Braves hitting coach is not earning his keep

AerchAngel

AerchAngel

<B>Secretary of Statistics</B>
1. What is the job of the hitting coach?

2. Is the hitting coach doing his job?

3. How can people on this board can explain hitting better than a hitting coach that sits on his behind and do nothing to help the hitters. We have Chipper Jones come in and talk to BJ and improving him, which should have been the hitting coach job. For free and we pay him a lot of money to dig boogers out of his nose and take splinters out of his butt.

4. Loyalty to coaches is stupid.

6 runs in 6 losses is unheard of. I wonder if any team have done that.

My first suggestion which is Joe Simpson's as well, practice bunting and practice hitting the other way and I don't care if you are a pull hitter.
 
AerchAngel said:
1. What is the job of the hitting coach?
2. Is the hitting coach doing his job?
3. How can people on this board can explain hitting better than a hitting coach that sits on his behind and do nothing to help the hitters. We have Chipper Jones come in and talk to BJ and improving him, which should have been the hitting coach job. For free and we pay him a lot of money to dig boogers out of his nose and take splinters out of his butt.
4. Loyalty to coaches is stupid.

6 runs in 6 losses is unheard of. I wonder if any team have done that.

My first suggestion which is Joe Simpson's as well, practice bunting and practice hitting the other way and I don't care if you are a pull hitter.
Click to expand...

There are many problems in the hitting coach department, but not all of them are Walker.

You mention Chipper coming in, working with people and leaving. That undercuts Walker one way. But how about the fact that Pendleton was the team's hitting coach for NINE YEARS before being demoted to base coach/dugout coach. I would be perfectly happy to see Pendleton restored, but the only true way to solve the problem is getting rid of all conflicting information, firing Walker, Fletcher and moving Pendelton to roving hitting instructor for the entire system. Then the club needs to commit TOTALLY to the new coach, making the team off-limits to Chipper or anyone else.

If Fredi can't get behind this, then it's grounds for firing him. Surely he's not that foolhardy.

Would Chipper take the job? No way in hell.
 
I doubt very seriously Chipper ever takes the big league level job. Chipper's expertise would be wasted on the big leaguers anyway. I doubt they would listen. Add 5 to 10 more years the guys on the team will be guys that didn't play with him and have less of a notion to listen. Add to that I don't think Chipper will be a great major league hitting coach because much like George Brett I don't think he will be able to handle the failure of big leaguers. Where Chipper needs to be is at the minor league level where he can teach.
 
I have doubts about Chipper being an effective manager/head coach.

Very very very rarely if ever in professional sports does a great all-time player/athlete ever become a great and successful coach.

The best coaches/managers are usually major league scrubs that scrapped their way to make it to the bigs, had to learn every technical aspect and every angle of the game because they didn't have elite talent and gifts. Players like Chipper and Bonds who are smart players, usually have a hard time translating that to off the field because they are so gifted and athletically above everyone else that they don't often have to work three times as hard to put up numbers.

Michael Jordan is already a terrible GM, and I'd imagine he wouldn't be a great coach either.

When you hear of guys like Laird being a manager one day, he's clearly not the best player on the field or in the dugout, but he has a presence and baseball IQ even if it might not show when he plays.
 
AerchAngel said:
1. What is the job of the hitting coach?
2. Is the hitting coach doing his job?
3. How can people on this board can explain hitting better than a hitting coach that sits on his behind and do nothing to help the hitters. We have Chipper Jones come in and talk to BJ and improving him, which should have been the hitting coach job. For free and we pay him a lot of money to dig boogers out of his nose and take splinters out of his butt.
4. Loyalty to coaches is stupid.

6 runs in 6 losses is unheard of. I wonder if any team have done that.

My first suggestion which is Joe Simpson's as well, practice bunting and practice hitting the other way and I don't care if you are a pull hitter.
Click to expand...

1. Analyze swings and prepare hitters for what pitchers they will be facing
2. We have no idea
3. They can't
4. Agreed
 
I disagree somewhat on his in regards to Chipper. Many elite level hitters understand very little about their swing (biomechanically) and what they do (think) they understand is steeped in myth. It's kind of like listening to Joe Simpson talk hitting. Very little of it translates to what actually happens in a hitters load and unload that relates to success.

Chipper is a bit different in that aspect. He really is a student of the game and a hitting guru. I say that because his understanding of the elite level swing is on target. And his eye for picking out inefficencies is astute as well.

Many stars lack those qualities and hitting is more of a 'feel' than something they can define, though they often try.

KeithLockhart said:
I have doubts about Chipper being an effective manager/head coach.

Very very very rarely if ever in professional sports does a great all-time player/athlete ever become a great and successful coach.

The best coaches/managers are usually major league scrubs that scrapped their way to make it to the bigs, had to learn every technical aspect and every angle of the game because they didn't have elite talent and gifts. Players like Chipper and Bonds who are smart players, usually have a hard time translating that to off the field because they are so gifted and athletically above everyone else that they don't often have to work three times as hard to put up numbers.

Michael Jordan is already a terrible GM, and I'd imagine he wouldn't be a great coach either.

When you hear of guys like Laird being a manager one day, he's clearly not the best player on the field or in the dugout, but he has a presence and baseball IQ even if it might not show when he plays.
Click to expand...
 
what you guys want our hitting coaches to do requires a major investment in time/effort and I highly doubt if Chipper's interested at this point. Simply going on road trips is enough to rule him out right now.

There's not enough hours in the day to work with everybody, they need to work on a few guys at a time and get them straightened out. Its all individual; group hitting instruction at the major league level just doesn't work.

I suspect there's a lack of leadership here. Somebody in charge (I'm looking at you, Fredi) needs to decide who works with who, and when, and everybody appears to need some work. Pendelton and Chipper could both be used in addition to the other two guys. If they don't like it, tough. Its not like they're doing a great job.

Firing people in May is usually counterproductive, you spend too much time reinventing the wheel with the new guy. The offseason is another story.
 
stpeteirish said:
what you guys want our hitting coaches to do requires a major investment in time/effort and I highly doubt if Chipper's interested at this point. Simply going on road trips is enough to rule him out right now.

There's not enough hours in the day to work with everybody, they need to work on a few guys at a time and get them straightened out. Its all individual; group hitting instruction at the major league level just doesn't work.

I suspect there's a lack of leadership here. Somebody in charge (I'm looking at you, Fredi) needs to decide who works with who, and when, and everybody appears to need some work. Pendelton and Chipper could both be used in addition to the other two guys. If they don't like it, tough. Its not like they're doing a great job.

Firing people in May is usually counterproductive, you spend too much time reinventing the wheel with the new guy. The offseason is another story.
Click to expand...

Leadership isn't singular, it's plural.
 
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