Going 'back to the basics' has Drury mashing

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon's Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

One of the few offensive bright spots of the Reds in a rough first month for the lineup has been infielder Brandon Drury. Just a month in, he already has six more big league plate appearances than he had in ’21 with the Mets.

Besides collecting hits -- including a six-game hitting streak that ended Tuesday and leading the club with six home runs -- Drury has also taken exceptional jumps in his hard contact.

According to Statcast, Drury’s barrel percentage is 17.7 percent this season (95th percentile in the Major Leagues) while he’s been at 7.4 percent over his career. His expected slugging percentage and hard-hit percentage also rank high.

“I felt like I’ve had pretty similar at-bats with the Mets. I didn’t have a lot of at-bats but when I was up there, I felt pretty similar to how I am now -- approach-wise and mechanics-wise,” Drury said.

During the offseason ahead of 2021, Drury returned to hitting with his father, Shane, while at home in Oregon and called it going “back to the basics.” The two worked together again this past offseason.

“I was being an athlete in the box and was just being natural,” Drury said. “The previous three years, I had made a swing change to try to lift the ball. I just completely forgot how to hit for three years. Before last year, I went back with my dad and just started doing all the stuff we used to do just to get back to my natural self. It’s been good. There’s always room for improvement but the at-bats have been solid. I have to continue to keep it simple and compete in the box.”