Angels Jo Adell Turned His Season Around By Relenting to Coaches' Advice

Maren Angus-Coombs | Sep 13, 2024

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Jo Adell's season is ending on the injured list, which gives him time to consider what worked and what didn't work for him this season.

Because he had played sparingly in years prior, often shuttling between Triple-A Salt Lake and Anaheim, 2024 was the first season in which Adell played daily at the game's highest level.

“I had to pull bits and pieces of my experience to create a way to go into the offseason to figure out what I needed to correct,” Adell told Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group. “As opposed to having the everyday experience to be able to really find out what doesn’t work and what does.”

Now, he feels confident in what works.

“Me avoiding the leg kick is probably final,” Adell told Fletcher. “I think I’ve gotten to the point where I found something that’s simple and allows me to get to the ball and make better decisions, and that’s what I have to do at the plate. I’m looking forward to continuing to work on that and getting that the way it needs to be.”

After 451 plate appearances in 130 games this season, Adell learned valuable lessons about his hitting approach. In late July, he replaced his leg kick with a toe tap, resulting in an OPS increase from .649 to .771 over 125 plate appearances with the new technique. Overall, Adell ended the season with a .682 OPS and 20 home runs.

Adell’s recognition that the toe tap is the right swing adjustment is notable, as it took him several months to reach this conclusion. His his batting average went from .192 to .248.

Since Jo Adell went to a toe tap instead of a leg kick, he's slashing .307/.366/.507, for an OPS of .873 over 82 PAs. (For the season, he has a .694 OPS.)

Here's a 2-run double. Angels up 4-0 in the 2nd. pic.twitter.com/pyHLaVL3pN

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 23, 2024

Adell noted he was especially satisfied with his performance with runners in scoring position after adopting the toe tap. In 35 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, he batted .267 with an .838 OPS and struck out only five times.

Angels manager Ron Washington noted Adell's improvements but said he still has a ways to go.

“We’ve got to learn how to quit giving away so many at-bats,” Washington said. ”Not that he realized when he was in those at-bats that he was giving them away, but when you look back at it, and now that he’s not playing he can realize how many he gave away. That’s a part of his winter. He has to learn how to handle every single at-bat. He’s still gonna give some away. We do that, but not as many as he gave away."