NORTH PORT, FLA. – Ryan Jeffers didn’t produce a hit in his four plate appearances during Sunday’s spring training game, but Rocco Baldelli spoke at length about what he described as under-the-radar highlights.
With Royce Lewis on second base in the second inning, Jeffers had a 10-pitch at-bat against Tampa Bay Rays righthander Shane Baz where he fouled seven pitches before flying out to right field to advance Lewis a base.
Jeffers followed his lengthy at-bat with a sacrifice fly, a hit by pitch and a strikeout in another 10-pitch at-bat, which was a called third strike on a pitch below the strike zone.
“All of that is exactly the kind of stuff we’ve been talking about,” said Baldelli, referencing the way Jeffers fought against tough pitches with two strikes and hit line drives to the opposite field. “Those types of at-bats lead to really positive things. That’s what you want to see from guys at this point in the year.”
In some ways, Sunday’s game encapsulated Jeffers’ 2024 season. He took a step back statistically from a breakout 2023 season as his batting average fell by 40 points and his OPS dropped from .858 to .732.
But Jeffers felt he was as good in the batter’s box last year as he was two years ago.
“A lot of what I was missing last year were some of those line drives I’d hit that would fall,” said Jeffers, who had a .238 batting average on balls in play last year, 42 points below his career average and a 121-point drop from the previous season. “That was a big difference in ‘23 and ‘24. But there were some other areas that can jump out and do better. We’re attacking those. Hopefully, the luck swings a little bit more back my way this year.”
Jeffers didn’t hit the ball consistently as hard last season as he did in 2023, but he significantly reduced his strikeout rate.
