Taylor Ward's breakout with Angels steeped in science of hitting

Woodward showed them to Ward, and Ward saw immediate results."Initially, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m gonna do this, and my life’s gonna be great, and it’s all over,’" Ward said. Ward first fell into the common trap of swinging with too much of an uppercut, and that took time to correct — with Woodward’s help. "Joe, at the time, didn’t necessarily know that, to that extent."By 2021, Ward’s swing was close to where it is now. That teammate, Kyle Garlick, made the major leagues with the Dodgers, where he learned that Williams’ approach had far more support."It’s funny to come full-circle into these advanced analytic organizations to the same spot," said Woodward, who now works in medical device sales.It’s funny, too, that the Angels’ top performer this season has been fueled by the teachings of the Astros. He has always displayed the discerning eye necessary to draw walks, and now he has paired that with power and an approach so calm that he hardly moves before swinging."It crushes your ego when he takes pitches the way he takes them," said Angels right-hander Michael Lorenzen, a former two-way player. That’s not normal.’"Lorenzen, new to the team this season, noticed this abnormality when Ward homered after a few impressive takes during the Angels’ first Cactus League game. That study convinces him that he can sustain this success."Over the course of the last four years, it’s been a continuous process — kind of a crawl, walk, run — implementing some of this stuff into his swing over time," Woodward said. "He’s just adopted and bought into so much of the swing science that we were originally talking about that it’s just become second nature to him."Ward started buying in as soon as he heard the gist from Woodward.