Anyone got AJC insider that can read this article? I think most of us would probably appreciate it.
Anyone got AJC insider that can read this article? I think most of us would probably appreciate it.
Ivermectin Man
If you don't think they should be this bad, make them better or resign. I have a problem with people receiving paychecks when they aren't doing their job.
Meh.
I think the hitting coaches have all told the players to stop swinging early and make the pitchers work.
Whether or not the players go up there and do it is another story. Perfect example is CJ being one of our best contact hitters... CJ swings at first pitch on Wednesday and pops out to shallow right without advancing the runner.
The most frustrating thing with our team has been striking out too much, and having quick at bats.
There's nothing the coaches can do about striking out tbh. Hitters take they think is a ball, they K. They swing and miss not coaches' fault.
Forever Fredi
As a 12 yr old way back in the last century, the first thing a coach taught me was backside hitting. Havent seen much of that from the Braves since Prado left.
It still bugs me that the Braves once had Don Baylor as hitting coach, but wouldn't pay him.
BedellBrave (05-19-2014), BoneThrower (05-17-2014), bravesnumberone (05-16-2014), JohnAdcox (05-17-2014), Julio3000 (05-16-2014)
Not me. I was probably his biggest defender all of those years. It was amazing to me that we consistently had one of the better offenses in the NL during his tenure, yet everyone wanted him gone.
Andruw had his best season under TP. Unfortunately, TP couldn't fix his knees.
same quotes basically on MLB.com (free). I'm somewhat encouraged as I was afraid they didn't think there was a problem or couldn't explain what was going on. They see we are failing to differentiate between balls and strikes which IS the problem (swinging at balls and looking at strikes). Walker is at least addressing the problem, no talk of "we're just in a slump" which would make me want to strangle him.
So we're halfway there, now start to fix the problem. Baby steps, but the past 10 games have been better than the ten before that.
Glad to see the Braves made the hitting coach available to the press to address the issue. A little scrutiny can't hurt.
I'm not the type to really blame the hitting coach. Sure, they can help players work through a mechanical flaw in their stance, and review video with the players to get a feel for upcoming pitchers. But really, if a player makes it to the majors, they know how to hit. It's not up to the hitting coach to tell them to take a ball and tell them what a strike is. Really, we just have too many flawed players, which seem to be the flaw of exactly the same kind with each.
When a player just sucks, the problem is most likely with them. When a player just sucks with the Braves, the problem is most likely something to do with the Braves.
The problem is Frank Wren. Why anyone builds a team from top to bottom with all or nothing hitters that will strike out a lot and usually feast on the less than starting pitchers is beyond me. Frank Wren is the one that should be answering the questions, not the hitting coach. Most of these guys were what they are long before he started working with them.
50PoundHead (05-17-2014), Braves1976 (05-17-2014), NinersSBChamps (05-17-2014)