![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271377407-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCHICAGO \u2014 Alex Bregman is most frequently seen, by media at least, hustling somewhere with his bat. Whether it\u2019s heading to the cages or batting practice, it seems like Bregman is always on the move and always looking to work.<\/p>\n
That may be how he\u2019s built. Perhaps that is how he always goes about business. But early this season, Bregman is focused on fixing something very specific. After a 1-for-3 performance in Sunday\u2019s thrilling 2-1 walkoff victory over the New York Mets \u2014 his lone hit was an infield single \u2014 Bregman\u2019s .233\/.309\/.314 line is certainly not what anyone expected of him.<\/p>\n
The team is performing well. In fact, the offense as a whole is, too. So Bregman has some breathing room and time to get right. But it\u2019s been a bit of a slog.<\/p>\n
A lot of what Bregman is currently doing at the plate normally leads to success. He\u2019s not chasing or swinging and missing, both at an elite rate. He\u2019s squaring the ball up frequently, and his hard-hit rate is the highest it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
Still, the results just aren\u2019t coming. It\u2019s not hard to find the culprit. Bregman\u2019s groundball rate of 47.8 percent is nearly a dozen points higher than his career average.<\/p>\n
One can hardly get the question out before Bregman chimes in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWay too high,\u201d Bregman said when his groundball rate was brought up. \u201cGet the ball off the ground! Disconnected, bats being left behind me, contact point is deep. When I\u2019m good, I get the ball out front. It\u2019s poor mechanics right now that I\u2019m working through. But I\u2019m going to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody around him doubts that. Manager Craig Counsell seems unbothered by the lack of results. After some solid results from Bregman during a recent game, Counsell made it seem like those hits were just inevitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no question it was coming,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cBregman needed it, but it was coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even in that game, a three-hit night nearly two weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Rays, Bregman felt he was leaving extra bases on the table. He missed a sinker he thought he should have sent over the fence and, in general, didn\u2019t think he was making the type of contact he could.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take it one at-bat at a time,\u201d Bregman said at the time. \u201cTry to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard. I feel like there\u2019s stuff that I still need to clean up. I\u2019ve been hitting the ball hard, but I feel like the bat path can be improved a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hitting coach Dustin Kelly explained that what Bregman refers to as \u201cbat path\u201d isn\u2019t what most observers are thinking about. For him, it\u2019s not about his swing arc, but rather where he\u2019s launching from and the direction his hands are going.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of this is he feels like his hands are getting pretty far away from his body and working uphill,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWhen he\u2019s at his best, hands stay tighter to his body and it\u2019s a direct, straight path inside the ball. He wants to feel like he\u2019s throwing a jab, not an uppercut.\u201d<\/p>\n
And what has that done?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pushed the contact point back a little bit,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cHe\u2019s not getting to the balls where he wants to. It\u2019s gotten better. We\u2019re tightening up. Trying to keep the hands a little higher, but it\u2019s in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Alex Bregman\u2019s whiff rate is only 16.6 percent, but he has only five runs and two homers on the season. (Emilee Chinn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
When Bregman isn\u2019t catching the ball out front and the contact point is deeper, that\u2019s going to lead to an elevated groundball rate. So Bregman continues to work. In the cage, Kelly will set up the pitching machine so it\u2019s almost directing balls at his back hip. This forces Bregman to be direct with his hands and catch the ball out front.<\/p>\n
Kelly also pointed out that Bregman\u2019s work is not the norm for hitters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s different from a lot of guys,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t necessarily care if it feels bad, it needs to look right. Other guys won\u2019t care what it looks like as long as it\u2019s feeling good. He\u2019s on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bregman is more of a visual learner in this way. He says he\u2019d rather be told or see what he\u2019s doing wrong rather than have it feel right. Because with enough work, he can get what doesn\u2019t feel right to feel more natural.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to feel bad when I make the change to hit a certain way,\u201d Bregman said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to feel off. But I\u2019m going to try and make the \u2018off feel\u2019 feel right. Then build off that, and then get the feel. What I\u2019m doing right now is off. I want to know what I\u2019m doing wrong, then get a cue that will put me in the right spot even if it feels bad, then make that \u2018feel bad\u2019 feel good by doing it over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bregman still isn\u2019t where he wants to be. He\u2019s not as productive as he expects to be. But he\u2019s identified the problem and is doing what he needs to find the mechanics that lead to success.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust work at it,\u201d Bregman said. \u201cIt\u2019s programmed in right now. I gotta reprogram something else in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Alex Bregman is most frequently seen, by media at least, hustling somewhere with his bat. Whether…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,24,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-679768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116437295845377131","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}