After 448-foot grand slam, Detroit Tigers' Matt Vierling shares 'get-ready-early' adjustment

Matt Vierling doesn't need another reminder of his potential.

"Trust me, I've heard that my whole career," Vierling said, standing in front of his locker in the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse and packing his bags in preparation for a 10-game, three-city road trip. This time, Vierling is talking about the all-too-common topic of untapped pull-side power after hitting the best home run of his life.

His swing beat a 94.3 mph fastball from right-handed reliever Buck Farmer to the front of the plate, and as a result of his work-in-progress mechanics, he launched a 448-foot grand slam to left-center field to cap the Tigers' 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Wednesday's series finale at Comerica Park.

It was his ninth homer, and his seventh pull-side homer, in 118 games.

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Vierling, a right-handed hitter, has spent the entire 2023 season working on elevating the ball to the pull side, which is left field for him. He couldn't find a sustainable solution with the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2021-22 seasons. After an offseason trade to the Tigers, he landed in the hands of three hitting coaches: Michael Brdar, Keith Beauregard and James Rowson.

President of baseball operations Scott Harris acquired Vierling, who turns 27 on Saturday, from the Phillies with the intention of manager A.J. Hinch's coaching staff finding a way to unearth his pull-side power potential.

So far, the Tigers and Vierling have been largely unsuccessful.

"I've gone through some ups and downs trying to figure it out," said Vierling, who sounded cautiously optimistic. "I feel like I'm in a spot right now where I'm starting to see some results of me working towards it. Hopefully, I'll keep going."

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Vierling has already mastered working deep into counts while limiting strikeouts (20.9% strikeout rate) and drawing walks (7.7% walk rate). He has an elite understanding of the outside part of the plate, and because of that expertise, many of his hits are opposite-field singles.

"It's more about the chess match with the pitcher on when to take your short," Hinch said. "If you start trying to cheat to that, you have to concede something. That's going to be the ball away, which he generally handles.

"It's a chess match between him and the pitcher. You're not going to cover it all. As he's learning which pitchers are going to pound him in and which pitchers are going to stay away, he'll mature into a nice hitter."

A go-to power swing to the pull side will unlock the best version of Vierling.

Vierling has spent his first season as a member of the Tigers refining his mechanics, specifically the load of his swing. Recently, he has been intentional about trying to create damage to left field.

It's a new swing thought.

"It's loading up and being ready to go," Vierling said.

In the 2022 season, Vierling's 91.2 mph average exit velocity ranked 28th among 219 players with at least 250 balls in play. His average exit velocity tied Ronald Acuña Jr. and Albert Pujols.

But his six home runs were the fewest among the top 28 players, sorted by average exit velocity.

Among the 28 players, only one other player — Tampa Bay Rays infielder Yandy Díaz — failed to hit double-digit homers. Díaz finished with nine homers in 137 games last season, but this season, he has 20 homers in 125 games.

"It's a mix of everything," Vierling said. "The biggest thing is just mindset, more than anything, just really trying to get the ball out there and trying to do damage. I'm working on mechanics. We're in the cage working on trying to lift the ball in the air and hit the ball in the air to the pull side."

In 2023, Vierling has an 89 mph average exit velocity. Without consistent pull-side power, Vierling is still hitting .268 with 16 doubles, three triples, nine homers, 36 walks and 96 strikeouts in 118 games this season.

"I want that to still be my bread-and-butter," Vierling said of opposite-field singles. "Be a hitter first, and then, hopefully, the homers can come as I start to figure that out. I would get the best of both worlds. If I were to just sell out for homers, I feel like I would lose a little bit of that. I kind of like where I'm at, being able to be a hitter and run into some balls."

He profiles as a fourth outfielder (or backup third baseman) on a winning team, but with pull-side power, he can be an everyday player in the big leagues.

That's been the focal point of his development.

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Vierling snapped a drought of 62 games without a home run in Saturday's 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. Four games later, he blasted another home run in Thursday's 8-2 win over the Reds.

"For me, it's being ready to go and being early," Vierling said. "Getting loaded early is how I would say it. Trying to hit the ball the other way, or trying to hit the ball the up the middle, takes away from that damage and get-ready-early approach."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Matt Vierling shares 'get-ready-early' adjustment