COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kevin Kramer is trying to stop thinking about his swing. When the Pirates' prospect first made a change to hit more line drives last season, he would run through a mental checklist during each at-bat.
Where were his hands on the bat? Was he dipping his front shoulder? How high was he holding the bat? Was his swing path level in the zone? Such thinking was important at first. It quickly became a deterrent in his first season at Triple-A, though.
Now, Kramer, an infielder for Triple-A Indianapolis, is focusing on pitch selection, rather than the mechanics of his swing, and the result was a remarkable June that included a .330 average and 1.056 OPS in 27 games. The 24-year-old is now hitting and fielding his way into the conversation to help the Pirates at some point in 2018.
"You start missing pitches you should hit and start second-guessing yourself, saying, ‘Well, maybe it’s my hands. No,' " Kramer told DKPittsburghSports.com recently at Huntington Park. "For me, I was thinking that early in the year and not letting myself be free. I’m not worried about the mechanical side of the game now."
Kramer, a second-round draft pick in 2015, is batting .282/.342/.498 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs in 73 games this season, his first with Indianapolis. His 34 extra-base hits are the second-most in the International League, and he's already surpassed a career high with 20 doubles.
It was the mechanical side that transformed Kramer from a light-hitting prospect to one of the Pirates' best power-hitting prospects. Kramer batted .277/.352/.378 with a career-high 57 RBIs for High-A Bradenton in 2015. However, he had only four home runs, and neither he nor the organization was satisfied with his ground-ball rate.
As a result, the organization — specifically Larry Sutton, the Pirates’ hitting coordinator, Michael Ryan, the manager at Double-A Altoona, and Andy Barkett, who was the organization’s assistant hitting coordinator in 2016 — told Kramer to level out his bat path in the zone.
The thinking was that any mistake was more likely to be a line drive, rather than a ground ball. Before a pitch from Andrew Suarez struck Kramer on the back of his right hand on June 10, Kramer was batting .297 with six home runs for Double-A Altoona and was selected to the Eastern League All-Star game.
His slugging percentage was .500. He had 20 extra-base hits with 27 RBI and a .380 on-base percentage. All in 234 plate appearances. Kramer’s line-drive percentage rose nearly five percent from the previous season. His ground-ball rate dropped 18 percent, and his fly-ball percentage skyrocketed from 26.8 to 40.3 percent.
He didn't play in another game until September and struggled to repeat the production. Kramer, invited to big-league camp this spring, wanted to see how his swing would fare with more at-bats, no matter the level of competition. But he was slow to adjust to Triple-A.
"Early on in the year I wasn’t necessarily letting myself play," Kramer said. "I wasn’t competing as well as I could have. Typical baseball stuff. You go through good waves and bad waves. I honestly haven’t put much into that. I think it’s one of those waves where you get into a bit of a rut. It’s something different than in years past, but now it’s against better competition and you have less room for error."
Kramer had only eight RBIs in 19 games during April and batted .238/.310/.419 with 29 strikeouts in 28 games during May. That's when he decided thinking was only hindering his progress. The swing was established. Now, he just needed to focus on hitting pitches in the zone.
He's been on a tear since. Kramer had six multi-RBI games in June, and he's had an extra-base hit in six of his last 10 games, as well as 10 of his last 17. The left-handed hitter also had 12 multi-hit games last month. All while playing three different positions: second base, shortstop and third.
Kramer hasn't played much shortstop since early in the season — that position is occupied by Kevin Newman — but he's playing third for the first time in his professional career, as the Pirates try to prep him for a role in the major leagues. He played the position two years during his career at UCLA; however, it's far different when competing against many former big leaguers.
"It’s gone well in some categories and not well in others," Kramer said of his season thus far. "That’s how it’s going to be. If I was having a perfect year, well, I don’t want to have a perfect year because then I can’t get better. It’s been an adjustment. I was a little mechanical a little earlier in the year. Now it’s more timing. That’s been a good adjustment for me. Now it’s about maximizing my skills and not worrying about every little possible detail. These guys are going to eat you up if you’re up there trying to worry about your swing and getting a perfect swing off."
It looked perfect at Huntington Park on June 16, when Kramer hit the first pitch from Shao-Ching Chiang over the home run porch in right field and out of the ballpark for a three-run homer in the sixth inning. Pitch selection remains a problem, though. Kramer has struck out 79 times in 270 at-bats and his ground-ball rate has increased slightly from last season.
It's unclear if he's in the Pirates' plans this season, yet Kramer expressed confidence he's in a better position now thanks to that swing he agonized over for more than a year.
"I think I have a better idea of what I want to accomplish and how I want to go about that," he said. "I don’t know if I could have handled it two years ago. You combine all those things with the game of baseball and how wacky it can be sometimes, I feel like I’ve handled it better this year than I would have in the past. For me that’s important."
MORE INDIANAPOLIS
• Jason Martin, the outfielder acquired from the Astros in the Gerrit Cole trade, went 3 for 10 with a triple, an RBI and four strikeouts in two games after being promoted to Triple-A. Martin, 22, batted .325/.392/.522 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs in 68 games for Double-A Altoona.
“I’m really happy to get called up and that’s just one more step towards my goal.”
- @_JM55 on earning a promotion to Triple-A pic.twitter.com/Ooi6jgnvIU
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) June 28, 2018
• Right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller, the Pirates' top prospect, was shelled in his first Triple-A start Saturday, allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings against Columbus. Keller, 22, threw 48 of his 70 pitches for strikes but had trouble putting hitters away when ahead in the count.
• Shortstop Kevin Newman has 15 hits in his last 10 games for a .366 average in that span, driving in five runs with four walks to five strikeouts. That raised his season slash line to .312/.360/.389. He's stolen 19 bases in 71 games, and he ranks third in the International League in batting average.
ALTOONA (DOUBLE-A)
• First baseman Will Craig, third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, starting pitcher Taylor Hearn and relief pitcher Sean Keselic will represent the Curve in the Eastern League All-Star Game, which will be held Weds., July 11 in Trenton, N.J.
.@WCraigers22 picks up RBI number 56 on the season
That's the most in the @Pirates organization and second-most in the league pic.twitter.com/ZCtbvj3m8b
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) July 1, 2018
• Outfielder Bryan Reynolds, acquired from the Giants in the Andrew McCutchen trade, has at least one hit in 16 of his last 18 games since June 8, batting .328 with six doubles, one home run and 13 RBIs in that span. Reynolds, 23, is batting .267/.339/.396 with 15 RBIs in 28 games this season.
He missed seven weeks earlier this season after breaking a bone in his left hand.
• Shortstop Cole Tucker had two hits in five of his last eight games. The former first-round pick is batting .317 with a double and seven runs over his past 10 games. He's also batted .297 with 14 runs over his last 25 games. He still has only a .309 on-base percentage in 72 games this season.
• Craig, a first-round pick in 2016, has 56 RBIs and is on pace for 102, which would rank second in franchise history behind Adam Hyzdu's 106 RBIs in 2000. The next closest is Jose Bautista with 90 in 2005. He has 11 home runs with a .254/.328/.448 slash line this season.
BRADENTON (HIGH-A)
• Starting pitcher Luis Escobar's erratic command bit him again, as the right-hander allowed five earned runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts to two walks in an 8-3 loss to Palm Beach on Tuesday. Escobar, 22, has a 4.40 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 13 starts, although his improved ground-ball rate bodes well for his development. He represented the Pirates in the Futures Game last July.
• Outfielder Jared Oliva, a seventh-round draft pick last summer, is batting .286/.370/.480 with nine home runs and 33 RBIs in 68 games. He also ranks second in the Florida State League with 22 stolen bases. His former teammate, infielder Alfredo Reyes, is still tied for the league lead with 23.
Reyes was promoted to Double-A Altoona this week after batting .303 with a .798 OPS in 62 games. Reliever Matt Eckelman was also promoted to Altoona after posting a 1.14 WHIP in 23 2/3 innings.
• First baseman Albert Baur has batted only .184 over his past 10 games but still ranks 13th in the Florida State League with 36 RBIs.
WEST VIRGINIA (LOW-A)
• Outfielder Calvin Mitchell, a second-round pick last summer, was activated from the disabled list Sunday. The 19-year-old was batting .308 with an .862 OPS, 27 extra-base hits and 36 RBIs in 62 games. He was also ranked 99th in Baseball America's midseason top 100.
• Shortstop Oneil Cruz was in a 0-for-12 slump before going 4 for 6 with a double and two RBIs Saturday against Hagerstown. Cruz, a 6-foot-6 prospect acquired in the Tony Watson trade last July, has emerged as one of the Pirates' more promising prospects this season. He's batted .312 with a .902 OPS and 10 home runs with 46 RBIs in 71 games. Cruz was ranked 100th in Baseball America's midseason top 100.
He batted .375 with 19 RBIs in the month of June.
• Outfielder LoLo Sanchez batted .333 with five RBIs over his past 10 games. Ranked among the club's top 10 prospects by Baseball America, the 19-year-old is batting just .230 with a .640 OPS in his first season above rookie ball.
• Elvis Escobar, formerly an outfielder for Double-A Altoona, made his first relief appearance of his career Saturday, striking out three and retiring six of the seven batters he faced. Escobar, a lefty, reportedly reached 95 mph on the radar gun.
OTHERS
• Outfielder Travis Swaggerty, the Pirates' first-round pick last month, was away from short-season West Virginia this week as his girlfriend, Peyton Swanzy, underwent surgery to treat thyroid cancer.
Headed back to rejoin the @WVBlackBears!! Huge thank you to the @Pirates for letting me be there for Peyton. She is grinding through the pain and she is ready for the road ahead. She will beat it!
— Travis Swaggerty (@TSwaggerty_21) June 30, 2018
• Starting pitcher Shane Baz, a 19-year-old drafted in the first round by the Pirates last summer, allowed three earned runs on four hits in 3 2/3 innings for short-season Bristol Monday.
• Ji-Hwan Bae, the 18-year-old South Korean shortstop signed by the Pirates this offseason, has only four hits in 24 at-bats for the GCL Pirates this season.
• Outfielder Juan Pie, the Pirates' top international signing last July, is batting .342 with 10 RBIs in 20 games for one of the club's two teams in the Dominican Summer League. Angel Basabe, another outfielder signed last July, has eight RBIs and a 1.001 OPS in 12 games for the other DSL team.
