There’s a real disconnect between fans and teams these days around how teams actually make decisions and prepare their players for the game. Infield drills and batting cage time is still critical, of course, but the role of coaching staffs has changed so drastically in the last decade that it’s often fair to ask “what does this guy actually do?”
Marcus Thames is a good example of this. The Yankees have a great track record of taking lesser hitters and unknowns like Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius, Luke Voit and Gio Urshela, and turning them into 120 wRC+ studs.