Taking a swing with Andy Barkett
With a new minor league hitting coordinator in place the White Sox farm system saw dramatic improvement in 2022.
Prior to the 2022 baseball season the Chicago White Sox made a personnel move that probably didn’t move the needle for all but the most ardent fans. However, the decision to bring minor league hitting coordinator Andy Barkett into the fold, may provide long lasting benefits.
Coach Barkett brings a wealth of experience and an impressive resume to the organization. His intangibles are likely to endear him with the hard-hat wearing, blue-collar, south side faithful.
First, his motor; Coach Barkett has always managed to do more with less. As a player he wasn’t signed as an early round bonus baby. Conversely, he found himself in the Texas Rangers organization as an unsigned free agent. Although Barkett displayed excellent hitting prowess, he plodded through the minors, taking each rung of the developmental ladder one season at a time. This character trait goes hand in hand with the next.
He perseveres. After posting five seasons of statistics that would, in many cases, elicit a big league call up, Barkett seemed to be on the brink of reaching the show. Instead, his “reward” was a pink slip and an unceremonious release from the Rangers. Rather than dwell on being served this proverbial lemon, Barkett quickly signed with the Atlanta Braves and went back to work. However, his Braves tenure was short. A second release found him landing with the Pittsburgh Pirates, his third organization in less than a year. Being undrafted and released twice as an aging ballplayer with no big-league experience could have meant his undoing. Instead, Barkett stayed committed to the grind. After nearly seven minor league seasons, he got the call that players dream about. On May 28, 2001, the 28-year-old rookie became the 17,883rd player in major league history.
Barkett epitomizes the definition of a grinder. In his 46 major league at-bats, he checked off a lot of bucket list boxes. First major league hit <check>, first major league home run <check>. The jaded may see his big league call up as nothing more than a cup of coffee. However, to the throngs of amateur players that fantasize about stepping into a major league batter’s box, his 46 at-bats were proof, that dreams can, and sometimes do, come true. With the Pirates, Barkett held his own while slashing .304/.372/.413 over 17 games. When the team sacked general manager Cam Bonifay, replacing him with Dave Littlefield it signaled the end of his playing days with the Bucs. After spending the next four seasons in the minors with three different organizations, Barkett retired. Upon completion of his playing career, the tale of the tape reveals:
· 11 seasons
· 5 different levels
· 5 organizations
· 1075 hits
It’s safe to say, Barkett’s nomadic baseball experience is unlikely to lead him down a path of functional fixedness.
With a passion for baseball still coursing through his veins, Barkett switched gears. He began blazing his career path toward coaching and managing. In nine seasons as a minor league skipper, he amassed a winning record with three different organizations and won a Southern League championship with the AA Jacksonville Suns. Additionally, he served as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Pirates before a big-league coaching opportunity materialized. In 2018, Barkett returned to the majors as the assistant hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox. With a 17-year gap between big-league assignments, he was back on top.
As the assistant hitting coach for the BoSox, his 2018 season reached the apex with a champagne shower and a World Series ring. However, the ecosystem of a major league organization is a delicate one. When the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs in 2019 the well-traveled Barkett once again fell victim to the politics of professional baseball. Although the Red Sox finished in the top five in nearly every offensive statistic, the organization made sweeping changes, including severing their ties with the coach. Since Barkett’s departure, the Red Sox have continued to perform offensively while failing to make the playoffs in two of the last three seasons. Taking a page from political strategist James Carville and applying baseball terminology to share with John Henry and the Red Sox brain trust, one can suggest, “It’s the economy (pitching) stupid.”
In history, setbacks often lead to breakthroughs. Barkett’s dismissal from the Red Sox was the divine intervention that led to a converging path between the coach and the pale hose. His experience with multiple organizations brings a fresh perspective for the beleaguered farm system which entered the 2022 season consistently ranked as one of the worst in baseball. The long-term viability of the talent pipeline is crucial to stoking the competitive coals. Gone are the days of Robert, Jimenez, Moncada, and Vaughn as the Sox player development staff works toward cultivating the next wave of reinforcements.
Upon his installation, Barkett’s ambitious goal was to help revitalize the hitting culture in the White Sox farm system. His program revolved around a combination of drill packages, movement goals, and game planning. During the off season, he opened the lines of communication with his cadre of hitting instructors and set the wheels in motion to implement it to the masses. He is quick to offer effusive praise for the coaches and clearly stands by the theory that it’s going to take a village to build an organizational hitting culture.
When discussing the hitting coaches Barkett is clearly a believer and states, “Any of our coaches could be in the big leagues at some point. The trust I have in these guys has never been better. Our coaches are great communicators, excellent tacticians, and technicians in the batting cage. I’m incredibly proud of their growth and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the future holds for all of them.” Kannapolis Cannonballers hitting coach Cam Seitzer appreciates this synergy and shared, “One thing for sure is that we work as a group. There is no one way to hit. We work together to develop players at each level. It’s great because we feel free to use each other as resources.”
The coaching staff includes:
· Dominican Summer League Gerardo Olivares
· Arizona Complex League Devin DeYoung
· Low-A Kannapolis Cam Seitzer
· High-A Winston-Salem Nicky Delmonico
· AA Birmingham Charlie Romero
· AAA Charlotte Chris Johnson
When it comes to hitting, Barkett considers himself to be somewhat of a Ted Williams disciple. In particular, he’s a firm believer in Williams’ methodology which advocates using the ground in the swing. He explains this concept as one he sees as crucial for successful hitting. Barkett defines a hitter’s engine as his back hip and back glute while explaining, “You have to get into your engine to hit major league pitching, load correctly, turn correctly (hip under the spine not around it) and move efficiently.” In Barkett’s church of hitting, swing path, rhythm, and timing are commandments. After which game planning and hunting pitches come into play.
The instructors have expanded on the use of force plates to ensure that hitters are using the ground effectively. Coach Barkett explains that these plates measure the pressure that a hitter uses in his feet as he applies them to the ground. As a hitter loads, he will apply pressure to the ground with his back foot. As he strides to create separation, his front foot needs to land on time and transfer pressure into the ground. He describes these actions as “keeping connected to the ground.” The force plate measurements help instructors identify areas in need of improvement. The Sox hitting coaches then add specific drills to improve a player’s movement or dig deeper to diagnose if conditioning, strength, flexibility, etc. are the root cause of the issue.
Additionally, the Sox organization has incorporated some amazing technology into their program by adopting the widespread use of iPitch machines. Barkett explains that the machines were on back order last year, so Charlotte was the first team to incorporate their use in 2021. The other affiliates came online by midseason this year. This sounds like an absolute game changer as Barkett explains, “The iPitch machine can do anything it wants, it can duplicate a specific pitcher’s spin rates, velo, his sequences and release point. You can change speeds in seconds and if it misses, the margin of error is only a few inches.” The coach also said the iPitch can be programmed for just velo or just spin when a hitter wants to focus their cage session. He feels that next year the organization’s pitch recognition will be enhanced by the continued use of this technology. Birmingham Barons first-baseman Tyler Osik shares, “I love hitting the iPitch. It’s great to be able to simulate certain pitches even down to the guy you are going to face that night.” While Seitzer adds, “The iPitch is pretty great. It allows us to challenge hitters with game like sequences and also allows us to implement the pitch action for the arm we face that night. A lot of our guys used it prior to the game. It was great because it was like they already had a few at-bats before their first in-game plate appearance.”
Osik was one of several Sox hitters to experience a breakout in 2022 and felt there was a different tenor in the air. The South Atlantic League batting champ stated, “It was awesome to see the buy-in from everybody within the organization from spring training, throughout the season, into hitting the iPitch machines. AB recommended specific drills that helped make it a successful year for a lot of our hitters!” This isn’t just Osik sticking to the company line. His sentiments are validated by statistics.
Five of the six White Sox affiliates saw a year over year increase in their batting average with Winston as the outlier. However, this stands to reason as much of their hitting talent saw promotions to take part in Project Birmingham. The same trend appeared in on base percentage which saw five of six affiliates improve in 2022 while four of the six teams improved on a per game basis in home runs and runs scored.
There were hitters at every level that took significant strides in 2022. The organization saw notable offensive performances, many of which could be deemed breakouts from the likes of Colson Montgomery, DJ Gladney, Wilfred Veras, Bryan Ramos, Luis Mieses, Duke Ellis, Oscar Colas, Jose Rodriguez, Lenyn Sosa, and Carlos Perez. Further, there were only 33 qualified minor league players that hit more than 20 home runs while striking out less than 100 times, four of them were White Sox: Sosa, Perez, Ramos, and Mark Payton.
Coach Barkett feels that he and his hitting instructors are creating a culture of success by giving the players support. The coach says, “Part of being a hitting coach is being a part-time psychologist, we believe in them. We aren’t discouraged by short-term results; it might take 1000 at-bats before you know what a guy is going to become. We keep teaching and keep encouraging, but the best teacher is the game and repetitions. As a staff we will provide every resource to make them better, at the end of the day hitters need to make the adjustments necessary to improve.”
When discussing the rule changes in store for major league baseball in 2023 coach Barkett sounds as if he thinks people are overreacting and states, “They are still going to shift, just not as extreme, I don’t think it will affect the game that much.” As for pitch clocks? “I hated the clock at the beginning of the season but came around on it. It keeps the hitters and pitchers engaged… let’s play the game. It wasn’t an issue after a while.” When asked if he sees these rules ushering in a new era of small ball he answers, “I think it’s unlikely that we see a change in strategy. The PHDs of baseball want run producers and guys who hit the ball over people’s heads.”
The past season saw many fans take to social media to rail against Sox hitters for their aggressiveness and perceived lack of selectivity, but the coach thinks the complexion of the hitter versus pitcher battle has changed. He shared, “It’s ok to fire early in the count. The way they are coaching in the big leagues, it’s a fight to strike one. In the minor leagues a lot of teams want their pitchers to get strike one and run to the edge, get you to chase. Getting into counts and working at bats is kind of the last piece of the puzzle, it’s an experience thing, we want our guys to get something good to hit and go after it. You can’t walk your way to the big leagues.”
With the 2022 minor league season in the books and the widespread improvement in the hitting program, fans should be excited about the development of our future White Sox. The system which bottomed out in 2021 has reversed course and is clearly on the rise.