Zack Cozart did more with less in 2017

How the Angels new third baseman became an All-Star

Los Angeles Angels infielder Zack Cozart

Zack Cozart entered the 2017 season as the owner of a .674 career OPS. He enters the 2018 season with a freshly signed three-year, $38 million contract in hand.

How did Cozart, long dismissed as merely a gloveman, transform himself from an afterthought into All-Star quality slugger over the course of one summer?

To put it simply, Cozart did more with less.

Since making his big league debut in 2011, the longtime Reds shortstop had clearly developed a tendency as a fastball hitter, punishing four-seamers to the tune of a lifetime 124 wRC+ while posting a 112 wRC+ figure against sinkers.

In stark contrast, Cozart has looked like Kyle Schwarber chasing a flyball against off-speed pitches, as his 56 wRC+ against sliders and 60 wRC+ against changeups are both well-below league average and his 88 wRC+ versus curves isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire either.

Now to be fair, Cozart is hardly alone in this struggle, as trouble with off-speed pitching has derailed plenty of once promising major league careers (hello Brandon Wood); however, the manner in which Cozart countered this issue last season stood out.

As part of what appeared to be a concentrated effort to feature a more patient approach at the plate, Cozart cut his overall swing rate from 47% to 41%. That includes 6.5% decrease from his swing rate on pitches in the strike zone and a 4.8% decrease on pitches out of the zone.

While it is easy to look at those numbers, along with an increased walk rate (raising from 7.3% to 12.2% last season), and conclude that there was a shift in Cozart’s approach, it is more difficult to determine how exactly he managed to implement such a change at the plate and predict whether or not he will be able to carry those improvements into the 2018 campaign.

Digging deeper into the numbers, we find that despite having his breakout season at the plate, Cozart was still the same fastball hunter that he always has been, offering at roughly the same amount of four-seam fastballs (48% in 2016, 44.8% in 2017) and sinkers (45.4% in 2016, 42.3% in 2017) as he had in previous seasons.

Where Cozart made his most impressive changes was against the off-speed pitching that had always hindered his progression as a hitter.

Against sliders, Cozart cut his overall swing rate from 47.4% down to 33.9% and against curves he trimmed down from 39.6% to 30.1%. He also managed to drop his in-zone swing rate against changeups from 79.3 to 64.5%.

Being the fastball hitter that he is, Cozart still did the majority of his damage against those pitches, however, the quality of that contact rose from his typical numbers all the way up to a Ruthian 204 wRC+ against sinkers and a 161 wRC+ when facing fourseamers.

With his newly developed selective approach, Cozart also improved to around league average against changeups (107 wRC+), curves (102 wRC+), and sliders (99 wRC+).

Cozart did more damage than ever before, while swinging at fewer pitches.

The combined result of this approach was a career year in which Cozart posted new personal bests with his .385 OBP, .251 ISO, and 141 wRC+.

Along with his consistent infield defense, Cozart elevated his value and posted 5.0 fWAR while making his first career All-Star game.

Looking ahead to the 2018 season, Cozart will face an entirely new challenge as he enters the American League for the first time with the Angels. Early projections call for regression to previous levels of offensive production, as Steamer expects him to slash .254/.322/.417 with a decreased walk rate (8.5%) and merely a league average 100 wRC+.

Yet, knowing that Cozart made such specific and targeted changes to his approach during his walk year in Cincinnati and has begun to focus on the pitches that he does the most damage against, it would not be a surprise to see the now 32-year-old infielder continue to defy expectations and continue to hit at an All-Star level in Los Angeles as the new-look Angels aspire to break into the postseason for the first time since 2014.