ALTOONA, Pa. – You look up to the scoreboard, and you read the numbers “2-2-5” underneath the three letter acronym “AVG”. Sure, that’s a pretty low batting average for some players throughout a minor league system; however, you look at the name at the top of the board and realize it’s for Kevin Newman. It’s not hard to double take back to the board. Yep, that’s what Kevin Newman was batting after his final at-bat on May 31st.
Newman smirked when asked the question if he had ever seen his average that low at any point in his baseball career – from Little League to college to as a professional.
“Baseball is a frustrating game,” Kevin Newman said. “I’ve lined out a lot. My swing feels comfortable, and I feel good in the box. You know, I’ve gotten unlucky a lot. That’s kind of how it goes. Sometimes you hit the ball, and sometimes you don’t.”
There is a lot more to just getting unlucky when you slash .172/.234/.253 in a month, which Newman did in the month of May. Of course, there are some intangibles at play when you look at those numbers, including Newman getting hit in the head twice in four days towards the middle of the month. He was hit in the forehead in Richmond but was able to play just two days later. Unfortunately, in just his second game back from the incident in Richmond, a ball came sailing towards his head again and nipped his helmet for another HBP.
The second one didn’t really cause any physical harm; however, Newman hit just .136 during the next 14 games that closed out May. He says it was an “eerie feeling during the first day or two back”, but those incidents haven’t affected his play.
So, what gives?
You first think of the season that Newman had in 2016 in Altoona and the fact that he was sent back to Double-A for a second year. Could there have been a level of disappointment for the young shortstop in hoping he had started the year in Triple-A? Maybe. But, Newman isn’t giving in to that sentiment.
“I knew where the pieces were going to lie,” Newman said. “I knew there was a strong chance I would come back here, and I would come and make my game better. Whether here or anywhere else, there are still things to be learned and progress to be made.”
Newman’s hitting coach in Altoona, Kevin Riggs, thinks that it was a snowball effect that just kept on rolling downhill. It’s starts with just a couple of bad games then all of a sudden, he had a confidence issue.
“I think, right now, he is battling a confidence issue to be honest with you,” Riggs told me. “I don’t care who you are, how long you’ve played the game, or how successful you’ve been – I mean, Andrew McCutchen comes to mind here – players just get in these funks. If you look at the numbers across the board, there are a lot of big name guys who simply haven’t started well. I think Kevin will finish strong, but he is pressing a little bit trying to get those numbers up. When you start chasing after hits and doing that, that’s when the numbers start going south.”
Riggs did note that, although there are barely any flaws in Newman’s swing, he may be getting started a little too late. The late swing may have been a cause for Newman’s increased strikeout rate and decreased walk rate this year, but Riggs said that the two of them have looked at the issue and have been working on addressing it recently.
“Other than that, there’s nothing really mechanically; it’s more of a confidence issue,” Riggs said.
Looking at Newman’s spray chart, you see that he has been rolling over to the shortstop or flying out to right field at a much higher rate than in prior professional years. Last year, you see a lot of hits spread more evenly throughout the field.
Digging deeper, though, Newman actually has a 24% line drive rate so far this season compared to only an 18% line drive rate in Altoona last year. That, combined with a .252 BABIP through the end of May – including a .192 BABIP in the actual month of May – shows that Newman may very well turn the corner on his season quickly.
“You learn to trust your ability,” Newman said. “It’s good to get a struggle like this out of the way, because it will happen eventually. There are a select amount of people that will never have a slump like this in their career. Good for those people… they’re freaks. For the most part, everyone is going to go through something like that. How you get through it and how you continue to work is going to pay dividends down the road.”
The script is already beginning to be flipped through his first four games in June, as he has eight hits, three of those doubles. From a low point of .225, his batting average jumped 20 points in just a few days to .245, before dropping down to .240 after an 0-for-4 on Tuesday. Newman said that he will continue with his same routine, prepare as he always has, and “continue to do what he’s done that has gotten him this far already”. He also said that he will continue to focus on the good swings, swinging at pitches in the zone, and hitting the ball hard.
“After I swing and make contact, I can’t do anything about it,” he said. “Sure, it stinks when you line out a good amount of times, but it’s a part of the game. It’s going to turn around. I know it will.”
With Newman hopefully seeing a light at the end of the tunnel to this slump, his hitting coach gave a nice summary on what he may have been going through and what is to come for the talented first round draft pick.
“This level is so important to go through for these growing pains,” Riggs said. “That’s all a part of this. He’ll be better for it coming out of here, but right now, he’s not seeing that right away. Early on, I think his thought process was probably getting here, getting off to a good start, having some talk, and getting him out of here. When that starts consuming your thoughts, whether from outside influences or yourself individually, it can be stressful. I’ve been through this at this level for a number of years with a number of really good players doing the exact same thing as Kevin right now. They are All-Stars in the big leagues now. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. He’s just got to be where his feet are at and take care of his business here first.”
For Newman, his job is to now forget about May and focus on the future. Don’t worry, Pirates fans; you still have one heck of a future MLB shortstop here. Don’t give up on him just yet.
