Brooks Benson: Offseason Adjustments

There comes a time after the season where it’s time to look back on how the season went and what adjustments need to be made. My first season in pro ball wasn’t too bad.  .900+ OPS with 16 homers and 40+ RBI’s in 44 games.  I missed the first 11 games as I didn't get picked up right away.  I also missed 5 games after getting hit in the face with a fastball.  I did strike out more than I should have.  I ended up going to Driveline Baseball at the end of the season to get my end of season assessment and make a plan for the offseason.  Basically what we decided was that I needed to become a better overall hitter. it sounds pretty basic but I struggled at being a good overall hitter.  I was very one dimensional and I realized that if I wanted to keep moving up leagues then I am going to have to constantly find barrels.

Consistently finding barrels is what makes a good hitter.  All the guys in the big leagues are there for a reason. BECAUSE THEY FIND BARRELS.  So that was priority number one for the offseason and that started with cleaning up my barrel path and not dumping the barrel behind my body when I swing.  It was a bad habit I got into and I've had a difficult time getting out of it. The two trainers I worked with the most, Tanner Stokey and Collin Hetzler, had me doing different types of drills and different types of movements to help clean up my bat path.  Lots of top hand drills, hitting plyo drills, hitting the high pitch at a low launch angle drills, and adjustability drills as well.  I did these drills while using different types of bats such as the long bat, short bat, overload/underload bats, and hand eye trainer bat.  These helped me throughout the offseason to become a better overall hitter.  

With Covid, it was tough to really get going this season.  I ended up landing in the Washington Wild Things four team league with the Road Warrior Black Sox.  We got about a month and a half games in before things were shut down.  I didn't get off to the best start so I didn't end up getting much playing time after that.  It was a very frustrating season personally but it was awesome to see the Black Sox kick the Wild Things ass during the season.  This past week (End of August 2020) I’ve been at Driveline Baseball again coming up with an offseason plan.  I went back to dumping the barrel during the season so it’s pretty much back to the basics again to get it right and locked into my brain.  We have come up with a very precise plan to never take any more reps off.  It’s exciting because of how disciplined I am going to have to be with everything.  Lots more adjustments need to be made.  It’s about to get fun and I can't wait to share an update later on in the offseason.  Big thank you to Zane for letting me write for Headcase Baseball!!