KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nolan Schanuel’s sore ankle led to a swing adjustment, and now he feels like he might keep it.
“If it’s working, no need to fix it,” the Angels’ first baseman said on Friday. “So far, it’s been pretty good. Two doubles and a homer.”
Before the Angels played the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday, Schanuel ditched the leg kick that he had used his entire career. He switched to a toe-tap. Schanuel had four hits in the series, including three balls with exit velocities of more than 100 mph. His single against Patrick Corbin on Tuesday night was 107 mph, the hardest ball he’s hit all season.
The change came after a couple of weeks of disappointing numbers.
“He has such a good swing and a nice ability to put the ball in play, but there were a couple swings he had where he was so fooled on splits that we talked about it,” hitting coach Brady Anderson said.
The problems began on April 4, when Schanuel was rounding third and had to quickly slam on the brakes. He said his left ankle has been sore, off and on, ever since. Before Friday, Schanuel had not publicly described exactly how and when he was hurt and how it impacted him.
“It was definitely hurting more a couple weeks ago,” he said. “It’s been getting better every day, so I would say I’m probably 70% right now.”
The difficulty of hitting with a sore left ankle for Schanuel was that, with his leg kick, all of his weight was on that foot just as he was getting ready to swing.
Anderson said it was actually Schanuel’s idea to remedy the situation by going to a toe-tap instead of the leg kick. They spent about 30 minutes going over it, talking about other hitters who have made similar changes. He didn’t have to look far. Just within the Angels’ clubhouse, Zach Neto and Jo Adell have made notable changes with the way they use their front foot in their swings in recent seasons.
“I feel like my balance and everything with the leg kick was kind of off, when I was dealing with the ankle stuff,” Schanuel said. “I think just implementing the toe-tap has kept me more balanced and helped me with adjustments to offspeed pitches because I’m able to hang in there. In the past with the leg kick, I feel like I was bailing early just because I had a little bit of pain or whatever.”
Anderson said Schanuel had taken to the change quickly.
“These are adjustments that you make in conjunction with the hitter and you talk about them and then you test them out and then, to his credit, it felt more comfortable to him right away,” Anderson said. “I think the first day he did it was that double he hit down the left field line and then the next day he hit a low line drive 107, and then of course (Wednesday).”
Schanuel hit a home run and a three-run double on Wednesday.
“You never know when things are going to turn around,” Schanuel said on Wednesday. “It could be a bunt single, it could be a big at-bat like today. And hopefully that’s my turning point.”
RODRIGUEZ UPDATE
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez faced hitters in Arizona for the equivalent of three innings on Friday, adding an inning to the workout he did earlier in the week in Anaheim.
“It was good,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He feels good.”
Suzuki said they’ll wait until they see how Rodriguez feels a day later before determining what the next step is.
Rodriguez has been on the injured list because of shoulder inflammation.
NOTES
Right-hander Kirby Yates (left knee inflammation) reported that his “body feels good,” after throwing one inning for Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday, Suzuki said on Friday. Yates gave up two hits and three runs. He is scheduled to pitch an inning on Saturday also. …
Suzuki stuck with his right-handed hitting lineup on Friday even though Royals left-hander Noah Cameron has exaggerated reverse splits early in the season. Lefties had a 1.281 OPS against him, while righties had a .722 OPS. The Angels typically use Bryce Teodosio, Oswald Peraza and Vaughn Grissom against lefties, in place of Josh Lowe, Adam Frazier and Yoán Moncada. “The way our righties have been swinging the bat, we like our chances with that,” Suzuki said. “We just kind of did our lineup that we do against lefties and kind of see how it goes.” The Angels will face another lefty on Saturday, and then righties in six of the next seven games.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP Walbert Ureña, 0-2, 2.35 ERA) at Royals (LHP Cole Ragans, 0-4, 6.00 ERA), Saturday, 4:10 p.m. PT, FanDuel Sports Network, 830 AM