SWEET SWINGER
June 28, 2011 10:14 PM | General
Ask Jedd Gyorko just about any question and you are probably going to get a short, compact answer – much like his swing.
Uh, did I mention his swing?
The people who know a whole lot more about this than me say Gyorko might be California's best swinger that side of Hugh Hefner. Gyorko is certainly turning heads over in Lake Elsinore the same way old Hef turns them up in Holmby Hills. This is likely the first and the last time Jedd Gyorko will ever be compared to Hugh Hefner.
But that sweet swing? There’s really no comparison at all.
“He’s having an incredible year for a guy in his first full season of professional baseball,” Lake Elsinore interim manager Phil Plantier told Major League Baseball.com last weekend. “The guy has a beautiful swing.”
Right now Gyorko is completely tearing it up for San Diego’s High-A team. In fact, if Jedd remains at Lake Elsinore for the entire season (which is unlikely considering the big team is struggling mightily and there will be plenty of organizational movement coming up in July and August) he is on pace to set California League records for hits and doubles.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game against Rancho Cucamonga, Gyorko is hitting .377 with 16 home runs, 35 doubles and 71 RBIs in 316 at bats. He is batting better than .300 under just about any conceivable condition – vs. lefties, righties, home games, road games, bases empty, runners on base, runners in scoring position, so on and so forth.
The only time Jedd seems normal is during day games, hitting a very pedestrian .256 in 43 at bats. Perhaps he’s still running on East Coast time. Or maybe he is more like Hugh than we originally thought? Or possibly the games are starting to run together?
“Yeah, it all starts to blend together after a while,” he laughed through his cell phone. “The hardest part is trying to figure out what day it is.”
Now that does sound like Hefner, and that’s about the only thing Jedd doesn’t have figured out yet. With less than a full season’s worth of professional experience, Gyorko is already a pro’s pro – not too high when things are going well and not too low when things are not going so well. Those who know Jedd the best say that’s the way he’s been ever since he first picked up a whiffle ball bat and sent one whistling past his old man’s right ear.
“I’ve always had a natural swing ever since I kind of picked up a bat and started swinging it,” he recalled. “That swing has pretty much carried me to where I am now. Obviously I’ve tweaked some things here and there, but I’ve always had a real loose, relaxed swing and I’ve just kind of gone out there and let it happen.”
When he was an All-American player at West Virginia University, Gyorko was a gap-to-gap hitter with good power – not great power, considering the college bats the players were using then were much livelier and Hawley Field's dimensions aren't exactly cavernous. But today, using a wooden bat against much, much better pitching, Gyorko is displaying power numbers that are impossible to conceal. His 52 extra base hits are just 24 fewer than the total number of games he’s played, impressive to say the least.
“I’ve worked hard in the off-season to get a lot stronger to improve those power numbers, and it’s good to see that work is paying off,” Gyorko said. “I’m definitely not a speed guy. You’ve got to be a certain guy on the field – a power guy or a speed guy, or do something.”
First and foremost, Jedd is a baseball guy who loves going to the ballpark every day (or night as his numbers seem to suggest). That won’t change as long as he can still pull up his stirrups.
“The best part for me is going out and competing – trying to beat the other team that is in the other dugout across from you,” he said. “This is the game I love and I get to do it every single day. Of course that can be a grind, but you just have to go back to your roots and think about what you’re doing. I’m getting paid to play baseball.
“How tough could it be?”
True, but the bruises do add up over the course of a 140-game minor league season, not to mention the Wacky Weenie Wednesdays, the Thirsty Thursdays, the Man-I-Love-Fireworks Fridays, the Showtime Saturdays, the Sunday Fundays, the Monday Madness, and, of course, the Fat Tuesdays.
The grind of playing every day has a way of separating the committed from the casual, Jedd says.
“That’s where the real mental part comes in, where you’ve got to be able to tell yourself that you’re not that sore and you’re not that tired and you’ve still got to go out there and produce for your team,” explained Gyorko, recently named MVP of the California-Carolina League all-star game. “It’s mentally and physically tough to get through a 140-game season, and that’s where some guys get left by the wayside. They can’t come every day and bring their ‘A’ game.”
Gyorko has been doing that since he first arrived in the Padres organization after being picked in the second round of the draft last June. Gyorko hit a combined .302 in 68 games in rookie ball and Low-A last year, and so far through 143 career professional games, he shows a .343 batting average with 23 home runs, 52 doubles and 111 RBI. That roughly equates to one full season on the major league level.
Exactly where Jedd will be playing when that time comes is still yet to be determined. Right now Gyorko is playing third base and that’s the position the Padres believe best suits his talents, but right ahead of him is San Diego’s other touted prospect James Darnell, who is playing at Double-A San Antonio where his numbers are equally impressive. The second-round pick out of South Carolina is hitting .337 with 16 home runs and 61 RBIs in just 277 at bats.
That’s two awfully good bats to have at the same position. If both continue to advance and wind up making it to the big leagues, one is definitely going to have to move.
“They are telling me they want me to be a third baseman, so that’s where I’m going to keep concentrating and then if I need to go somewhere else I will be more than willing to,” Gyorko said.
Well aware of what is going on in the organization, Gyorko is also smart enough to know that if he takes care of the job he’s doing right now then his next job will eventually take care of itself.
“Wherever I am that’s where I’m going to be,” he said, the shrug almost detectable through his cell.
Yep, short and to the point – just like his swing.
Uh, did I mention his swing?
The people who know a whole lot more about this than me say Gyorko might be California's best swinger that side of Hugh Hefner. Gyorko is certainly turning heads over in Lake Elsinore the same way old Hef turns them up in Holmby Hills. This is likely the first and the last time Jedd Gyorko will ever be compared to Hugh Hefner.
But that sweet swing? There’s really no comparison at all.
“He’s having an incredible year for a guy in his first full season of professional baseball,” Lake Elsinore interim manager Phil Plantier told Major League Baseball.com last weekend. “The guy has a beautiful swing.”
Right now Gyorko is completely tearing it up for San Diego’s High-A team. In fact, if Jedd remains at Lake Elsinore for the entire season (which is unlikely considering the big team is struggling mightily and there will be plenty of organizational movement coming up in July and August) he is on pace to set California League records for hits and doubles.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game against Rancho Cucamonga, Gyorko is hitting .377 with 16 home runs, 35 doubles and 71 RBIs in 316 at bats. He is batting better than .300 under just about any conceivable condition – vs. lefties, righties, home games, road games, bases empty, runners on base, runners in scoring position, so on and so forth.
The only time Jedd seems normal is during day games, hitting a very pedestrian .256 in 43 at bats. Perhaps he’s still running on East Coast time. Or maybe he is more like Hugh than we originally thought? Or possibly the games are starting to run together?
“Yeah, it all starts to blend together after a while,” he laughed through his cell phone. “The hardest part is trying to figure out what day it is.”
Now that does sound like Hefner, and that’s about the only thing Jedd doesn’t have figured out yet. With less than a full season’s worth of professional experience, Gyorko is already a pro’s pro – not too high when things are going well and not too low when things are not going so well. Those who know Jedd the best say that’s the way he’s been ever since he first picked up a whiffle ball bat and sent one whistling past his old man’s right ear.
“I’ve always had a natural swing ever since I kind of picked up a bat and started swinging it,” he recalled. “That swing has pretty much carried me to where I am now. Obviously I’ve tweaked some things here and there, but I’ve always had a real loose, relaxed swing and I’ve just kind of gone out there and let it happen.”
When he was an All-American player at West Virginia University, Gyorko was a gap-to-gap hitter with good power – not great power, considering the college bats the players were using then were much livelier and Hawley Field's dimensions aren't exactly cavernous. But today, using a wooden bat against much, much better pitching, Gyorko is displaying power numbers that are impossible to conceal. His 52 extra base hits are just 24 fewer than the total number of games he’s played, impressive to say the least.
“I’ve worked hard in the off-season to get a lot stronger to improve those power numbers, and it’s good to see that work is paying off,” Gyorko said. “I’m definitely not a speed guy. You’ve got to be a certain guy on the field – a power guy or a speed guy, or do something.”
First and foremost, Jedd is a baseball guy who loves going to the ballpark every day (or night as his numbers seem to suggest). That won’t change as long as he can still pull up his stirrups.
“The best part for me is going out and competing – trying to beat the other team that is in the other dugout across from you,” he said. “This is the game I love and I get to do it every single day. Of course that can be a grind, but you just have to go back to your roots and think about what you’re doing. I’m getting paid to play baseball.
“How tough could it be?”
True, but the bruises do add up over the course of a 140-game minor league season, not to mention the Wacky Weenie Wednesdays, the Thirsty Thursdays, the Man-I-Love-Fireworks Fridays, the Showtime Saturdays, the Sunday Fundays, the Monday Madness, and, of course, the Fat Tuesdays.
The grind of playing every day has a way of separating the committed from the casual, Jedd says.
“That’s where the real mental part comes in, where you’ve got to be able to tell yourself that you’re not that sore and you’re not that tired and you’ve still got to go out there and produce for your team,” explained Gyorko, recently named MVP of the California-Carolina League all-star game. “It’s mentally and physically tough to get through a 140-game season, and that’s where some guys get left by the wayside. They can’t come every day and bring their ‘A’ game.”
Gyorko has been doing that since he first arrived in the Padres organization after being picked in the second round of the draft last June. Gyorko hit a combined .302 in 68 games in rookie ball and Low-A last year, and so far through 143 career professional games, he shows a .343 batting average with 23 home runs, 52 doubles and 111 RBI. That roughly equates to one full season on the major league level.
Exactly where Jedd will be playing when that time comes is still yet to be determined. Right now Gyorko is playing third base and that’s the position the Padres believe best suits his talents, but right ahead of him is San Diego’s other touted prospect James Darnell, who is playing at Double-A San Antonio where his numbers are equally impressive. The second-round pick out of South Carolina is hitting .337 with 16 home runs and 61 RBIs in just 277 at bats.
That’s two awfully good bats to have at the same position. If both continue to advance and wind up making it to the big leagues, one is definitely going to have to move.
“They are telling me they want me to be a third baseman, so that’s where I’m going to keep concentrating and then if I need to go somewhere else I will be more than willing to,” Gyorko said.
Well aware of what is going on in the organization, Gyorko is also smart enough to know that if he takes care of the job he’s doing right now then his next job will eventually take care of itself.
“Wherever I am that’s where I’m going to be,” he said, the shrug almost detectable through his cell.
Yep, short and to the point – just like his swing.
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