When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Yasmani Grandal in December 2014 as part of a five-player trade with the San Diego Padres it gave them their most dynamic catcher since Russell Martin’s final season with the club in 2010.
Lauded for his pitch-framing ability, Grandal also poses a threat from both sides of the plate as a switch-hitter. However, his power lies as a left-handed hitter, and Grandal spent the past two seasons essentially part of a platoon with A.J. Ellis and more recently, Carlos Ruiz.
The Dodgers, and Grandal, are hopeful to change that in 2017. In addition to going on a diet that’s free of meat, the 28-year-old spent a considerable amount of time this winter improving and refining his swing as a right-handed hitter.
That was made easier by Grandal enjoying a healthy offseason, which was a stark contrast to 2015 when he was recovering from shoulder surgery completed in October of that year.
“I think the shoulder injury prevented him from keeping the bat through the zone as long as it needed to be,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who then went on to note the progress his backstop has made as a right-handed hitter.
“It looks good, it’s not as steep and it’s not as in-and-out of the zone. The interesting thing with Yasmani is, he still had a high on-base percentage last year. So, he was still productive from that side as far as getting on base. The balls he did square up, the trajectory just wasn’t right. It was more negative, down into the ground.
“So we’ve talked about elevating the ball to the pull side. That, with the contact rate, he should be a productive right-handed player. He worked real hard. He’s healthy, No. 1. But he also feels good about that swing. Confidence-wise, he’s in a good place.”
Last season the Dodgers were worst in the Majors with a .213 batting average, .622 on-base plus slugging percentage, .275 wOBA and 72 wRC+ against left-handers. While Grandal may be part of the solution, he was hardly to blame given the Dodgers’ often turned to Ellis or Ruiz.
Grandal logged just 96 plate appearances against southpaws last season and only made 16 starts. He hit .224/.385/.395 with one double, four home runs and 12 RBI, but did post a .347 wOBA and 120 wRC+.
Beyond Grandal potentially emerging as a more consistent threat when batting right-handed, the Dodgers believe improved results against lefties are ahead, due to the expectation of having a healthy Kiké Hernandez, Trayce Thompson and Scott Van Slyke, and further buoyed by the addition of Franklin Gutierrez.
