A spring-training wager changed Jean Segura’s offensive approach

It started last spring with a friendly wager. A quarter here, a nickel there. Just a little game to break up the monotony of six weeks in Florida.

From 2017 to 2018, Jean Segura led all shortstops in batting average and had the third-highest on-base percentage. He found success in those two seasons before joining the Phillies thanks to a strong contact rate, which was the highest among all shortstops in his final year in Seattle in 2018.

No National League team made less contact in 2018 than the Phillies, so trading for Segura before 2019 was intended to give the lineup a needed punch. But Segura’s first season failed to meet expectations.

His batting average dropped 10% below his average from the previous three seasons and his on-base percentage was his lowest in five years. His OPS dropped below league average for the first time in four years. He wasn’t producing, but his contact rate remained high.

So last spring, the Phillies had an idea. Perhaps Segura could produce more if he made less contact. New hitting coach Joe Dillon challenged Segura to lower his contact rate, forget about his batting average, and increase his on-base percentage.

The Phillies wanted Segura to change his offensive profile and Dillon made a game of it.

“They would bet a quarter on the day. Like how many balls you swung at and how many strikes you swung at, that sort of thing,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Any kind of wager, it could be a dime, and it’s competition. Players are going to feed off of it.”

“Friendly little wagers during batting practice, and then live batting practice, and then during the games. It became part of who Jean was. I’m really proud of him for making that adjustment and he’ll continue to work on that for sure.”

Segura hit .266 last season after hitting .301 over the previous four seasons and his contact rate (78.1) was easily his career low. But his on-base percentage (.347) was his highest in three seasons and his walk rate (10.6%) led all National League second basemen.

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His contact rate dropped, yet Segura had a higher on-base percentage and slugging percentage than his All Star season in 2018. Segura traded contact to reach base.

“When you get more disciplined and take walks, your contact rate is going to go down,” Segura said. “For me, I don’t really care too much about contact rate because I can put the ball in play whenever I want, but I don’t want that. I just want to get on base.”

The Phillies have Segura, who turns 31 next month, under contract for two more seasons, so they needed to find a way to make him productive if his old ways of chasing contact could no longer work. He’ll begin the season as the everyday second baseman and will likely bat somewhere in the bottom half of Girardi’s lineup. The Phillies, unlike when they traded for Segura, have enough pop in their lineup. They simply need him to get on base.

“As a baseball player, the game changed right now,” Segura said. “You need to get on base. You need to create opportunities to score runs. For me, I can put a lot of balls in play but probably that ball that I put in play is going to be an out. I can sacrifice that contact rate to take pitches, battle an at-bat, maybe take a walk, and create an opportunity for the team to score runs. That’s what gets you some wins in a ball game.”

Segura walked 23 times last season in 217 plate appearances after walking just 30 times over 618 plate appearances in 2019. His walk rate more than doubled and he saw more pitches per plate appearance than each of the last two seasons.

Last season, Segura still swung at roughly the same rate of pitches, but increased the rate of pitches in the strike zone he swung at and lowered the rate of pitches outside the strike zone that he chased.

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It wasn’t perfect as Segura’s strikeout rate increased, but his production last season -- a 106 OPS+ --resembled the hitter the Phillies thought they were adding before the 2019 season. All he needed to do was change what made him so attractive to the Phillies two seasons ago. And it started with a little wager.

“Who cares about contact rates when you’re getting an out,” Segura said.