Paul White

USA TODAY Sports

LAKE ELSINORE, CALIF. -- In the unforgiving heat of another afternoon in the California League, Carlos Correa's cleats scrape the concrete floor on a dark passageway beneath the stands, this day's stop on his journey to the major leagues, a destination still three levels away.

"Hitting is the toughest thing to do in baseball," says Correa, who as a 19-year-old shortstop - the youngest hitter in the league – is contradicting his assessment with a .320 batting average and 48 RBI, and who later this day would hit a 449-foot home run.

"That's what you want to learn about if you're going to play at the next level."

George Springer is where Correa wants to be - Houston. He has preceded Correa through the Houston Astros system, creating instant excitement for a franchise that's had baseball's worst record three years running.

"I'm the light at the end of the tunnel," says Springer, one of the first products of an approach to hitting – and teaching it – the Astros see as a core element to revitalizing the franchise.

Springer was drafted in 2011 under a previous regime, but developed under current general manager Jeff Luhnow, who tabbed Correa with his first selection as GM.

Together, they represent a tangible and hoped-for payoff for an organization bent on a more scientific approach to producing hitters - ones who can flourish in a game where offensive success is increasingly a challenge.

Tuesday, first baseman Jon Singleton joined Springer in Houston and made his major league debut, a reward for agreeing to a contract guaranteeing him $10 million.

Springer already seems primed for stardom: He recently became the first rookie in 77 years to hit seven homers in seven games as the Astros won seven in a row.

Correa, baseball's best shortstop prospect, could be next. For now, he joins his Lancaster JetHawks teammates on the youngest (and division leading) team in the Class A California League, putting in their pre-game work on a 94-degree afternoon with a breeze that has all the effect of a lit fireplace.

The minor leagues are the Astros' laboratory, as they take a sometimes innovative approach to basics.

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Building plate discipline

"In baseball, there is a trend toward evaluating plate discipline," says Jeff Albert, the Astros minor league hitting coordinator who oversees a program that combines reams of data on their players with practical application on the field.

"We say it's important," Albert says. "We're actually backing that up."

In the Astros' own way: Albert insists this is not a walk-happy approach that boosts on-base percentages and at the same time inhibits some hitters' best qualities.

Albert recalls long-time major leaguer Torii Hunter summing it up: "Swing at strikes; take balls."

No revelation there.

Where the Astros take a step forward from the crowd is in their staunch belief plate discipline can be taught.

"Selectively aggressive," barks out hitting coach Darryl Robinson to a JetHawks group that features 20-year-old third baseman Rio Ruiz batting cleanup behind Correa and 22-year-old leadoff man Tony Kemp, who has more walks than strikeouts and a .425 on-base percentage.

"We're not looking for walks," Robinson says. "We're looking to do damage. Now, the walk is a by-product of getting a good pitch to hit. We know if we can put a ball in play or not. We know if we can put a good swing on a pitch and hit it hard."

He must be right. His 2013 JetHawks – most of them now at Class AA - led all the minor leagues in runs, walks, on-base percentage and OPS.

Lancaster is just one stop in a coordinated approach from Houston all the way to the club's Dominican academy. And they're not feasting on younger prospects: The Astros' top three farm teams each have hitters with the lowest average age in their league.

"We want to develop players the way that they're going to be successful in the big leagues," says Luhnow. "Swinging at pitches in and out of the zone and making wise swing choices. A lot of these kids have amazing physical skills to put the bat on the ball, but it's the mental discipline to make the right decision in the heat of the moment. That takes a lot of reps."

Those reps aren't just swing after swing day after day in the batting cage.

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'Yes' or 'No' game

You'll often find their hitters in the bullpen, part of a plan that bucks a widely-held notion that plate discipline can't be taught.

"We track pitches," explains Kemp, a Vanderbilt product and second baseman in the diminutive mold of Houston sparkplug Jose Altuve. "When a pitcher is throwing live 'pens, we'll stand there and, when the pitcher releases the ball, call 'Yes' or 'No.'"

The idea is to become so adept at identifying whether it's a good pitch to swing at that batters can make the call just as the pitcher releases the ball.

And not just whether it will be in the strike zone, but also in the area where that particular hitter is most effective.

"That stuck out the most to me in spring training," says Kemp, who silently notes "yes or no" in games. "It's a difference for sure. Jeff Albert also talked about making sure you're focused in on a pitcher's release point."

Kemp says that's helped him identify what pitch is coming.

"You can see different things like trying to pronate his hand for the change-up," Kemp says.

Not everyone becomes so adept, but that's no deterrent.

Robinson says the process starts at a more basic level for some players. He places a row of balls on the ground 15-20 feet from the plate.

"I have them call it, yes or no," he says. "Yes, I'm swinging at it, no I'm not. The sooner you can recognize, the better. Once you start to focus, then it becomes a little easier. Now, you take it into the game. You've trained yourself."

The Astros would prefer to not have to start from scratch and that will affect their selections in this week's draft, where Luhnow is coy on the club's third consecutive top overall pick.

Rancho Bernardo (Calif.) High School catcher-outfielder Alex Jackson may be their best chance at an impact bat at the top of the draft, though Luhnow notes such players require some compromise to their organizational approach.

"We do look for attributes that suggest these players might be able to make the right swing decisions," Luhnow says. "You can see that with the college players and you can see it to a certain extent with the high school players."

Correa was one of those when taken first in 2012.

"When you get out of high school, you're just a free swinger," he says. "When you get out here, they teach you how to be aggressive and get your pitch to hit."

Let Robinson take you through the Astros' definition of patience.

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Learning to survive

He says if a pitcher paints the outside corner with consecutive strikes, "I don't care about hitting 0-2. I'm OK with that because that pitcher still has to come across that plate. Now, I'll open my zone up. I'm in battle mode. But I'm not just trying to put the ball in play.

"I'm still trying to drive the ball. So, if that pitcher's good enough to nip that corner three times, I tip my hat. But we're not going to give a pitcher that much credit. It's not that easy to throw that ball across that black three times in a row. With two strikes there are borderline pitches we have to hit. But we're going to hook those balls foul. We're looking to get another pitch.

"We know if we can put a ball in play. We know if we can put a good swing on a pitch and hit it hard. And when we can't."

And what do the lab rats think of all this?

"It works," Correa says.

His cites Springer as proof.

"You learn how to survive out there," says Springer, who has simultaneously improved his walk-strikeout rate and OPS every year in the minors. "The process of coming through the minor leagues is huge. All that helps. You grow."

Which makes Correa eager to follow the formula.

"Couple of months ago I was with him in spring training," Correa says of Springer. "Now, you see him on TV hitting home runs almost every other day. You get pretty excited about everything the Astros are doing."

White also reported from Houston​