September has arrived and games with postseason implications are being played every night around the league. Teams on the wild-card bubble are fighting for their seasons, others are battling for division titles and/or Wild Card Series byes, and some are auditioning young players with an eye on next season. It's a land of contrasts, this sport.
Every team is playing for something different. Here now are three trends worth keeping an eye on as we get into the regular season's final month. It took almost five months, but Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is finally beginning to look like the player who finished second in the AL MVP voting last season.
Monday's home run was Raleigh's sixth in seven games and eighth in 14 games. That barrage earned him AL Player of the Week honors last week. He'd hit eight home runs in his previous 65 games prior to this little hot streak.
Raleigh's recent power surge comes after adjusting his hand position at the plate. Specifically, Raleigh raised his hands up higher in his batting stance, creating better rhythm with his swing and a more direct path to the baseball. It's subtle, but you can see it here: "I get (my bat into the hitting position) every time, but it's just, how early can I do it?" Raleigh told MLB.com last week.
"I don't have to worry about getting it back on time. By being a little higher, a little more back, I'm a little more in that position from where I fire from. I don't really have to go searching or be on the perfect timing every time.
I can have more room for error, for being on time for the fastball and a little more back on the offspeed." The adjustment shows up most in Raleigh's in-zone contact rate. In his last 13 games, Raleigh has missed with 16.0% of his swings in the strike zone, which is exactly the league average. In his previous 13 games, it was 21.4%, and it's 21.5% for the season overall.
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