During his wide-ranging discussion with 660 WFAN in New York’s Sweeny Murti last week, second-year Nationals’ hitting coach Kevin Long talked at length about launch angle (why his role in the so-called “launch angle revolution” has always been overblown), his respect for 21-year-old Juan Soto, and the influence of analytics on his work as he tries to prepare Washington’s hitters for the pitchers they’re going to be facing each series.
One interesting tidbit: Long explained that early last season the Nationals dispensed with the usual advance meetings on opposing pitchers because they thought that hitters were getting overwhelmed by the information.