Ahmed is hoping that improved pitch selection and a swing path change will allow his hot offensive start to continue, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.

EDGE Analysis

He is working on not swinging at sinkers down and in or breaking balls down and away, which tend to lead to weak groundballs. Instead he is focusing on waiting for pitches that he can do damage on. "I think in the past I've probably not locked in a specific zone as much as I should and chased more of the pitchers' pitches, either on the corners or down and out of the zone," Ahmed said. His swing path has also evolved. He has worked with several hitting coaches and gurus recently to try to generate more balls in the air in the middle of the field. So far his production fits the narrative, as he is hitting .471 (.538 BABIP) with one home run and a 3:2 K:BB through 19 plate appearances. Of course, his career .230 batting average in 1,039 plate appearances looms as a reminder that this could very easily just be the result of good luck in a small sample size. It's at least not impossible, given his reported changes to his approach, that we could be witnessing a breakout.