Dodgers notes: Bat speed, Noah Syndergaard, 2023 season previews

With nearly two weeks of spring training down and no games until today, some of the stories from the reporters in camp at Camelback Ranch have been heard a few times. But sometimes there are different angles to be gleaned with another perspective.

You might remember earlier this week when Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times wrote about the six Dodgers hitters who went to Driveline to improve their skills.

Alden Gonzalez at ESPN also wrote about those Dodgers hitters, and their use of weighted bats in an effort to increase and maintain higher bat speeds.

“A pitcher can throw at max effort, but for a hitter it’s very hard to swing max effort,” Max Muncy told Gonzalez. “I would say 90 percent of the hitters out there when they swing max effort their swing actually gets slower. And it becomes worse. That’s the other part of it, too. I think this program can be good because it teaches you how to swing max effort in an easy way.”

We’ve talked a lot about how Noah Syndergaard is trying to regain the explosive velocity from his Mets days. The right-hander stated when he signed with the Dodgers in December that there was no reason he couldn’t throw 100 mph again, especially after a busy offseason.

A few times this spring Syndergaard has talked about his progress, but I also enjoyed this quote he gave to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, about the difficulties trying to made adjustments in-season, especially in his first full season after Tommy John surgery.

“It was like trying to change a tire on a car while it was still moving,” Syndergaard said.

Links

• Jon Weisman has concerns about the Dodgers depth in the infield and outfield this season, which he shared at his Slayed by Voices newsletter.
• In case you missed our Dodgers preview here, it ran yesterday, the last of our five National League West team previews.
• Former Dodgers reliever and longtime MLB pitching coach Phil Regan is suing the Mets and former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen for age discrimination and wrongful termination. Associated Press has more.