Orioles center fielder Adam Jones is slugging the hell out of the ball down in the Grapefruit League. As of Tuesday morning he’s hitting .390 (16-41) with a team leading three home runs and 11 RBI.
That’s .270 more than Ryan Braun is hitting this Spring. …just sayin’.
So what’s contributed to Jones’ success this Spring? Believe it or not, part of it could be the new piece of lumber he brings to the plate.
I stumbled across a post on a message board about a new bat that Jones has been using this Spring. The poster said that AJ has been swinging a new ash bat from Victus Sports that is more firm than what he has used in previous years. I reached out to the guys at Victus and they confirmed that this is indeed true.
Victus Sports is located in Blackwood, New Jersey, 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia. The members of our business are Gregg Balin, Ryan Engroff, Jared Smith and Allan Donato and they have been taking the Spring by storm. So far they have converted Mark Teixeira, Hunter Pence, Adam Jones, Eric Hosmer, Placido Polanco and others to their bats.
Jared Smith told me that Nick Markakis is currently swinging a lighter Endy Chavez model while he builds his strength back from Abdominal surgery.
How much can a bat improve a player’s game? I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Jones’ Spring success translates to the regular season.
He has to raise his numbers a bit to make him more attractive to other teams in two years,,,,,,,,,,he really wants to wear pin-stripes…………..he knows baseball is dead in Baltimore………….
Adam is simply looking for a competitive advantage that all players look for, either real or imagined. I doubt he’s thinking about “pinstripes” when he’s selecting his bat. His concentration is “in the moment” like so many other successful athletes. The O’s have some nice young talent ~ Jones will have his best season to date; Matusz will realize some of his potential; Wieters is coming into his own; Markakis is already an excellent player; and Jim Johnson will get it done at closer without being paid $10 mil a year. Be patient, this is chess not checkers.
Markakis is “excellent”?
Year after year people talk about Markakis as if he’s this cornerstone or “excellent” player.
He simply isn’t close to excellent. He’s ridiculously overpaid and his numbers have dropped year by year since his signed his 6 year deal.
Look MGW, if you had a one time chance to make $66 million, would you get some “help”, sign the contract, slack off and become Mario Mendoza again? See Bret Boone, Adrian Belre, Jay Gibbons, Miggy Tejada, David Segui, Brady Anderson, Ryan Braun…same scenario. Classic, classic case of getting “help”.
Now me, I am 6’6″ 295 pounds, 3% body fat, never had a need for “help”….signed The Intimidator Markakis
Markakis sure looks skinny.
Markakis power sure has declined.
Maybe Markakis had some “help” in securing his big contract a few years ago.
Help…? As in Ryan Braun, Sammy Sosa, Raffy Palmero, Roger Clemens help…say it ain’t so Baltimore fans. You noticed I left Bonds out. I don’t mess with guys with a head that size!
All these guys juiced up in the nineties and a bit beyond,,,,,,,,,some are sneaking back with designer HGH that goes undetected because the players union will not allow blood testing,,,,,,,,,,,,selig needs a pair…………
No testing for HGH in the NFL either. Look at the guns on some of the NFL guys…
I will create some controversy here,,,,,it’s almost ok in football because we want our players to be brutal at times,,,,,,,,,,but in baseball , the numbers are the game , it was built on statistics not wins and losses,,,,,,,,,,,steroids have bastardized these statistics and thus ruined the game for the purist among us…………
Beautiful coop, love the picture frame idea over the ventilation holes, might have try that out for size. Thanks for sharing!