Luis Guillorme Has Altered Approach Against Fastballs in 2020

Needing to locate reliable depth in the infield, a former top-30 prospect has surprisingly helped carry the load, offensively and defensively, for the New York Mets midway through August and his success should be credited to an adjustment he’s made to his swing path.

After being selected by the Mets during the 10th round of the 2013 MLB Draft, Luis Guillorme spent the next five seasons struggling at the plate across five minor-league affiliates. As a result, the 25-year old was forced to wait until the 2018 campaign to make his major-league debut.

Following a pair of brief cameos over the last two seasons, Guillorme only earned 80 career plate appearances in the majors coming into the 2020 campaign and neither of his stints were that successful either. From 2018-2019, the left-handed batter had only hit six doubles, one home run, eight RBIs, .070 ISO, .255 BABIP, .269 wOBA, 9.7% walk rate, 11.8% strikeout rate, 18.7% LD rate, 27.6% hard-hit rate, 69 wRC+ score, 0.0 fWAR rating, and a slashing line of .227/.303/.297/.600.

Considering these troubling offensive results, no one expected the 5-foot-10 middle infielder to make a major impact for the Mets in 2020. Since the youngster still has one minor-league option remaining, he would’ve likely been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse if the minor-league season wasn’t canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite being considered a defensive-first player, Guillorme has surprised everyone in Queens with his offensive outburst and has quickly become one of the highlights of the Mets’ season so far. Initially utilized as a reserve, the Venezuela native moved into a starting role at the start of August due to a groin injury to Robinson Cano. And he’s been on fire ever since.

Since Aug. 3, Guillorme has received 28 plate appearances, producing two doubles, five RBIs, .550 BABIP, .470 wOBA, 14.3% walk and strikeout rates, 45% LD rate, 35% hard-hit rate, 209 wRC+ score, 0.5 fWAR rating, along with a slashing line of .478/.536/.565/1.101 as well.

Adding to his impressive metrics, the former Coral Springs Charter HS product leads the Mets in AVG, wOBA, and is also ranked third in xAVG (.301). Coming into this season, who thought No. 13 would lead the team in any offensive category? Probably no one.

What’s encouraging about this recent stretch from Guillorme has been his ability to hit for plenty of contact against fastballs, which he hasn’t been able to do consistently in the major leagues prior to this season. While he still hasn’t barreled up any heaters just yet, the lefty has generated much more hard-contact and a considerably higher line drive rate against them.

Over his 15 batted ball events, Guillorme has created a .421 AVG (.132 increase from 2019), .324 xAVG (.033 increase), .474 SLG (.027 increase), .422 xSLG, .381 wOBA (.021 increase), .330 xwOBA, 60% LD rate (30.6% increase), 40% hard-hit rate (10.6% increase), and a 91.1 mph (3.3 mph increase) average exit velocity.

While these results are only a small sample size, they’re notable because of the drastic change the surprising slugger has made to his swing path and it’s not an adjustment most hitting coaches would suggest in today’s game. With nearly every hitter trying to hit the ball in the air, increasing your launch angle has become a lot more common in 2020. Well, the same can’t be said for the Mets’ middle infielder.

Through his 29 plate appearances this season, Guillorme has actually decreased his average launch angle by 10.3 degrees since the 2019 campaign. In particular, his average launch angle against fastballs has lowered significantly compared to last season, decreasing from 23 degrees in 2019 to just seven degrees in 2020.

For the soon-to-be 26-year old, this adjustment to his swing path has resulted in improved production against heaters this season, especially ones that have been located in the middle of the strike zone.

In comparison, the chart below displays how Guillorme performed against fastballs during the 2019 campaign, and the differences between the last two seasons are truly amazing.

Even though this adjustment has prevented Guillorme from hitting any fly balls against heaters, it has allowed him to generate more line drives and harder contact, which has translated into improved contact metrics this season. As a result, the versatile infielder is on pace for a breakout performance during his ninth season in the Mets’ organization.

Considering the way he’s hitting against fastballs and that pitchers are throwing them almost 67% of the time to him, the suddenly productive role player will likely start facing more breaking balls and offspeed pitches in the near future. With that said, this new launch angle should help him maintain his results against heaters through the rest of the season, as pitchers start becoming less aggressive against him.

With Cano now healthy, along with teammate Andres Gimenez producing quality results, it could become difficult for Guillorme to earn regular playing time through the second half of August and into September as well. But if he continues to dominate at the plate, then manager Luis Rojas and his staff will be forced to find consistent at-bats for the young infielder through the remainder of the season.