Kevin Seitzer

[The Chosen One]

Braves are racking up K's like never before.

Our plate discipline is really bad.

He's worked some magic with some hitters previously.

But do you guys think he's gonna be scapegoated if the offense continues to look this bad?

I think Matt Olson has watched everyone free swinging early in the count and it's rubbed off on him.

[bravesfanMatt]

I think it is a bad forum name and we are just scapegoating Kevin.

[msstate7]

I think Matt Olson is at fault. Not sure why, but I know it to be true

[VirginiaBrave]

I certainly hope Seitz doesn't pay for something that isn't his fault. There are factors here no one has any control over. Duvall had a career year, RAJ is injury-prone, and Dans and Austin are just streaky. Olson is unfortunately the guy who replaced a Braves legend and coming home to do so. It has to be wearing on him. If the Braves attempt to scapegoat Seitzer then the team to a man needs to go to AA and take responsibility for their own part because there is complacency at work too.

[cajunrevenge]

I think its cause by a lack of hugging.

[BravesBlock]

Didn’t the Braves cut ties with Chipper because he refused to take the jab? He helped several on the club last year, especially Riley. The Braves need to drop that policy and bring Chipper back to help these guys.

[Russ2dollas]

I think there is only so much he can do.

Most of this is the types of hitters on the roster. We have mostly power guys.

I think we can work on approach to up walk rates. But it's been tough with ****ty umpires calling balls strikes and making guys expand the zone.

I also think the hitting coach thing is hard b/c some guys just click with other guys. Riley was a great example last year with his own guy, who is also gone b/c he's a moron (will not get vaccinated).

I think the hitting coach and pitching coaches need to be more program leaders and the guys need access to the people who they click with.

I also wouldn't mind if we had a few more OBP guys on the roster. Guys that have a high OBP and hit for power are some level of star and we have some. It's unlikely you can acquire and/or pay an entire team of high OBP power guys. It is why I'm higher on a guy like V Grissom than some. Even if the power does not come, I'd like to have 1-2 guys like that to balance the roster. I don't want an entire team of doubles power guys, but I think having 2 of 9 guys like that might get us some more multirun HRs and get some bashers some extra at bats over the year.

[clvclv]

Didn’t the Braves cut ties with Chipper because he refused to take the jab? He helped several on the club last year, especially Riley. The Braves need to drop that policy and bring Chipper back to help these guys.

Don't recall that, but asking him to become more involved seems counterproductive - unless he's willing to take the job full-time.

I'm certainly not qualified enough to answer the question of whether Chipper might be "better" than Seitzer - Seitzer has had a lot of success, and to be honest Chipper looks like he just enjoys tinkering with it when he's not hunting or doing something else. That's perfectly fine (and probably helpful some of the time), but if you openly ask him to become more involved you completely undermine everything Seitzer tries to do.

You can't create a situation where a part of the lineup credits Chipper's help when they're going good and have everyone complain that Seitzer's system isn't working when guys are in slumps/not making contact.

[CyYoung31]

I think there is only so much he can do.

Most of this is the types of hitters on the roster. We have mostly power guys.

I think we can work on approach to up walk rates. But it's been tough with ****ty umpires calling balls strikes and making guys expand the zone.

I also think the hitting coach thing is hard b/c some guys just click with other guys. Riley was a great example last year with his own guy, who is also gone b/c he's a moron (will not get vaccinated).

I think the hitting coach and pitching coaches need to be more program leaders and the guys need access to the people who they click with.

I also wouldn't mind if we had a few more OBP guys on the roster. Guys that have a high OBP and hit for power are some level of star and we have some. It's unlikely you can acquire and/or pay an entire team of high OBP power guys. It is why I'm higher on a guy like V Grissom than some. Even if the power does not come, I'd like to have 1-2 guys like that to balance the roster. I don't want an entire team of doubles power guys, but I think having 2 of 9 guys like that might get us some more multirun HRs and get some bashers some extra at bats over the year.

I mean, sure. But it’s not like Acuña, Olson, Riley, and Ozuna are free swingers either. Albies is a free swinger, but he’s also traditionally a good hitter. Swanson is typically league average. The issue currently is a team-wide slump which won’t last, and bad luck also won’t last. The long term issue is the other two OF spots when Acuña is in there being complete black holes, and it’s exacerbating the other issues. Unless your 1-7 are studs, it’s going to strain your ability to score runs.

[clvclv]

I mean, sure. But it’s not like Acuña, Olson, Riley, and Ozuna are free swingers either. Albies is a free swinger, but he’s also traditionally a good hitter. Swanson is typically league average. The issue currently is a team-wide slump which won’t last, and bad luck also won’t last. The long term issue is the other two OF spots when Acuña is in there being complete black holes, and it’s exacerbating the other issues. Unless your 1-7 are studs, it’s going to strain your ability to score runs.

Exactly - this is where the lack of depth (and Snitker's bumbling) kills you when guys are cold. When the Manager thinks that juggling the order rather than giving someone a couple days off to clear their heads and reset is going to somehow end slumps, this is what you wind up with. This seems much more like a Cox/Snitker/Freeman "everybody should play everyday" hangover than a World Series hangover. Keeping these guys in the lineup when they're struggling only leads to extended slumps. The biggest problem with the lack of depth in certain places means you HAVE TO leave free-swingers like Duvall in there because you're not going to get more offense from someone like Heredia even when Duvall is as bad as he's been. I'd argue it might at least make sense to give Ozzie a day or two to take a breather when he goes into chase mode since there's at least a chance you might get something from Arcia, but that's not a whole lot better than the Duvall/Heredia situation.

[Russ2dollas]

I mean, sure. But it’s not like Acuña, Olson, Riley, and Ozuna are free swingers either. Albies is a free swinger, but he’s also traditionally a good hitter. Swanson is typically league average. The issue currently is a team-wide slump which won’t last, and bad luck also won’t last. The long term issue is the other two OF spots when Acuña is in there being complete black holes, and it’s exacerbating the other issues. Unless your 1-7 are studs, it’s going to strain your ability to score runs.

I mostly agree.

I was trying to make the point that there is only so much the hitting coach can do. I think a lot of this is roster construction.

We know Duvall is likely to be a productive offensive player, over a large sample. Day to day it can be very frustrating between HRs and hot streaks.
Same thing with Dansby. We know Dansby is an avg hitter, like you said, but we know that comes with high highs and low lows. So you have to play through the lows.

I did not like the rosario signing b/c it was 2 years. But clearly AA did not expect him to suck and then get hurt.

I don't know how much depth is my criticism given in the DH world I don't expect us to play bench guys much other than the back up catcher. It's just that we didn't get the extra impact bat we needed.

My hope for next year is that they are going to add another impact bat. CF, LF and SS are options. I'm not naive enough to think we can have a stud everywhere, but we need another impact bat.

[CyYoung31]

I mostly agree.

I was trying to make the point that there is only so much the hitting coach can do. I think a lot of this is roster construction.

We know Duvall is likely to be a productive offensive player, over a large sample. Day to day it can be very frustrating between HRs and hot streaks.
Same thing with Dansby. We know Dansby is an avg hitter, like you said, but we know that comes with high highs and low lows. So you have to play through the lows.

I did not like the rosario signing b/c it was 2 years. But clearly AA did not expect him to suck and then get hurt.

I don't know how much depth is my criticism given in the DH world I don't expect us to play bench guys much other than the back up catcher. It's just that we didn't get the extra impact bat we needed.

My hope for next year is that they are going to add another impact bat. CF, LF and SS are options. I'm not naive enough to think we can have a stud everywhere, but we need another impact bat.

I don’t know, man. I’m starting to think that Duvall’s bat speed is toast.

[Russ2dollas]

^maybe.

He's been productive for a long while. I don't have metrics on his bat speed. He's young enough I wouldn't expect it to decline rapidly but it happens.

It's also a year where the offseason was thrown into disarray and it's hard to know the impact.

I'd like to think Harris is going to be able to handle CF at least by next year. Maybe this year. Harris playing a good CF would lower the pressure on his bat.