Greg Walker appreciation thread

[PurpleBrave]

Let's hear it for Greg Walker and his unparallelled ability to help hitters break out of slumps. When his name was brought up on another forum (with fans from all teams), comments like these proceeded...

"Man I do hate having Greg Walker though. Guys are completely on their own - once a slump starts, S-C-R-E-W-E-D. "

"www.firegregwalker.com The guy sucks. Nothing more to be said. "

"There's pretty much a zero percent chance the Braves win anything this year with these hitters. "

"But the thing with Beckham is The White Sox just ruined him. They never gave him any time to mature and learn in the minors. Not only did they rush him as an unfinished product but then to top that off they made him change positions. Plus throw in Greg Walker and now you have an absolute disaster."


(From 2013)...

" Greg Walker has proven he cannot get players out of slumps. Under his tutelage, guys undergo epic, neverending slumps. Dunn, Rios, Uggla, now BJ and Justin are going through slumps they can't get out of. This guy can't come up with solutions when players are faced with a crisis situation.

Look at the way George Brett has made tweaks with Hosmer and put him in a much better position as a hitter. It's no coincidence that certain players become better hitters with a new voice, a new perspective around. BJ's hitch in his swing has become much more pronounced this season, to the point where it's comical. He has so much going on with the load of his hands before the swing that it's a wonder he can even make contact. I'm sure Walker sees this, but he hasn't been able to do jacks**t to fix it. BJ is in a place right now where he's so broken mechanically that he's not going to turn it around this year. That hitch he has is Little League stuff, and it's clearly a big issue. He can't hit anything, he's just putrid. I have no faith in the clown Greg Walker fixing him this year. "


" Greg Walker still being the Braves hitting coach again is somewhat concerning to me though. He coached Dunn during his season long 2011 disaster and Dunn was never able to shake the funk the whole year. With Walker gone to Atlanta in 2012 Dunn was back to his usual self but that same type of slump Dunn had carried over to Uggla. But, if he can get back to his normal 30 hr season with a 250 ave he will be a steal at 2B. "

"Upton has been the Christina Hendricks of baseball so far this season. Just extraordinarily busty. He has a real Adam Dunn/Alex Rios 2011 feel to me. Also, the Greg Walker factor looms large. He'll make you think he's back with the occasional bomb or stolen base, but then go on another 1-25 bender. It's also a bad, bad sign when a guy is talking about trying to make significant mechanical changes during the season, which BJ and Walker have mentioned."

How long do we keep on with this??...

[Hawk]

Blaming the hitting coach for offensive woes? Ah, how refreshingly original.

[The Chosen One]

I still blame Merv Rettemund.

[Diesel]

Yeah, it's not Walker. It's the way this offense has been constucted. We simply have a lot of bad hitters in our lineup. Since adding Uggla and the Uptons, this has been a hard group to watch.

[bravebonebook]

4-3 to start the season. Time to push the panic button.

Please don't forget to come back to post how good Walker is when the Braves go on a winning streak, putting up 5 or more runs per game.

[drewdat]

It's overwhelmingly obvious that he isn't part of the solution. There would be literally no risk in bringing someone else in. Next, please.

[gilesfan]

Who wouldn't want to be the hitting coach in baseball or the special teams coach in football? Every fan thinks their coach at these positions is terrible.

[Millwood1Hitter]

Greg Walker is undoubtly the worst hitting coach that the MLB's have ever seen in the history of the game. Why we hired this bafoon after firing another bafoon that was the disaster known as Larry Parish is mind boggling, even more mind boggling that they didn't even talk to anyone else, and there were better options available, but hey, we got a Georgia boy!

Between this idiot and Parish and Rettenmund, we've had over the past decade and a half the worst hitting coaches in the history of the game.

Give me Don Baylor. Id even take Clarance Jones back at this point. Hell, I'd even take Pendleton back in that role.

This club is a freakin disaster right now, so much talent, but no approach, and a guy that doesn't have a clue how to get any of these guys out of their slumps and make any minor adjustments to get them back on track.

[NinersSBChamps]

It all falls on how Wren wanted his team constructed. If anyone is to blame it's Wren.

[gilesfan]

Greg Walker is undoubtly the worst hitting coach that the MLB's have ever seen in the history of the game. Why we hired this bafoon after firing another bafoon that was the disaster known as Larry Parish is mind boggling, even more mind boggling that they didn't even talk to anyone else, and there were better options available, but hey, we got a Georgia boy!

Between this idiot and Parish and Rettenmund, we've had over the past decade and a half the worst hitting coaches in the history of the game.

Give me Don Baylor. Id even take Clarance Jones back at this point. Hell, I'd even take Pendleton back in that role.

This club is a freakin disaster right now, so much talent, but no approach, and a guy that doesn't have a clue how to get any of these guys out of their slumps and make any minor adjustments to get them back on track.

So much talent?

You mean a team that has Gattis, Uggla, Simmons, and BJ in the everyday lineup? THere is one bonafide "great" hitter in the everyday lineup and thats Freeman. Heyward, Johnson, and J-Up would be considered "good to really good" in my book.

[AerchAngel]

Can someone tell me what his job is? I know it is not sitting on his ass digging boogers out of his nose.

[Hawk]

Rudy Jaramillo is available.

Come to think of it, so is Leo Mazzone.

[Dalyn]

Plunk Greg Walker and his little plunking sidekick.

[gtcway]

Rudy Jaramillo is available.

Come to think of it, so is Leo Mazzone.

I'm willing to give Leo a shot as hitting coach.

[keithlaw]

Give the job to Rocker. He's pretty good at being offensive