By: Ben Leonard

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Brandon Crawford has been a solid, if somewhat frustrating player throughout his career. His glove at shortstop is stellar, but he fails to make the routine play at times. He made 21 errors in 2014, despite flashes of brilliance that would make even Andrelton Simmons jealous.

Crawford showcased his top-tier footwork, arm, and hands on that play. He clearly has the tools to become the best shortstop in the league, but can he mature at the dish and on the field?

Consistently Improving

Crawford has improved offensively each season since his debut in 2011. Crawford is a proven grinder, always working to hone his skills. Expectations were relatively high for Crawford when the Giants drafted him in the fourth round for his slick fielding, but were tempered because of doubts over his hitting ability.

Year wRC+ 2011 68 2012 81 2013 92 2014 102

The humble Crawford quietly goes about his business, yet he receives almost zero accolades from Giants fans; as well as from his manager Bruce Bochy, who bats him eighth. Crawford’s attitude gives him a chance to improve every year, in that he never is satisfied with where he is as a player. Increasing confidence in his offensive game should make him a more focused defender in the long run. In other words, more frequently focusing on the play at hand and not a previous poor at-bat should eliminate some of the mental mistakes on routine plays that he has struggled with. Crawford’s attitude is reflected in his consistently improving performance, and should make him poised to finally break out offensively in his fourth full season.

Strong Finish

In addition to his upward trend over the years, Crawford finished the regular season trending upwards. His line drive rate rose significantly in the second half, up to 23.3% from 18.0% in the first half. However, he seemed to hit lots of “At ‘Em Balls,” or hitting the ball harder did not translate an increase in production.This was evident when his wRC+ dipped from 107 to 93. However, over time this poor luck should naturally regress to the mean.

Although those results have not manifested on the field, Crawford’s improvement in hitting fastballs has been remarkable. He was 13.8 runs above average against fastballs last season, way up from 2.2 runs above average in 2013 and 0.4 worse than the average in 2012. You must be able to hit the fastball consistently to be a great hitter in the MLB, and it appears that Crawford is a budding fastball masher. Good fastball hitters can take away a pitchers’ bread and butter, forcing more off-speed pitches early in the count. More off-speed pitches early in the count make for more hitters’ counts, and therefore more fastballs. Crawford had never been known as a good fastball hitter until last season, another reason to be cautiously optimistic about his chances next season.

Disciplined

Crawford was never Pablo Sandoval, but he was somewhat of a free-swinger early in his career. In addition to honing his skills against the fastball, Crawford has become a much more selective hitter. Crawford cut down his swing rate on pitches out of the zone from 34.2% to just 29.5% in two years, a marked improvement. For this reason, Crawford will be able to work more counts in his favor and get more fastballs to drive.

The above walk-off homer from early last season showcases the culmination of his hard work. He launched an inside fastball against the Rockies, yanking it deep down the line in right. Not only was he able to get around on an inside pitch, but a fastball, at that. Crawford’s quickening hands and sharpening discipline, products of his hard work, leave him set to blossom at the plate in 2015.

Stats and info courtesy of FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference

Cover Image: By SD Dirk on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “Brandon Crawford”) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons