KANSAS CITY- Speaking to media members for the first time since Wednesday night's trade that sent him to the Royals, Andrew Benintendi sounded upbeat and excited for a new adventure in Kansas City.
"I'm extremely excited," said Benintendi. "I'm from the Mid-West, so I'm excited. I'm ready to get there, I'm ready to meet people, build those relationships and get going."
Benintendi was born and raised in Cincinnati and played his college baseball at Arkansas, where he won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top player in 2015. A first round pick of the Red Sox after his Sophomore year in Fayetteville, Benintendi soared his first two full seasons in the big leagues in 2017 and 2018 before the injury bug bit in 2019.
"I had some injuries there that last month," said Benintendi. "I think that hurt my overall numbers. And then last year obviously it was the first time we'd ever experienced that."
A rib injury limited Benintendi to just 14 games in 2020. He said Thursday he feels one hundred percent healthy heading into Spring Training.
In addition to better health, Benintendi plans to return to the plate approach that led to more consistent hitting and 177 runs batted in combined in 2017 and 2018. An effort to hit more home runs changed Benintendi's swing in 2019 and 2020, and not for the better.
"There was an effort on my end to try to just get the ball in the air more," said Benintendi, who's batting average dipped by nearly 30 points in 2019 with the new approach while he struck out a career-high 140 times. "Ya know, at the time I think that's where the game was and it might be getting away from that now. But it was power so I was going up there and trying to hit for more power."
"I'm 5'9", 175 pounds," continued Benintendi. "I realize that I'm not going to be up there hitting 30 homers a year and things like that."
"Now I understand the player I am, the player I want to be. And physically I feel back to where I need to be, swinging feels good."
Benintendi actually crossed paths with Mizzou during his freshman year at Arkansas in 2014, picking 3 hits in a three game series against the Tigers. He was named to the SEC's All-Freshman team that year. That set up one of the best season's in Arkansas baseball history as s sophomore when Benintendi hit .376 and led the nation with 20 homers becoming the consensus national college player of the year. That's the player many fans in Missouri remember. Benintendi hopes he can be that player again.
"I haven't played since last August so I'm ready to go."
The Link LonkFebruary 12, 2021 at 05:47AM
https://www.komu.com/sports/benintendi-excited-for-fresh-start-with-royals/article_210a605a-6cbb-11eb-9733-4b3662bb2b53.html
Benintendi excited for fresh start with Royals | Sports | komu.com - KOMU 8
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