Your satisfaction with his hitting is the quotient of his performance divided by your expecation, but that doesn't mean Brook Jacoby has turned him into a "good" hitter. He's still a below average hitter, just maybe not the complete dogshit hitter we all assumed he was.
Yeah, about half way through last season he realized how filthy his 2S was and starting throwing it a lot more, to the point where it's his primary FB now. This is probably the primary reason why FG says he's lost 1 MPH off his heater this year, it's almost all 2-seamers now. I'll trade 1-2 MPH for that nasty movement any day, though.
64%? I'd be shocked, but I think 60% is reasonable, yes. I'm looking at the action on his 2-seamer right now, and it's unbelievable. And his changeup is the same, except 8 MPH slower. He's front-dooring 2-seamers and backdooring cutters at will. He has all the right pitches to be an elite GB pitcher, so I'm buying into his 2015 GB rate to a large degree.
We're talking strictly about hitting, this is a thread about the hitting coach. His defense isn't germane to the discussion of how good a hitter he is.
More like 64% GBs. Different pitch mix than last year, he's utilizing the 2-seamer and cutter like crazy right now and racking up the GBs. He was a good GB pitcher last year but right now he's turning into an elite one.
I like Goins just fine as a utility infielder who can play full-time on a short basis due to his defensive strength, but let's not pretend he's even a mediocre hitter.
Houston (Kazmir, Keuchel) and LAA (Heaney, Santiago) both have lefties for us to mash as well. Martin Perez won't make the playoff rotation. Texas' lineup is the hottest and most imposing of those teams at the moment, with Choo, Beltre and Odor on fire lately and Prince having a nice season. None of them particularly scare me, but I'd rather face LAA the most if I had my druthers.
In which case we have homefield advantage all the way, so yeah... not worried. I'd actually love to watch the Jays sweep KC and clinch the AL Pennant at Kaufman stadium, just to shove it straight up their rectums and demonstrate to those idiotic fans that they're team is an overachieving fluke.
Who, specifically? I'm not seeing it. Colabello is a mirage and Goins isn't good by any measure, nor is Pillar. Smoak is who he is, and Navarro is just a below average hitter, period. Donaldson, Bautista, EE, Martin, and Revere were already good.
We already have homefield advantage in the ALDS and the World Series, regardless. Finishing 1st would give us exactly one additional (POSSIBLE) home game in the ALCS only, IMO it's totally justifiable to give the regulars some rest heading into the playoffs. KC sucks donkey testicles anyway.