Chase Utley’s Swing Is Coming Along Slowly, But Surely

Chase Utley has finally completed his journey back to the Major Leagues. Now that he has rehabbed his knee and gotten it prepared for the grind of the regular season, he will now be focused on knocking the rust off of his swing. Though the left-handed hitter constantly took batting practice while his knee injury kept him out of games, hitting in batting practice and simulated games are completely different from facing major league pitching.

After two games with the Phillies, Utley is 1-9 at the plate with a single. He has given the Phillies some quality at-bats so far though. On Monday, the 32-year old went 0-5, but showed some encouraging signs. He made decent contact when he hit the ball, and in his second plate and third plate appearances, he did a nice job of working the count and batting Reds’ pitcher Bronson Arroyo. He wasn’t able to reach base after either at-bat, but he saw a combined 15 pitches, and made Arroyo work hard for his outs.

On Tuesday, Utley went 1-4 with a single. He hit a line drive to centerfield that had a chance to score Jimmy Rollins, but the shortstop was thrown out at the plate on the play. In the second baseman’s other three at-bats, he failed to reach base but was still able to see some pitches and make contact.

What is most encouraging about Utley at the plate right now is that he doesn’t look overmatched after sitting out most of the first two months of the season. He is seeing the ball well, and is working the counts into his favor. He’s making contact with the ball, and has only struck out once in his nine at-bats. He’s not making things easy on the pitchers he has faced.

Utley saw less than 50 at-bats during his rehab assignment in the minors. During those at-bats, the former All-Star was more concerned with how his knee would hold up rather than what he could do with the bat. Now that he’s back in the big leagues, it will take a little bit of time for him to catch up and get his swing into high-gear after missing all of Spring Training, and most of April and May. However, the encouraging signs from Utley’s first two games indicate that his swing may not be that far off from doing some damage sooner rather than later.