Alex Anthopoulos talked to reporters about the demotion of Travis Snider and other little tidbits on the moves from yesterday. Some highlights:
- Travis is down to work to some issues with his swing. The team feels he is 'opening up too much' and is almost starting to run to first before finishing his swing. He has to stay more closed. They feel he is strong enough to hit the ball hard the way he is doing things but would be more consistent if he fixes it. He has been improving in the last week, but quickly enough.
- They feel he could fix things in Toronto but will do it quicker in Vegas, things don't 'move as fast'.
- That he went through the minors very fast and didn't get many minor league at bats, that his swing isn't isn't so natural that he doesn't have to think about it yet.
- That he will be a great player, that this is 'a bump in the road'.
- That he is a great person and Alex feels he will be a role model to younger players in the future and that he works very hard.
- Travis isn't 'frustrated', that he is confident and that his approach at the plate is good.
- There is no time line on bringing him back, when he is hitting the ball hard he will be back, numbers don't matter.
- He took the news of the demotion well.
- On David Cooper: Cooper looked at video from his college days half way through last season and made changes to his swing based on that. They like his approach at the plate and that he is taking walks.
- Eric Thames is striking out too much and not taking enough walks. They want him to improve his approach.
- Brett Lawrie, they feel, has to improve his approach to at bats as well. They figure he is so confident he doesn't look for a pitch, just figures he can hit whatever the pitchers throws. That works in the minors, they don't think it will work in the majors. His strikeout to walk rate isn't what they would like.
- On Jo-Jo Reyes: They are still working with him. They feel he has had a couple of good starts and he was only one good pitch away from going deeper into game the last game.
So that is, more or less, the explanation. I'd still rather they keep him into Toronto. I'm not sure that this is a strong vote of confidence in the hitting coaching in Toronto but perhaps they feel that he is getting too many different voices talking in his ear in Toronto and that in Vegas he can just hear from one person with a consistent voice.