Archive for the “Ryan Jackson” Category

I spent a weekend in Springfield taking in some local company and a pair of games: one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  There are three position players on the Springfield team (Matt Adams, Ryan Jackson and Tommy Pham) that I paid special attention to and I had the chance to get a look at Nick Additon and Kevin Thomas as starters.

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I’m out of pocket for most of the day but the minor league starts bring about other writers as well.

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… [Ryan] Jackson ditched the unnecessary hand and body movement in his offensive set-up. He made the switch after a midseason promotion last year from low Class A Quad Cities to high Class A Palm Beach…

- Kary Booher – “Jackson Waiting His Turn At Shortstop”

Ryan Jackson had a dreadful year in 2009 by any measuring device including a .216 average and a slugging of .241.  But, with a BABIP of .252, he certainly hit into some bad luck.  Despite the BABIP, no one could have expected the Jackson’s jump in numbers for 2010.

When he moved up to Quad Cities, his BABIP regressed quite a bit to .331 and his numbers improved as well.  His improvement was not fully BABIP-related as his 20% line drive rate and 13.5% walk rate for a slash line of 272/366/348.  These numbers were quite an improvement for the slick fielding Jackson, but the above mentioning swing change had not even happened yet.

After making the changes to his swing, Jackson had 167 at bats in the pitcher friendly Florida State League.  However, his average increased 21 points and his ISO slugging increased 26 points.  He didn’t walk at his usual clip in Palm Beach, but when you are hitting more than 1/4th of your batted balls for line drives – why bother taking a walk.

Ryan Jackson has had one bad year and one good year and after lots of appearances in the Spring Training DFRs, the expectations for Jackson in Springfield (or if he stays at Palm Beach).  His glove has been able to play since he was drafted and the 2010 season will be big for Jackson.  If the Vuch Reports and articles about his swing are to be believed – Jackson is poised to make sure 2010 was not a one hit wonder.