There’s a nonzero chance that Adam Duvall, while he took practice swings in a batting cage somewhere in the bowels of Wrigley Field over the weekend, made a passing mention about how good his swing was feeling. It obviously showed on the field, where he hit two home runs in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday to help the Miami Marlins win a series against the Chicago Cubs, and what he does on the field isn’t usually too far off from his expectations on any given day.
“A lot of the times, I’ll know in the cage before the game,” Duvall said. “Like, It’s coming through right today.”
The Duvall hot streak isn’t unfamiliar to MLB and even the Marlins, who have had the outfielder for less than three months, have already ridden a few of them.
In April, Duvall posted a .297 batting average with three home runs across 10 games and Miami went 7-3. In May, Duvall hit .302 with four home runs across 14 games and the Marlins went 8-6.
Those two two-homer games in Chicago gave Duvall a .326 average and seven home runs in an 11-game stretch and powered Miami to a series win against the Cubs.
When everything feels right, Duvall can singlehandedly power the Marlins to victory. The trick is figuring out when everything is going to be just right for 32-year-old power hitter.
“When he’s going, you feel like you can put him anywhere,” manager Don Mattingly said Friday, “and then all of a sudden you see him cool off...”
Mattingly paused, smiled and tried to find the right way — the diplomatic way — to describe the phenomenon.
“It’s like you don’t know,” he finally said.
After all, Duvall went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts Sunday, then 0 for 4 again Tuesday in the Marlins’ 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays in front of 6,291 at loanDepot park.
It comes with the territory for Duvall, who was an All-Star in 2016 and has looked like an All-Star for another couple dozen one-week stretches of his career. Duvall is unabashed in his approach. Every time he steps to the plate, he said, he considers himself to be in scoring position.
“Put the barrel on the ball,” Duvall said, “and good things will eventually happen.”
It is, of course, easier said than done.
Duvall’s latest hot streak gave him 16 home runs and 52 RBIs to lead the National League, but he was batting below the Mendoza Line as recently as June 4 and still has the fifth most strikeouts in the league. Even with MLB batting averages lower than they’ve been since 1968 and strikeouts higher than ever, Duvall sits on the extremes for a heart-of-the-order hitter.
