Garret Forrester: Strong week fueled by protection of outer half of strike zone

After a rough start to the season, Garret Forrester is starting to collecting more and more hits, namely on pitches on the outer half of the strike zone

Photo Credit: WTM

Garrett Forrester, who was drafted out of Oregon State in the third round last year, has had a less-than-ideal start to the season.

Named a breakout candidate on MLB Pipeline when it came to the first base position, the Pirates decided to also add catcher to his workload, potentially to add a little more value to the bat.

Starting the year with Low-A Bradenton, he’s struggled to make contact with a strikeout rate of over 30% heading into this week’s series against the Clearwater Threshers.

He doesn’t chase much, swinging at just 13.4% of the pitches outside the strike zone, but has struggled to make contact inside the zone (69.9%).

This week has been a little different, however, as Forrester is starting to make more consistent contact and is stringing together perhaps his best stretch of games.

What’s been the difference? He’s covering the outer half of the plate much better.