Film Study Friday: Groundballs and Arol Vera

Welcome to the revamped Film Study Friday! Instead of doing short paragraphs on lots of players, I want to use this offseason to do a deeper dive into some prospects and see what happens.

When thinking about which player to kick this revamp off with, there was one name that came to mind: Los Angeles Angles SS Arol Vera. He was a top IFA name in the 2019 class and was sixth on the Angels mid-season update list. Vera spent most of the season at the complex, but had a few solid weeks in Low-A to end the year. And he’s recently 19-years-old.

The Low-A stint is where I’ll be focusing. Through 19 games, 82 at-bats, Vera hit .280. That works out to 23 hits and all were singles. He hit his fair share of doubles and triples on the complex, but that extra base power didn’t transfer right away with the promotion. On our scouting report by Jake Kerns, he called out fringe average power and room to grow into average power. Jake nailed it. There’s a lot to dream on with Vera.

Before diving into the video, there’s a few more relevant numbers to keep in mind. The first two are strikeout and walk numbers. Being young for the level could be used as an excuse or reason for praise here, but he struck out 22.2 percent of the time with a 6.7 percent walk rate in Low-A. Neither number is exceedingly impressive or worrisome, but it speaks to Vera’s maturity at the plate. The other number to share is his groundball rate of 62.3 percent. Even on the complex he was over 50 percent. Vera hits the ball on the ground. A lot.

That brings up the question of why is he hitting so many grounders. Which is not exactly an easy question to answer, but there are some things to take note of. First let’s get a look at his swing from a couple of angles.

Vera Line Drive.gif
Vera Open Face.gif

Keep in mind he is a switch hitter, but all of these swings will be from the left side. It’s an extremely similar operation, just a sample size issue for video purposes.

The swing itself actually has some loft to it, which might be surprising to some who see his power and groundball numbers. There looks to be good bat speed too. That is good news for more potential power, but it’s not there at present. Frankly he doesn’t impact the ball well. Both of those swings were line drives, but soft ones.

What he can do well is cover the plate. It’s an impressive hit tool right now.

Vera Hit Tool 1.gif
Vera Hit Tool 2.gif
Vera Hit Tool 3.gif

All of those were hits. He has the ability to get his bat head all around the zone. That is a great skill to have, but it also will come into play later when I circle back to the groundballs.

Something else to note when talking about Vera’s hit tool is his ability to go the other way. He likes the outside pitch, so being able to go with it is a great sign for a guy who way 18 for most of this season.

Vera Oppo.gif
Vera Oppo 1.gif

There are a lot of positive traits being displayed by Vera in just a sample of 19 games. All of it will suit him well as he climb the ranks in the minors.

To bring things full circle, that same hit tool when paired with pitch selection is one of the reasons Vera is hitting so many groundballs. He can get to a lot of balls out of the zone that are tough to get any lift on. You can see in the first batch of videos that when he does get his pitch, he can drive it. After that it’s a barrage of low or outside pitches that are a lot tougher to drive.

Vera likes to swing. He rarely finds himself deep in counts. A touch more patience might do him some good. He had one at bat that went 11 pitches and ended in a walk, but a lot of times he’s swinging on one of the first two pitches of the at bat.

As the short stint in Low-A went on, Vera almost unquestionably got better. That is because he got more comfortable. This was one of his last hits of the year, and for my money the best swing of the bunch.

Vera hit.gif

For a guy with a reputation of loud BP like Vera, it’s not hard to believe the pop will find its way into the game. He’s listed at 6’2” and 170 pounds right now. There’s room left on this frame. The loft in his swing, the ability to get to pitches, and the ability to go with the pitch to the opposite field are all good traits to have.

The fear is that nothing changes and Vera continues to be one of those profiles with a good hit tool and a wet noodle when it comes to power, but this whole exercise was to tell you I don’t believe that is going to be the case. It looks to me like the groundballs will work themselves out and the in-game power is on the way. Vera will be a very fun player to watch in the coming years.