Carl Crawford looking confident ahead of 2012 season – MLB News
Carl Crawford had a very tough time last season as he failed to make the most of available opportunities. Struggling to find his form, he managed to hit only .137 with two bases in his first 12 appearances. After he failed to deliver the goods, Crawford was dropped in the batting order. The left handed striker continued to struggle throughout the season to post the worst stats of his career in stolen bases, batting average, home runs and other categories.
In an interview with a leading sports website, Crawford stated that despite all of his failures in 2011, he is optimistic about the upcoming Spring Training session. The hitter went through a tough time last season as he was unable to deal with the pressure. However, he is looking to turn things around with consistent performances in 2012. Crawford further added that he has been training hard this offseason to make improvement in his game play and he will not disappoint his fans this time around.
"Last year was probably one of the toughest things I ever had to go through,'' said Crawford. "For whatever reason it was, I struggled. It was really hard to deal with. I've had a lot of time to think about it and make corrections and I think things will be better.
"The main thing is to put last season behind and start fresh. That was bad. Everyone saw what happened. It was well documented. The main thing is to let that go and try to start over and do what I normally did the past nine years.''
According to sources, Crawford had a problem with his wrist past season, which halted his progress substantially. He has made a number of changes in his swing technique and if he can put all the broken pieces together, he will have a great chance to change the course of his career in 2012.
While the striker failed to score runs in 2011 he fielded quite brilliantly. His .990 fielding percentage was the third best among all Major League left fielders. It will be interesting to see if Crawford can live up to the hype in Spring Training.
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