Drew hit grand slam with “broomstick handle”

Rob Bradford wrote an interesting story about the adjustments JD Drew made at the plate in the postseason.

Apparently when David Ortiz digs in at the plate, he leaves craters in the dirt large enough to swallow Dustin Pedroia.  Drew noticed that he was planting his feet in the holes left by Ortiz, who stands really close to the plate.

“He goes in there and digs that trough, and as a hitter you end up falling in between. So the easiest thing to do is stick your toe in the same hole, and that makes you having to open up. I know that was a big thing. Once I figured it out it freed me up a little bit.”

Drew also told a pretty humorous story about how he started using Bobby Kielty’s bat in game 5 of the ALCS.

“Kielty swings a CC271, which is essentially the smallest barrel in the league, and I swing a CC243, which is one of the larger barrels in the game.

“I picked up one of Kielty’s bats and it looked like a broomstick handle, but it felt pretty good. I asked him if I could use one of his and he told me to go ahead. I picked it up, swung it, and thought I had better not, so I grabbed my bat and went out on-deck, but (Mike) Lowell grounded out to end the inning. So when I came back in the next inning I said ‘What the heck, I haven’t been hitting the ball like I wanted to,’ so I grabbed Kielty’s (bat) and went on-deck. I remember almost feeling naked on-deck. This wasn’t the weapon of choice I had been using all season.”

Drew continued to use the bat through the rest of the playoffs, including his 1st inning grand slam in game 6 of the ALCS. 

“The bases are loaded, Manny is up and I figure we’re going to get some runs right off the bat, but he gets out. And then Lowell comes up to bat and he gets out. I’m like, ‘Oh, no. I’m standing on-deck with Kielty’s bat. This is not the right decision. Lightning is not going to strike twice.’ I felt good with it on-deck, but I was still a little uncertain. It turned out pretty well.”

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