Phillies’ Darick Hall finding success by controlling ‘my own destiny’ at the plate

Improvement for the lefty slugger started with taking control of his at-bats by focusing on trying to only swing at strikes. And it's paying off.

The Phillies' Darick Hall hits a first-inning single against the Orioles on Monday in Sarasota, Fla.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published March 6, 2023, 6:25 p.m. ET

SARASOTA, Fla. — Darick Hall had a few goals in the offseason. Evening out his right-left splits was one of them, but the Phillies first baseman/DH hopeful also wanted to work on trusting himself. The slugger who was called up last season in Bryce Harper’s injury absence and played 41 games knew he had power, and he knew he had a good swing plane. But the decisions he made at the plate were hurting him.

He swung at 71% of pitches that were in the strike zone in 2022; the MLB average was 66.9%. He swung at 33.9% of pitches outside the zone; the MLB average was 24.8%. He wasn’t making enough contact to justify all of that swinging.

This offseason, the left-handed hitter worked with hitting coach Kevin Long on refining his plate discipline. He looked at Harper’s at-bats as an example of how to make better decisions at the plate. Harper has obvious tools, but his eyes and his cognitive skills elevated him from good to great.

“How you control your own destiny is what you swing at,” said Hall, an Arizona native drafted by the Phillies in the 14th round of the 2016 draft. “And I really believe that. Obviously at times you’re going to swing at balls. Or chase. But I realized the only way I can control my own destiny is by swinging at strikes because that’s when the best things happen. I really bought into that. Trying to really understand that nobody else can help you in that way. You control your own destiny by what you swing at.”

Long encouraged his pupil to embrace the failure that was inevitable.

“It’s understanding we are going to get fooled,” said the 27-year-old Hall. “We’re going to be late sometimes; we’re going to be early sometimes. But at least I know if the ball comes in a certain window — that’s the one. I think when you’re able to do that, that’s when you’re able to be calm on the inside and trust yourself.”

Hall is batting .400/.500/.867 through six spring training games this season. He could very well hit his way into a spot on the Phillies’ 26-man roster. But when he looks at the results, he sees trust in himself more than anything else.

He points to his at-bat in the sixth inning of a 10-7 loss to the Orioles on Monday against right-hander Austin Voth as an example. Hall patiently waited for his pitch — a cutter right down the middle of the plate — and knew it when he saw it, and drilled it for his second homer of the spring.

“I knew he was going to come back hard first pitch with a heater,” he said. “I thought I put a good swing on it but was a little late. But I stayed with it, I just had to adjust a little bit. And then took that good curveball. Felt really good about that. Spiked the cutter and then I was like, ‘OK, ready for the heater.’ He threw that cutter and it was just right where it needed to be.

“Even with my first swing, would I have liked to be early? Yeah. But I just went with my eyes and I was like ‘OK, I know if he throws that again, I’m going to be a little quicker.’ But I’m not going to jump way out here. Just tell myself to be quicker, so if he throws the fastball, I’m ready.

“It takes a lot of trust, and being willing to fail while doing it, but knowing it’s going to help you in the end. The cool thing is I’ve had results from it. I feel like in the [at-bats] in games and before the games my zone has been solid.”

Hall is going to try to maintain this approach, and so far, people are noticing. Manager Rob Thomson, for example, made a point of lauding Hall’s plate discipline after Monday’s game.

“He’s having good at-bats, long at-bats; he’s swinging at strikes; he’s not chasing,” Thomson said. “It’s a good sign.”