Brad Martens / SF Giants
SCOTTSDALE — If Jason Vosler becomes a legitimate find for the Giants, sure, credit Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris. But it would be one more gift from Barry Bonds, too.
As a young prospect scuffling with the Cubs, Vosler knew something had to change. In 483 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A in 2016, he launched three home runs. He had never been a big power guy, but it at least had existed in his game.
So he did what any young 20-something does when confronted with a problem: He checked Twitter and YouTube.
He searched through hundreds of swings, trying to pick up on movements and hitches and anything that might translate to his game. He found some footage of batting practices stars would take to study not just the stroke but the mindset they would adopt.
“I watched Bonds a lot, I would say he’s probably up there,” Vosler said, asked if any in particular stuck out. “Miguel Cabrera is another big one that I’ve watched a lot. And then … [Mike] Trout and [Albert] Pujols, I would say those were probably the four I watched the most, with Bonds probably being the leader.”
He is hesitant to call it a swing change because there was not a huge mechanical shift, although he acknowledges that his stroke probably changed a bit. What was more tangible was the mindset adjustment and an overhaul of his batting practices; he used to take a couple rounds of grounds balls the other way and then ground balls up the middle.
“I’m going to ditch these ground balls, I’m going to start trying to beat the center fielder with line drives during batting practice — just those rising line drives with backspin,” Vosler said over Zoom on Wednesday before the Giants played the Rockies at Salt River Fields. “I think it just kind of organized my swing in a way that produced that more consistently, and then more balls started going over.”
Twenty-one went over in 2017, in 531 plate appearances. He had turned a corner, but in an organization that had Kris Bryant at third. It made him intriguing to the Padres, who traded for him and liked the corner infielder — but not enough to bump him to the majors on a team that had Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer. And so the Giants entered the picture and have been playing him at left and second, too, trying to find a way to get his bat in a major league lineup for the first time in the 27-year-old’s life.
Vosler is having a nice spring (batting .313 in the Cactus League), but if his dream comes true April 1, it will be partly out of necessity. The Giants are limping at the corners, as Evan Longoria hasn’t played the field yet because of plantar fasciitis and Brandon Belt hasn’t appeared in a game because of mono, which drained him. Longoria likely will be ready, although his health will need to be monitored, while Belt is unlikely to start the season.
Because Tommy La Stella will do so much moving around, the Giants would be well off with another lefty who can handle the position. The competition is between Vosler and LaMonte Wade Jr.; Vosler probably has shown the bigger bat thus far and Wade the better first-base glove.
“Definitely something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid,” said Vosler, who could be 15 days away from his debut. If it doesn’t come to start April, it will come at some point this season.
He started off hot in camp and has cooled a bit, saying he’s been working recently on trying to see the ball longer, which will help him cut down on strikeouts and boosting his walk total. It’s another lesson he unwittingly got when he was 9.
The New York native who grew up in New Jersey remembers going to Yankee Stadium with his father and seeing Bonds play as a kid; it would have had to be June 7, 8 or 9 of 2002.
It wasn’t Twitter or YouTube, but Vosler got an up-close look at a swing that cannot possibly hurt.
“I’m sure he probably had the best batters’ eye of anybody in history,” Vosler said. “He was swinging at strikes. It’s cool, not even just to watch his swing mechanics but his approach, too. You can go to YouTube and find hundreds of at-bats of his where he’s taking pitches just off the black of the corners — no problem, doesn’t even look like he flinches at them. And then he gets that one pitch in the zone and seemed like he could hit it out every time.”
Not a bad swing and approach to study.