Involved in the Will Myers trade is Steven Souza. His 2014 stats at AAA, .350/.432/1.032, 75 RBI’s in 90 games are impressive. But, what I’d like to point out is that Souza was a terrible hitter from 2007-2011. In 444 games during that time, Souza hit .226 (347 hits in 1538 ABs), with walks and strike outs once for every 8.7 and 3.9 ABs, respectively. In contrast, from 2012-2014, in 278 games Souza hit .314, an almost unheard of 9 percent improvement in batting average. How did Souza do this? At least two factors are involved. Souza was able to strike out less, once every 4.9 ABs, while maintaining the same walk rate (1/8.8 ABs), thereby indicating that a better ability to make contact. Second, Souza played 3B/SS from 2007-2010, making lots of errors-92 in 249 games, which translates into 60 errors for a 162 game season! From 2012-2014, Souza played the outfield extensively, and, not having to think about errors in the infield may be a second reason for Souza’s improved success at the plate.

Stats obtained from: 
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=souza-001ste