When Rowdy Tellez attempts to pinpoint an exact time in which he began to feel a legitimate turnaround on the horizon, he immediately turns to the Pirates' trip to Toronto earlier this month. Tellez played in two games against his former team, collecting four hits in eight at-bats and registering a 3-for-4 performance that included four RBIs in the finale of the three-game set on June 2.
“That kind of brought some confidence," Tellez said Monday. "Showed me I could still do it.”
At the time, Tellez was simply hopeful a bounce-back effort was in his future. He had just concluded a month of May in which he hit .143 through 18 games. His batting average dropped to a season-low .174 on May 29 and consistently productive performances were a rarity.
Since the beginning of the new month, Tellez has managed to find success over a larger sample size, hitting .429 (15 for 35) with a 1.103 OPS in June. He's put together five multi-hit performances, including a three-hit showing Sunday in Colorado and a two-hit outing Monday against the Reds, and posted nine RBIs through 11 games.
"It’s one of those things where, when you’re scuffling, it seems like you’re 0-2 every at-bat," Derek Shelton said following Monday's 4-1 win at PNC Park. "Now he’s getting himself into good hitting counts. He looks like he’s ready to hit sooner. Sometimes it’s just confidence. We can go back to the game here. You get a little bit of confidence, the fans got behind him, you relax a little bit. I think we’ve seen that over the month of June. He had three hits (Sunday), two hits (Monday). I think we’re seeing a little bit more relaxed guy who’s on time to hit."
Tellez, who is now hitting .230 with a .598 OPS in 59 games this season, is just trying to take things day by day, as he looks to continue this successful stretch rather than reverting back to his April and May struggles.
“Just trying to show up and be the best player, best teammate and best Pirate I can be, every day," Tellez said. "I think those tough stretches showed me you’ve got to make changes and trust yourself. I know the player I am, I know the player I’m capable of being, so just hoping everybody sticks with me and lets me get there.”
