Soon after the trade, analysts from Braves baseball operations presented video to hitting coach Kevin Seitzer that showed what Robbie Grossman was doing differently from past seasons when he’d thrived against righties. The outlook started to change.

[The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/3523493/2022/08/20/braves-surging-robbie-grossman-marcell-ozuna/?source=emp_shared_article) – Sorry long article, but thought it was interesting as it shows something that Tigers Baseball Ops and hitting coaches had missed all year, that the Braves figured out in days

> ATLANTA — When they got outfielder Robbie Grossman from Detroit in a trade-deadline swap for minor-leaguer Kris Anglin, the Braves were thinking strictly platoon with Grossman, a switch hitter who had struggled mightily this season against right-handers.

> Soon after the trade, however, analysts from Braves baseball operations presented video to hitting coach Kevin Seitzer that showed what Grossman was doing differently from past seasons when he’d thrived against righties. The outlook started to change.

> If Grossman saw the same things they were seeing and was willing to work right away on adjustments, Seitzer and the Braves analytics experts thought he might be more than a right-handed hitting platoon player to share left-field duties with Eddie Rosario, as originally planned.

> To say that it’s worked as hoped would be an understatement. Grossman hit .205 with a .595 OPS and two home runs and 90 strikeouts in 273 at-bats with Detroit, including .143 (28-for-196) with one homer left-handed. But in 11 games with the Braves before Friday, he hit .286 (8-for-28) with two homers and a .965 OPS, including 6-for-18 from the left side.

> Before going hitless in Friday’s 6-2 win against the Astros, Grossman had two doubles and two homers in 18 at-bats against righties, after totaling just six extra-base hits with 69 strikeouts in 196 ABs against righties for Detroit. He had home runs in consecutive games against the Mets this week.

> “Our (analytics) guys upstairs have this program that they can break down with stick figures and measurements and movements of every part of his body through his load and his swing, from year to year,” Seitzer said of Grossman’s swing adjustments. “And so we did a comparison and had a meeting right away with him because he’d been scuffling with his left-hand swing all year.

> “We showed him some stuff and got the ball rolling, and then along the way trying to get some tension out of his upper body.”

> Grossman, 32, hit .253 with a .759 OPS in 2,655 plate appearances during the 2016-2021 seasons with Minnesota, Oakland and Detroit, including .279 with an .819 OPS in 731 PAs against right-handers. He had 23 homers in 531 at-bats against righties during the 2020-2021 seasons.

> That’s why his struggles against righties this season had been so frustrating.

> “What I’d been searching for all year, to re-create what I’ve done the last couple of years — I’ve been able to do in these last (two weeks),” he said. “So, I’m excited. I just feel lucky that I’m over here and they’re giving an opportunity and showed me some things that are helping me out.

> “It was just some things with my (bat) path and my hands. Things I’ve been trying to search for all year, and it’s kind of clicked for me. A light bulb went on in my head, and I feel lucky that I got the help that I did here.”

> Grossman had been so bad from the left side this season with Detroit that the Braves said when they got him that he would be a platoon player. Even as he was bottoming out against righties with Detroit, he had feasted on lefties, batting .364 with a .998 OPS in 77 at-bats before the trade.

> But the Braves’ plan changed after Grossman watched the videos comparing his swings from past years to this season. He listened to suggestions from Seitzer and was able to quickly make the adjustments.

> “They found something in that left-hand swing, and it’s been really good,” Snitker said. “This is good that our analytics identifies it, and Seitz is really good about being able to communicate that to the player. And then the guy’s got to buy in too, and (Grossman) did from the beginning. I guess when you present good information, it’s hard not to, and guys want to do good. Robbie, he was very open to everything they had, and he’s done pretty good with it.”

> Grossman’s left-handed homers in consecutive games against two of the Mets’ top relievers made it clear — he is a bona fide switch hitter again.

> “His right-hand swing is so much looser and free, he’s got more length in his swing,” Seitzer said. “And left-hand, it was like sawdust coming out — he was gripping it and ripping, and really quick inside, but it was too tight. And the way he was kicking up with his leg kick and the position he was landing in, it was tying him up, basically. So the adjustments he’s made have been stinking awesome. I mean, he said he feels like he used to, like the way he wants to.”

> Seitzer added that the data and video wouldn’t matter if the player wasn’t receptive.

> “He’s been awesome, man,” Seitzer said. “You know, you get new guys that come in and you want to get to know them. And I told him, the first day I said normally we’ll get to know you and feel you out a little bit. But I said, we’re trying to win another World Series and we ain’t got time to mess around. So we’re going to present some stuff to you, soak it up, tell us what you like, what you don’t like, and that’s how the whole process started.

> “He was just all-in from the beginning. So he’s had some things that he’s come back and said, ‘I used to do this, what do you think about that, would this help?’ And we’re like, yeah, let’s try it. Like releasing with his top hand — he hadn’t done it in the game, but he started a few days ago. He said he used to release with his top hand, and that helped him keep tension out, give him more length in his swing. So he’s able to stay on pitches out over the plate better.”