Every offseason, hitters spend their days grinding in the batting cages, making adjustments to either their swing or approach to hopefully have a better season at the plate. Junior outfielder Isaiah Jackson is enjoying the fruits of his labor so far this year after going through a swing overhaul during the offseason.
Standing at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Jackson's longer arms and legs made it harder for him to produce a consistent swing. That's why hitting coach Jason Ellison and Jackson went to work over the offseason.
"(Jackson's) a longer-limb guy and he's put himself in some pretty tough positions to get out of, so the consistency just wasn't there," Ellison said. "He'd show flashes of it, but now I think it's a lower-maintenance swing. He's able to get to balls a little easier and maintain positions."
The biggest adjustments Jackson and Ellison made to simplify his swing were changing his toe-tap to a small leg lift, less movement with his hands during his load and finishing his swing with two hands on the bat instead of one.
2024 Season
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Last year, Jackson hit .263 with a .795 OPS as a sophomore. Despite the unremarkable statistics, he showed flashes of his potential. His size and athleticism landed him 74th in Baseball America's Top-100 College Prospects list for this year's draft. Jackson was selected in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros out of Cienega High School, but elected to go to ASU. Now with a simplified swing, he's starting to tap into that offensive potential.
"(Jackson) kind of had a swing overhaul, offensive overhaul, for the most part this fall and has bought in and is is the best I've seen him look since he's been here," head coach Willie Bloomquist said.
In the 12 games the Sun Devils have played so far this season, Jackson is hitting .313 with a .916 OPS and a pair of home runs. His .313 batting average is the best on ASU's team among qualified hitters.
"(Jackson's) come back swinging it really well in the spring," Bloomquist said. "Just his overall consistency in batting practice alone, you can just see he's squaring everything up ... The vast majority of his days are not chipping the baseball and having it banana to the opposite field. He's getting true backspin and very consistent with his approach and swing and balance and all that type of stuff."
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Jackson had his best series of the young season against Minnesota, where he was 6-for-13 at the plate with a 435-foot home run and two doubles. He attributed his success this past weekend to being more aggressive at the plate.
"(Being aggressive) got me back to my approach that I was doing earlier in the year in the spring and fall and getting the ball middle-away, getting on the heater, and I was able to see the ball really well, spitting off of good pitchers' pitches and then getting my pitch and driving it," Jackson said.
With a more consistent swing, Jackson and the Sun Devils are hoping it brings consistent results this season. The early returns have been nice for the stat sheet, but more importantly, the swing changes have given Jackson more confidence to go out and run quality at-bats.
"I think he's confident," Ellison said. "We've made some adjustments in the fall with the swing and just talking through how to approach pitches and cover certain zones, and I think the confidence is through the roof right now, and it's showing in this performance."
Edited by Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at jmjanes1@asu.edu and follow @JackJanes_ on X.
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Jack is a graduate student studying sports journalism. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked at Walter Cronkite Sports Network and The Sporting Tribune.
