Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Jean Segura has come out of nowhere to lead the National League in hits this season. How the heck did that happen?
The story of Jean Segura is an interesting one. The Dominican native signed as an international free agent in 2007 with the Los Angeles Angels at 17 years old. He was one of the top prospects shipped to Milwaukee in return for Zack Greinke right before the 2012 trade deadline, and looked poised to play a big role in the Brewers’ future.
After playing a modest 44 games at the end of the 2012 season, Segura finally broke through as an everyday player in 2013. He hit .325/.363/.487 in the first half and earned a spot on the NL All-Star Team. Following the break, however, Segura began to fall back to Earth. He posted a disappointing .583 OPS the rest of the season, only hitting one home run.
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Since that season, Segura had been a below average starter. In the two years following that All-Star campaign, the Brewers’ shortstop hit .252/.285/.331 with only 11 home runs after hitting 12 in 2013 alone. The Milwaukee organization finally grew tired of waiting to see if he could resurrect his former self, trading him to the Diamondbacks over the offseason for a package that included fellow middle infielder Aaron Hill.
Coming into Arizona’s Spring Training camp, Segura decided to tweak his batting stance. By lowering his hands, he hoped to rely less on his body in his swing and get to the ball quicker.
"“Now with my hands lower, I don’t have to go down and then go up to hit the ball. I go directly to the ball,” Segura said. “I do everything in one motion instead of doing it three times. When I attacked the ball with my hands up, I had to go down, go up again and swing.” (h/t Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports)"
With only a week to go in the regular season, it’s safe to say that the adjustment has had some positive results. Segura has posted .864 OPS while hitting 20 home runs and leading the NL with 200 hits. While quite a few of the Diamondbacks’ offseason moves didn’t pan out this season—looking at you, Shelby Miller—acquiring Segura has been their winning lottery ticket.
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The biggest question that remains, is will he be the same player next season? His .350 BABIP is ridiculously unsustainable, and half of his games are played within the hitter-friendly confines of Chase Field. While he may be a better hitter than he was before—his 29.4% hard contact percentage is the highest rate of his career—some regression is to be expected.