PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There have been spurts in his career where you think Gregory Polanco is worth the 5 year, $35 million contract he signed in 2017. In the midst of the Pirates recent losing ways, a bright spot has been his improvement.
Polanco has hits in 6 of the last 7 games, batting .348 over that span with a homer and 6 RBI. Maybe as importantly he has 3 walks, showing how much better he’s seeing the ball.
Physically, Pirates manager Derek Shelton thinks the 6’5” lefty finally has his legs under him. Shelton believes there is more evidence of that by watching his improved defense. The adjustments with the bat are also gaining attention.
“Right now I’m making more contact because my swing is short,” Polanco said. “By working every day, my swing is a lot better. I still have to do more work, where I’m at right now. I feel like I’m making good progress from Opening Day to today.”
He had a horrible start to the season, in the first two series, Polanco 1 for 17 with 7 strikeouts and you could hear boos and him being mocked when he struggled at home. Most also wondered why he continued to be put in the lineup when Phillp Evans had such a great start.
Instead of pouting, Polanco went to work on his adjustments. Part of that is when working in the cage away from public eyes, the pitcher moved up closer to him so that Polanco had to swing faster to make contact. It forced him to shorten his swing. He says he doesn’t lose any power because ‘nowadays everyone is throwing 100’.
There is a still a lot of work ahead, especially given his body type of long arms and legs. It makes it easy to revert to a long swing. His mindset will have to be right and simple.
He’s proven he can handle MLB pitching. Polanco hit 22 homers and drove in 86 in 2016. Hit 23 homers and drove in 81 with a .340 on base percentage in 2018.
“You just hit it on the barrel and it’s going to go,” Polanco said.
If only it were that easy.