Dodgers' Yasmani Grandal: Aiming to improve right-handed swing

Grandal worked on hitting right-handed in the offseason, having fully recovered from knee and shoulder injuries that have hindered his ability to conquer left-handed pitching in recent years, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports.

The switch-hitter, who also adopted a meatless diet this offseason, said he was struggling to "sit back (on his right leg) and turn on it" when he was in the righty box, and after his 2013 knee injury, he hit just one home run in his next 126 at-bats from that side. According to Plunkett, the 28-year-old's launch angle as a right-handed hitter last year was 7.7 degrees, nearly half of the 14.0 he generated as a lefty, and it produced a 53.6 percent groundball rate. Already one of the most intriguing fantasy hitters among catchers, Grandal, who cranked 27 home runs last year, could soar into elite territory if he can refine that part of his plate work, which could help give him a useful batting average (unlike his career .238 mark). He'll be in high demand during the middle rounds of a mixed draft, especially in OBP variations.