By Abbey Mastracco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Wendell Cruz | USA TODAY Sports

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Gavin Cecchini's bat got him to the major leagues, but so far, it hasn't exactly helped him stay there. The Mets' 2012 first-round pick was hot-hitting shortstop who was always derided for having a scattershot arm. But then the bat cooled off and the Mets didn't know what to make of him last season. He hit just .267 with an OPS of .709 last year in Triple-A Las Vegas and an even worse .208 in limited major league time.

The Mets shopped for infielders all winter, indicating that Cecchini wasn't exactly in their future plans. So, he turned to a method he had always been hesitant to turn to in order to get his bat back to where it needed to be: Video.

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Harry How | Getty Images

"I’ve never been big on video because I’m not a person who likes to think about things much," he told NJ Advance Media. "I’m a huge feel guy. So sometimes, as baseball players we’re playing every single day, so we’re feeling something and that’s not exactly what’s happening."

It's tough to reconstruct a swing mid-season, especially since he was pressed into major league service because of injuries mid-season. He was having trouble recognizing what was wrong and how to fix it.

"I got into some bad habits with my hands and no rhythm and jumping," he said. "But I wasn’t feeling like that. And then when I got to the big leagues, they mentioned it to me."

That's when the hitting coaches asked him to watch video of his swing. He saw the habits and knew he needed to change some elements of his swing. Here's what he changed this winter.

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Adam Hagy | USA TODAY Sports

Motion and bat angle

"I used to be just at a dead-still stop," Cecchni said. "No rhythm and my hands were way up here and my bat was straight up. It put me in a bad position because I had no rhythm and I was in a bad hitting position always on my front leg. So, one of the adjustments that I made was to have rhythm with my hands and lower my bat angle to a 45."

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

Closed his stance

Cecchini thought he derived power from a wide stance, but really, it left him unable to react. He planted himself into the box, leaving himself unable to use his lower half. So he closed off his stance in order to get more torque.

"Another one was, I used to be really wide open so I wasn’t getting close to all of the middle-away pitches," he said. "I had no chance, because I was reaching for them."

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Joe Robbins | Getty Images

Used back leg

Closing his stance also allows him to stay behind the ball and push off his back leg to get power. Cecchini is no longer just relying on his hands and arms to do all the work.

"I would always get on my front side and would be in a weak hitting position to where I had nothing behind my swing," he said. "And the more times where I would get on my back leg and stay behind it - I have good hand-eye coordination so I’ve always squared up balls, but it’s a matter of really impacting the ball now and driving it, instead of just putting balls in play."

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Adam Hagy | USA TODAY Sports

His attitude

Perhaps the biggest overall change for Cecchini is his acceptance to video and film study. Cecchini was able to change his swing because of video technology. He would film himself swinging and send it to hitting coach Pat Roessler, who would then send videos and notes back to Cecchini in Louisiana.

"Me and Six, pretty much this whole offseason we were sending videos back and forth," he said. "He would tell me weekly to stay in touch with him and send him videos of my swing, my tee work and everything. We would just communicate back and forth, hey try to do this or feel that and we would talk. So on a week-by-week basis, we would make the adjustments. It was like four or five months and now I don’t even have to think about it. I’ve never felt my swing like this before, it’s really good."

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Patrick McDermott | Getty Images

The result?

Cecchini also packed on an extra 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, thanks in part to tweaks in his workout and the help of a nutritionist. With the weight behind the revamped swing, the ball is jumping off his bat.

"It feels so strong, like the ball is just exploding off my bat. I never felt the type of pop and power that I have no before. Yeah, I’ve gotten stronger, I gained 15 pounds, but still, the ball is just, I can really tell that my body is always in a good position to hit and the ball is just exploding off my bat."

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Aaron Doster | USA TODAY Sports

More changes

Cecchini has never been known as a base-stealer (he's stolen just 29 in six minor league seasons), but in order to truly transform himself into the offensive threat he intends to be, he plans to get busy on the bases this season.

"I definitely want to steal more bases this year because I have speed, but I never really tried to steal and you can’t steal bases if you don’t try to steal," he said. "Why not? If I can steal bases, I can help the team win and that’s more runs. I’m definitely going to be looking to do that this year too."

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Howard Simmons | New York Daily News | TNS

The player who encouraged him to utilize his speed? Dominic Smith.

Cecchini has hit in front of the left-handed Smith for a few seasons and was always hesitant to steal with a left-handed hitter at the plate. But when Smith told Cecchini he should look to take an open base, he realized he wasn't being advantageous enough. Along with his swing, Cecchini worked on base-running drills all winter as well.

He promises to bring speed and power to the lineup and he hopes it's enough to show the Mets that he belongs in the big leagues.

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Abbey Mastracco may be reached at amastracco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @abbeymastracco. Find NJ.com on Facebook.