Tampa Bay Rays Jake Bauers working through growing pains

Every player at the major league level has a point in time, usually at the beginning of their career, where they face adversity. Tampa Bay Rays rookie Jake Bauers is there right now.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been waiting for Jake Bauers for some time now. A top 100 prospect, he made his presence felt during Spring Training in 2017, his penchant for hitting home runs leading to his almost forcing his way onto the roster. It may have been a year and a half later, but Bauers finally made that debut with the Rays as the team began their youth movement.

The first 35 games of Bauers’ time in the majors we about as strong as one could have hoped for. He produced a solid .264/.383/.520 batting line, hitting five homers and 13 doubles. Bauers even stole two bases, Even better for the Rays, he showed his defensive flexibility, spending time at first, left, and right.

Since then, Bauers has struggled. Heading into Tuesday’s slate of action, he had posted a .133/.256/.245 batting line, hitting four homers and four doubles. He has stolen two bases, but has also been caught four times. Bauers is still showing an ability to draw a walk, with 24 walks in 174 plate appearances, but he has also struck out 55 times.

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In looking at Bauers’ hitter card at the excellent PitchF/X site, there is a discernible trend. While pitchers have been going away from offspeed pitches, they have been increasing their fastball and breaking ball frequency against the Rays youngster. The opposition is changing Bauers’ eye level, and that strategy is working.

It is easy to see why that would be the case. While Bauers is putting 16.51% of all changeups into play, he is not having that same success against fastballs and breaking pitches. Meanwhile, against fourseam fastballs, that number drops to 13.00%. Breaking pitches are even worse – with Bauers making contact on just 11.18% of curves and 10.59% of sliders he has faced.

Obviously, the league has made an adjustment to what they have seen from Bauers at the plate. While his patient approach has remained, pitchers have figured out how to attack him. Now, it is Bauers’ turn to adjust. The result of those adjustments will go a long way to determining his future.

Jake Bauers has three more weeks of action this season. Can the Tampa Bay Rays youngster turn his season around?