"Of course, every ball that ever left a bat had a launch angle. Even a chopper off home plate had an initial launch angle. What has changed, of course, is that J.D. Martinez’s complete re-tooling of his swing, and incredible success, produced an understandable storm of copy-catting. Suddenly everyone was trying to hit more fly balls, despite often disregarding the fact that Martinez’s changes went far deeper than just trying to hit fly balls. That is the result. The process is the point, and there is a lot more to it than just trying to catch balls on the upswing."
If you look at Martinez's stats over the last three seasons, he seems to have changed his hitting approach this year from what he did in '17. He did mention in the press conference that he made some changes since coming to Boston. His GB/FB ratio went from 1.17 in '16 to .89 in '17 and back to 1.28 in '18; LD-21.4/18.5/22.6; GB-42.4/38.3/43.5; FB-36.2/43.2/34; IFFB-4.1/6.8/2.7. Additionally his K rate changed-24.8/26.2/22.5.
It looks like the Boston staff pointed out a few things to him this season and he adjusted accordingly. Perhaps this is park related or due to the way that he was being pitched. He seems to be more interested in hitting the ball hard and not focusing on loft now.
