player's true talent contact rate than you do his true talent batting average or slugging percentage. Adell is still in small sample territory, but the early returns are promising.
After last season, any signs Adell is making progress with his contact rate are welcome, and we're seeing them. What he's done in his very limited big league action this year is something the Brewers are not seeing from Keston Hiura, for example. Hiura has made no progress getting the bat on the ball. Adell has, and that's a necessary step one in becoming a quality big leaguer.
"The more you play, the more you start to figure out where your success lies within the game," Adell recently told reporters, including MLB.com's Dave Sessions. "For me, over these 70 or so games in (Triple-A), along with some spring games, I started to figure out how I'm going to be successful in certain situations, and what pitches I actually can handle very well versus the ones that I think I can hit very well."
