CHICAGO \u2014 Back in Zach Neto\u2019s second plate appearance of spring training, he worked the count full against Dodgers minor leaguer Antonio Knowles.<\/p>\n
And then he swung at a slider in the dirt.<\/p>\n
Ever since then, hitting coaches Brady Anderson and John Mabry have been hammering Neto with a message.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gotta get your pitch,\u201d Neto said, quoting his coaches. \u201cYou can\u2019t be going out there chasing. You\u2019re too good of a player to be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The message might not have fully taken hold through the rest of spring training \u2013 Neto still walked just five times in 53 Cactus League plate appearances \u2013 but ever since the regular season started, it\u2019s been working.<\/p>\n
Neto drew five walks in his first 20 plate appearances of the season in the four games in Houston. Last year he only drew 33 walks all season.<\/p>\n
The official metrics tracked by Major League Baseball record pitches in the \u201cchase\u201d zone. They are pitches just far enough out of the zone to be clear balls, but close enough to induce occasional swings. Neto swung at 25% of pitches in the chase zone last year. So far this season, it\u2019s only been 12%.<\/a><\/p>\n The caveat to all of this is that the sample size is much too small to indicate if Neto has made a sustainable change or if he just had a good weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cThe past couple years I\u2019ve been super aggressive, especially on 3-2 [counts],\u00a0 just trying to do too much maybe and swinging at pitches that the pitcher wants me to swing at,\u201d Neto said. \u201cI think the league has noticed that I\u2019m a very aggressive hitter. It\u2019s just a matter of slowing everything down and taking my pitches when I need to. The game will reward you, like how it did yesterday for me.\u201d<\/p>\n On Sunday, Neto walked in his first two plate appearances. The third time up, he got a 3-and-2 hanging slider and he hit his second home run of the season. He then drew his third walk.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that was the first time since college I had three walks in a game,\u201d Neto said.<\/p>\n Thanks to his five walks, Neto has reached base in eight of his first 20 plate appearances. The three hits include two homers and a double. While a .400 on-base percentage is probably not sustainable, there\u2019s plenty of room for improvement on last year\u2019s .319 mark.<\/p>\n \u201cWith anybody, but especially Zach with that skill set, if you get in the zone and get disciplined, you never know what could be,\u201d Manager Kurt Suzuki said. \u201cI think it\u2019s an exciting thing to think about. It\u2019s exciting for him too, which is why he\u2019s really working on it and honing in on it.\u201d<\/p>\n The entire roster did a much better job with swing decisions in the first four games than last year. The Angels lead the majors with 28 walks and they rank third with a .386 on-base percentage. Last year, they ranked 28th with a .298 on-base percentage.<\/p>\n ABS TALK<\/p>\n A day after the Angels\u2019 game turned, in part because of catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe\u2019s decision not to challenge a key pitch<\/a>, Suzuki said they are still feeling out how to best use the ABS.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re having talks every day,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s in an individual setting or a group or mini-group setting, we\u2019re constantly discussing what\u2019s a good situation, what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n