INDIANAPOLIS — Gift Ngoepe hit a home run in the season opener, but in an odd way that could have been an ominous sign.
He’s not a power hitter. Ngoepe has enough power to hit home runs on occasion, but in the past that has gotten him in trouble because he starts swinging for them more frequently. The average drops. The strikeouts rise. The productivity falls. That’s not the type of hitter Ngoepe needs to be in order to reach his future potential. And that’s not the hitter he has been so far this season.
Ngoepe is hitting .