CLEVELAND — In need of a rebound, Will Brennan utilized the mental approach that was sculpted over many years by a coaching-heavy family and the help of veterans in the Guardians clubhouse offering some sage advice.
On the physical side, he worked to lower his hands to better support his swing.
The result? The unfortunate, untimely death of a bird that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, a hot streak over the last week and, eventually, Friday night's walk-off double in the 14th inning that ended with Brennan being doused with water in celebration.
Going into the Guardians' May 22 game against the Chicago White Sox , Brennan was hitting just .206 with a .522 OPS in 109 plate appearances. He had one home run, four walks and 17 strikeouts.
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After a whirlwind promotion to the majors last fall, when Brennan hit .357 in 45 plate appearance just as the Guardians tracked down a playoff spot, his poor start in 2023 wasn't the ideal opening to his first full season in the majors.
But the extended slump became a teachable moment, particularly on the need to clear his head away from the ballpark.
"I think that's taken a lot of years of maturity because you want to show up to the field, you want to be the same person every single day," Brennan said. "You don't want to show up to the field and mope around because you're not doing well. Nobody cares. The only person that cares is you."
The idea isn't to avoid the poor stretches of baseball, which is an impossibility. It's to accept them and find solace in the little victories. Understanding that began with his grandfather, who coached basketball for 45 years, and continued with guidance from some of the more experienced players in the Guardians clubhouse.
"It took an army for my brain to finally just figure it out, settle in and realize this is a game," Brennan said. "You know, have fun. You're going to struggle, you're going to suck. But embrace it and have fun. Show up every day being the same person."
Then, on May 22, a bizarre scene : Brennan hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield that hit and killed a bird, which was removed by a groundskeeper. Brennan tweeted after the game that it was "an unfortunate sacrifice."
Except, since that incident, Brennan has been on an absolute tear at the plate. Between the bird's unfortunate death and Friday's game, a span of 13 games, Brennan hit a blistering .415 with three home runs, four doubles and eight RBIs.
The timing is perhaps coincidental, of course. Brennan had been working on raising his hands in an effort to stop trying to do too much at the plate while he was struggling. That mechanical adjustment led to some positive regression.
"My hands had dropped and my body had coiled away more than what it was last year," Brennan said. "And so I think that was a culmination of trying to do too much and trying to swing so hard and hit the ball hard, and just realized that I'm a strong individual that [I can] just catch the ball out front, and good things will happen."
This spring, Brennan went back to review video of his swing in an effort to identify any areas where he might have strayed.
He looks for three things — "bat angle, hip load and [scapula] load." He noticed some issues, but it wasn't until the end of the spring. It took time to correct his course.
"Then I just kind of was scuffling to fix it at the beginning of the year," Brennan said. "My hip load and scap load became too big or too rotational to where my bat speed was slower and I was late, and the only pitches I could really hit were off-speed pitches."
With the timing issue addressed, Brennan has gotten back on track in a major way. It's just unfortunate the bird community lost one of its members in the process.
"I mean, after the bird unfortunately passed away, I think we took two series from bird mascot teams [Cardinals and Orioles], so that was obviously huge," Brennan said, joking. "No, but I mean the adjustments were happening before that, and sometimes it just takes a few at-bats to get rolling or to get some sequencing in your body right."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians' Will Brennan finds hot streak after slow 2023 start
