Have seen that a few times about minor league players. Seems to be a negative about players who have Swing and miss issues.
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Here is an example by fangraphs prospect Analyst longenhagen
"Ryon Healy has a .238/.265/.413 slash line in the bigs so far. That’s probably what I should expect from him going forward, yeah? Some pop but no discipline and not great contact skills?
| 1:43 | : Maybe not that exact line, but yes the overall tool distribution you describe is what I expect. Healy’s swing is grooved, not a lot of bat control. Big league arms will pick up on that. |
I think scouts use "bat control" to assess a players ability to square up balls anywhere in the strike zone (and possibly outside the zone). So a grooved swing would be the inability to get the barrel to the ball outside of his "groove" or limited swing path. Just guessing.
So basically it means you Can only hit Fat pitches down the pipe and not Well placed pitches?
Dominik85 posted:So basically it means you Can only hit Fat pitches down the pipe and not Well placed pitches?
In essence yes, IMO it means that your bat path doesn't change despite the placement of the pitch.
I've heard the phrase used in a couple different contexts...
One is consistent mechanics and barreling the ball consistently. The other is a tendency to take the same swing on a similar path regardless of pitch location and type, thus not getting the barrel to the ball consistently. So, same phrase used with almost opposite results, one a very good thing and the other very bad, depending on intention of use.