Angels player Jo Adell turned things around by following his coaches' advice

Jo Adell’s season ends on injured reserve, giving him time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work for him this season.

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

“I had to put together pieces of my experience to figure out how to go into the offseason and figure out what I needed to fix,” Adell told Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group. “Instead of going through the experience day in and day out so I can really figure out what’s not working and what is working.”

Now he has confidence in what works.

“The fact that I avoided the kick was probably the last thing I did,” Adell told Fletcher. “I think I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve found something simple that allows me to go to the ball and make better decisions, and that’s what I need to do at bat. I’m looking forward to continuing to work on that and making it happen the way it needs to happen.”

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

Interestingly, Adell recognized that the toe tap is the correct swing setting, as it took him several months to come to that conclusion. His batting average went from .192 to .248.

Since Jo Adell switched to a foot tap instead of a leg kick, he’s hitting .307/.366/.507 for an .873 OPS over 82 PA. (For the season, he has an OPS of .694.)

Here’s a 2-run double. The Angels lead 4-0 in the 2nd inning. pic.twitter.com/pyHLaVL3pN

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 23, 2024

Adell noted that he was particularly pleased with his performance with runners in scoring position after adopting the toe tap. In 35 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, he hit .267 with an .838 OPS and struck out just five times.

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

“We have to learn how to stop giving up so many at-bats,” Washington said. “He didn’t realize he was giving up, but when you look back on it, and now that he’s not playing, he can see how many at-bats he gave up. It’s part of his winter. He has to learn how to manage every at-bat. He’s still going to give up some. We’re doing it, but not as many as he gave up.”