By Mason Feole
Jack Hartman’s story is anything but typical. From a potential free agent signee to a 95-98 mph 4th-round draft pick, Jack has experienced the highs and lows of professional baseball in just a few seasons. Below, we’ve outlined how Connected Performance overhauled and refined his raw talent into an efficient back half of his minor league season.
Jack was an off-season acquisition for the Tampa Bay Rays when they traded Ji-Man Choi to Pittsburgh for the former 4th-rounder. When trading a big leaguer for a minor leaguer, the organization expects that the minor leaguer is either already ready to perform at a big-league caliber or that the player will quickly become capable of doing so. In Jack’s case, he already had the tools; he just needed guidance on how to utilize them.
Jack had transformed himself from an infielder into an MLB draft prospect on the mound during his time at App State through the guidance of Alec Hammond. Like many professional arms, they already possess the physical attributes needed to reach the big leagues. Where they most commonly lack is forming each offering into a serviceable major league-caliber weapon, as well as the strategic approach or understanding of how to use those weapons.
It begins by identifying which weapons can be created within the arsenal based on anatomy preferences and based on the angles and release points that the thrower is presenting. This will allow the information needed to piece together an arsenal that blends well with how the player presents from a movement standpoint. With Jack, it remains clear that more north-to-south offerings will play the best due to his ability to pronate and create a true 4S.
Consistently above 96+ T99 with 17+ IVB, and two slider variations, a gyro, averaging over 88, and a “sweeper” variant that may only be compared to Shohei Ohtani’s (85+/-15+in’ HB)… with Stuff+ off the charts!
Jack’s tool belt/arsenal was already plus, but early on in '23, he was struggling to use it correctly. Finding consistency within the arsenal is just as important as having plus offerings. Jack at times earlier in the season struggled to maintain the characteristic and shape of his fastball. Jack’s heater plays best when he is able to maintain true ride and produce shapes closer to and greater than 17' IVB. At times, there was deviation that would create inadvertent cut or run. In order to fix this, we addressed the axis that Jack was presetting. By shifting his grip to a more slightly offset four-seam tilt, he was able to maintain his carry again. The change allowed Jack to hold/stay on the seam slightly longer with his index finger, forcing the tilt under 12:45 on release, which created the correct spin direction to produce the backspin that he was lacking prior. This was not only to Jack’s advantage from a shape and stuff standpoint but played a key role in his ability to command it. Now, understanding how the pitch would act more consistently leading to better awareness to throw it within the zone.
Before May 21, Jack struggled to keep the BBs down, flirted with a low in-zone rate, and struggled to minimize the “big inning”.
When talking about high leverage, true backend-of-the-bullpen relievers, you can make a strong argument that low walk rates, high probability for swing and miss/whiff, and staying away from the long ball i.e low HR/9 (Jack has only surrendered 2 HR in 49 IP this season) are some of the strongest correlations for big league success. Jack was struggling significantly to reduce his BB/9. He started off the first month of his year totaling 9 walks which in turn led to some fairly poor outings.
Hitters were hitting .356 against him, and he was averaging almost a walk per inning. ERA north of 10.
Throughout the first month of the season, Jack had struggled to put hitters away and gave them far too much leverage. There was also an aspect of luck involved. Along with Jack’s ability to limit HRs, he leveraged damage well. Lower slug% against him and gave up predominantly single as well as a higher GB rate than any other batted result. However, when you are getting unlucky when you do execute but most of the time the luck is occurring with self-inflicted runners on base due to walks or HBP, it can be a recipe for disaster.
How did Jack make the necessary changes to end up finishing the year with a 3.38 ERA, less than 3 BB/9, over 10 K/9 and a BAA in the 200s?
April 6-May 21 16.2 IP 15 ER (10.97 ERA) 9BB 10K
May 21-June 23 14.2 IP 19K 4BB 3ER
June-July-August-September 36.1IP 7 ER (1.74 ERA) (0.79 in August) 45K (11.2 K/9) 11BB
How did Jack make the necessary changes to springboard himself into being one of the top relievers in the Rays organization?
As you may have guessed, he got ahead and got in the zone. Jack was never ahead in counts prior to his time with CP. In order to get ahead, we changed his plan. Earlier in the year, the only pitch Jack was truly struggling to locate was his fastball. Part of the cause of this was that Jack was throwing unpredictable shapes like explained above. Part of this was fixed by the axis change; the other part was fixed by redefining what Jack thought of as the strike zone. The goal was not to throw strikes; it was to reduce the miss. Jack had a tendency to ‘miss big’. Creating a more north-to-south strike zone enabled him to consistently get his heater in the zone. Due to the idea that Jack’s arsenal would play more consistently in a north-to-south deviated zone, we adjusted the objections to being in that up-to-down zone. Misses up and down became tracked wins rather than solely focusing on filling up the game’s “zone”. This allowed him to have a different objective rather than the one he had consistently struggled with. It also fit better with his game plan and allowed him to direct energy forward more effectively.
Timing of when he was in the zone mattered just as much. So, he started getting ahead. When behind in the count, there is plenty of data that support the hitters having all the advantage, basically at all levels of the game. Starting most counts off in a disadvantage will most likely lead to walks or higher batting averages, xwOBA, and damage. Furthermore, walks lead to runs as a reliever. Jack was able to get ahead not just by improving his fastball strike percentage but also by understanding that his other offerings could be and should be thrown for strikes, and more often.
In turn, we challenge Jack to increase the usage of plus+ secondary offerings.
As noted, Jack has a great fastball, but he was relying too heavily on it. Understanding that the sliders would play not just as a two-strike pitch was critical. Jack held more of an ability to throw either of his sliders for strikes. Rather than constantly working from behind, he needed to bite the bullet and take the advantage by throwing his sliders more often. From May 21 to June 21, Jack was told to exclusively throw first-pitch sliders only. Part of this was a mental approach change, part of this attack strategy. Jack struggled slightly to calm his nerves down coming into the game especially when in the later innings. Not nerves, being exciting led to Jack coming out of his throw a bit leading to pulled glove side heaters with 0% chance of being a strike. In order for Jack to create the shapes and command his sliders, he had to be patient and organize properly. This led to Jack completely flipping the script and being ahead of more than 80% of the batters he would face for the remainder of the season. I always looked forward to postgame texts from Hartman just simply reading “sliders”!
Part of the battle was also changing Jack’s daily mindset and mental approach. this wasn’t going to come by simply just telling him how good he was or could be. Confidence isn’t brewed from false hope or belief. Jack had to see the why, behind his self-belief for it to no longer be blind. Jack would find conviction by letting the data & advanced stats create a fearless and more confident approach.
Creating a report on the lineup he was facing each week & getting Jack to understand where he could produce chase, take, whiff based on tendencies and barrel/swing% was huge. Even with monster stuff, you need a plan. This gave him the answers to the test.
Each Monday, Jack and I would take some time to go over the lineup we would be facing and overview what he was to expect against his specific pitch types and how each hitter was performing against other arms that profiled similar to him. Here is an example of weekly reports and how they were used.
Myrtle Beach 8/29-9/2 Scouting Report (Hartman)
R. Garcia:
0% Brl 4S > 95. 60%Miss/Chase on 4S > 95 in the upper third with 68% Swing%. 64% Swing 42% Chs on SL.
— Normal game plan, can really take advantage of the upper third, utilize slider as normal. Free swinger.
C. Hernandez:
20% Brl 4S > 95. 42%Miss, 27%Chs, 55%Swg. 4S > 95 in the upper third or above, 0 Brl%, 57%Miss, 53%Chase. 50% Swg on SL, 41%Chs/31%Miss. Makes contact, but poor results. — Normal game plan, you can really take advantage with your velocity here. He is struggling big time with velo, poor overall slg, abuse top of the zone.
B. Bateman: Tons of contact, 91% 4S, 79% SL. Doesn’t chase or miss often , outside of 20%Miss/Chs on SL. Low Brl% 9/0.
— High contact, won’t barrel either offering. Low slg. Maybe makes too much contact at times, don’t be afraid to expand out of the zone. Really high ground ball rates help to lead to determination that he is “lucky”. Same game plan, he probably won’t do much damage but he will put the ball in play. Force him out of the zone. Get ahead of this guy.
B. Kalmer: 44% Brl 4S , High Slg both offerings. Missing SL low and away. — In simple, he is absolutely red hot… stick to your normal game plan.
Information is great, but how the information and data can be used and conveyed in a way that the player can understand is vital. Especially in a sport like baseball, knowledge does not automatically equal understanding. Through these meetings and reports, we were able to formulate a mutual understanding of how the information could be shared in order for Jack to not just know it but use it and remember it. Instead of Jack going out there every night and ripping with no objective or “game within the game”, Jack now had direction to rely on to throw the right pitches in the right counts leading to his dominance.
Check out Jack's slider here.
Jack worked hard to accept the confidence that can be built by understanding just how filthy he was. Preparation also leads to confidence, and Jack was probably more prepared than any other minor league pitcher last season. This led to an ability to challenge hitters & create whiffs. It’s easy to look at your ERA & doubt yourself when things aren’t going well. Sometimes taking a deeper look into what’s going on can change everything. Instead of Jack coming into games and seeing his imploded ERA, he would come into games and understand that hitters were performing very poorly against his specific offerings. Rather than immediately expecting failure, trusting on the data presented to him allowed him to understand that the percentages were in his favor regardless of what the scoreboard was saying.
Jack Hartman's journey through the 2023 season showcases a remarkable transformation fueled by strategic adjustments, mental fortitude, and a deep understanding of his own capabilities. From struggling with command and consistency to emerging as one of the top relievers in the Rays organization, Jack's dedication to improvement and adaptability have been key factors in his success. As we look ahead to the 2024 season, there's an undeniable sense of excitement surrounding Jack's continued growth and potential contributions to the organization. With a solid foundation established and lessons learned from the challenges of the past season, Jack is poised to make an even greater impact on the field. We eagerly anticipate the opportunities and achievements that lie ahead for Jack.
Enjoy one of his elite heater's here.
If you’re a pitcher looking to take your game to the next level, Connected Performance is for you. We’ve helped transform hundreds of athletes into top end arms at their respected organization, college or high school. Reach out to training@connected-perforamnce.com today to get started.