Cardinals IN THE CLASSROOM! RANDAL GRICHUK

As a 23-year-old second-year St. Louis Cardinal, Randal Grichuk is still figuring things out. Primarily a right fielder, Grichuk plays all three positions, has a good throwing arm and plays solid defense, but his success at the plate will likely define the type of player he will become. After spending the first five seasons of his professional career in the minor league system with the Los Angeles Taka Y anagimoto/St Angels, Grichuk came to St. Louis as part of a four-player . Louis Cardinals trade after the 2013 season. He spent most of last year as a member of the AAA , batting .259 him and go, ‘Yeah, I want that.’ He’s got the tools. with 25 homers in just 108 games. Grichuk struck out a lot, He’s also trying to manage them on the fly.” though, fanning 108 times in his 436 at-bats. For Grichuk, it will be about making the most of his Grichuk was called up three separate times to the big opportunities when he does get an at-bat or breaks into leagues last year and made strides each time. He turned the starting lineup. He’s always had a power stroke, some heads during the playoffs as he had had two key but the next steps will include hitting for average. homers – one in each series against Los Angeles and “Here’s the deal with power,” Mabry added. San Francisco. But his strikeout ratio remained high, “You either have it or you don’t. There is a give and take. fanning 13 times in 35 at-bats in the postseason. Power. Power and average. Some people have the ability Grichuk recalls the struggles he had last year, and he to do both. What do you want to be as a hitter? You try to realizes that some of it was a matter of confidence. figure out what you can be and go toward that light.” “I chased a lot. I swung at bad pitches. I put weak And the results for Grichuk in balls in play the first couple times up,” he said. “That last were encouraging as he hit four homers and his time I just kind of told myself for the first time that I had strikeout ratio was also down a bit. But for Grichuk, to play with the same confidence I had in Memphis and questions still remain. didn’t have the previous two times.” “Are you going to be an everyday player? Are you Yet Grichuk knows that he’ll have to cut down on a fourth outfielder? Are you a fifth? Are you the platoon his strikeouts to be a success in the major leagues. guy?” asks Grichuk of himself. “I want it to be every day. Last year, he had more at-bats against left-handed It’s just feeling out what kind of player they think I can be pitchers, and during the regular season all and the type of player I think I can be.” three of his homers came against lefties. Written by Mike Kern “I think it kind of got in my head last year,” Grichuk said. “I didn’t put together good at-bats [against righties] early and did against lefties. This year I’m going to be comfortable off both sides and really focus on having good quality at-bats and making sure it’s in the zone and not chasing.” “He’s a young guy figuring it all out,” hitting coach John Mabry said about Grichuk. “He’s got all the skills in the world. You look at his skill set and every person on this field and every person in this league would look at

Taka Yanagimoto/St. Louis Cardinals

Baseball is a game of statistics, and one stat that sacrifices and more do not count. are held show a different amount of white. How the stands out is batting average. What other job would Let’s think about why it is so hard for a batter to pitcher turns his wrist even gives the batter a hint. accept success only 3-times-out-of-10 as a good, hit a ball. That’s what MLB players have trained their Watch Cardinal pitchers to see if you can spot any no, great stat? But having a .300 batting average is whole lives to do, right? Batters have about 0.40 sec- tips on what they are planning to throw. considered great. Randal Grichuk will be working this onds to react to a pitch. In that time they have a lot Once the batter decides to swing, he must start season to improve his hitting, which will also improve of things to notice; is it a fastball, a sinker or another when the ball is about 25 to 30 feet in front of the his batting average. pitch; is it a ball or a strike; and how fast is it? Then plate. Even a thousandth of a second too soon or too It’s pretty easy to calculate a hitter’s batting aver- they have to decide where and how fast to swing. All late may result in a foul or a strike. Swinging too high age. The abbreviation for batting average is AVG, for of this in 0.4 seconds. Get a stop watch and recite or too low may cause a fly ball or a grounder. This hits it is H, and for at-bats it is AB. the alphabet. How many letters were you able to say hand/eye/brain coordination is developed by repeat- AVG = H/AB in 0.4 seconds? Try some other activities to see what ing the motions over and over again. In Spring Training, Grichuk had 11 Hs and 44 ABs. you can accomplish in that amount of time. And that’s why going three-for-10 is considered a AVG = 11/44 This is where training for most of their life pays off success in the majors! .250 = 11/44 though. Batters look for information from the pitcher Follow Grichuk’s and other Cardinals’ AVGs this before the pitch is even released. How the pitcher baseball season. See who is on a hot streak or in a is holding the ball may tip the batter off as to what slump. Note though that not every Plate Appearance, type of pitch is coming. A fastball is usually held right PA, counts as an AB though. Walks, hit by pitches, over the top of the ball. How curve balls and fastballs