So whats the answer to our offensive woes ?

BravesfanMike

BravesfanMike

High School Draftee
Fire Fredi ? Fire Walker and Fletcher ? Trade JUp for more of a higher average hitter ? I have no idea but something is needed before the pitchers start resenting the hitters and then the proverbial $&@! will hit the fan. This has the potential to divide this team and wreck the chemistry.
 
There's no way trading our best hitter solves our offensive woes. WE're stuck in a rut, Eventually Jason will start getting hits to fall, Bossman has been doing better at the plate and if he sticks to his improved approach he will improve offensively. Then just bring up TLS and that should give up 6 above average hitters, which will solve our offensive woes. Right now out offensive Justin and Freddie with a dash of Gattis.
 
BravesfanMike said:
Fire Fredi ? Fire Walker and Fletcher ? Trade JUp for more of a higher average hitter ? I have no idea but something is needed before the pitchers start resenting the hitters and then the proverbial $&@! will hit the fan. This has the potential to divide this team and wreck the chemistry.
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Funny you should ask. I have a theory and have no known way to quantify it.

My thought is that in your lineup, you must have power, and you must have on base percentage/contact skills. However, as a general rule, there is an inverse relationship between power and on base percentage/contact skills. (If you find a middle infielder with both, you should sign him to a five year deal. But I digress).

OBP/contact skills are typically more consistent than power. Power comes in bunches.

You can absorb a few all-or-nothing guys, but not a whole lineup full. And we've got a lotta power. And very few OBP guys.

A lineup needs to be balanced between these two types of hitters in order to hit critical mass when power sleeps. Ours isn't.

LaStella, then, would help more than his numbers would suggest, because he fits. Simmons could change his approach and be more valuable. CJ needs to hit. Interestingly, BJ had a year or two where he fit the profile.

And generally, we have so many guys hitting worse than they should be right now. It's almost stupefying how bad they are. I have to wonder if Walker/Fletcher are connecting at all. With anybody. Seriously, maybe let Pendleton take over.

But as much as we're not hitting, the design is flawed.
 
1) Fire Fletcher/Walker...so far they've proven, well, lets just put it mildly....they aren't capable MLB hitting coaches and Walker's track record here and in Chicago is nothing to write home about...and while I agree that we have too many of the same type of hitters and lineup construction isn't the greatest due to what's on the roster (but there is talent)...there is no excuse for our bad approach at the plate game after game and that falls squarely on the hitting coaches

2) Fix 2B...somehow, someway, it needs to be done. I'm not exactly sure what the answer is at this point in time, but we have gotten nothing out of Uggla for the first month and Pena and Pastor haven't done anything in their small amount of appearances. Maybe TLS is the spark, but I have my doubts as he isn't exactly lighting the minors up. We might have to look externally.
 
zitothebrave said:
There's no way trading our best hitter solves our offensive woes. WE're stuck in a rut, Eventually Jason will start getting hits to fall, Bossman has been doing better at the plate and if he sticks to his improved approach he will improve offensively. Then just bring up TLS and that should give up 6 above average hitters, which will solve our offensive woes. Right now out offensive Justin and Freddie with a dash of Gattis.
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Unless and until Jason fixes his swing, he's going to continue The Summer of 4 to 3. He's standing away from the plate and still can't hit an inside pitch.
 
Not much we really can do. The only thing would be to call up TLS but there is no guarantee that would even be an upgrade over Pastor. Personally I'd like to see Uggla cut and replaced by TLS but doubt that happens. We're basically stuck hoping Jason gets going and CJ can get that babip crazy high again till we decide TLS is ready. It also doesn't help that our 3rd best hitter so far is a catcher and needs to be replaced with Freddi's fat twin at least once a week.

Walker and Fletcher need to go as well, I'm not sure it would actually help all that much. But we can't continue to actually pay people whose job is to help our hitters when the ABs look like they do.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
Unless and until Jason fixes his swing, he's going to continue The Summer of 4 to 3. He's standing away from the plate and still can't hit an inside pitch.
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Disagree.

Jason's actually done a good job hitting the ball all over the field.

http://www.fangraphs.com/spraycharts.aspx?playerid=4940&position=OF&type=battedball

http://www.fangraphs.com/spraycharts.aspx?playerid=5361&position=1B&type=battedball

Except for going up the middle more and Freddie driving the ball better they're similar. Jason needs to hit with some more authority. The being off the plate stuff is a theory but not a lock to fix the issue. For me he's a perpetual tinkerer and eventually he finds what works and he kills it.
 
Its clear there is no player leadership in that clubhouse. There is nobody to call a guy when they need it. Just a bunch of guys drawing checks.
 
It's on Wren. The lineup consits of guys who don't get on base at a good rate. Besides Freeman and Justin the OBP for the regular is awful. Jason cracked .300 but that still is nothing to write home about.
 
BravesfanMike said:
Fire Fredi ? Fire Walker and Fletcher ? Trade JUp for more of a higher average hitter ? I have no idea but something is needed before the pitchers start resenting the hitters and then the proverbial $&@! will hit the fan. This has the potential to divide this team and wreck the chemistry.
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So, later in the year when the bullpen blows a win or the hitters score 7 but the pitcher gives up 8, is it time for the hitters to resent the pitchers?? I think a loss usually feels bad for all of them, a losing streak worse but I imagine most of these guys have played a lot of ball and know that an entire season is 6 months, not just one.

I agree there might need to be some changes made (what I don't know) but I doubt that the current hitting drought isn't the catalyst for some team-imploding, season ending meltdown for the team.
 
There is no magic solution. But there are various moves that will help some. Some of those moves are already being implemented. Gattis is being played more. We've seen him play 3 day games after night games recently, something that didn't happen earlier in the season. I think we'll see him playing four consecutive days more often going forward.

Second, Uggla has been moved from the lineup. Pena & Pastornicky haven't produced yet, but at some point we're likely to get more out of second.
 
Getting Heyward going would be a heckuva start. He played like this til June or later last year, but he is pretty much the catalyst.
 
nsacpi said:
There is no magic solution. But there are various moves that will help some. Some of those moves are already being implemented. Gattis is being played more. We've seen him play 3 day games after night games recently, something that didn't happen earlier in the season. I think we'll see him playing four consecutive days more often going forward.

Second, Uggla has been moved from the lineup. Pena & Pastornicky haven't produced yet, but at some point we're likely to get more out of second.
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I never understood the idea of the "at some point" or "eventually" crowd? I get it that you are tying to be positive, but a player doesn't have to ever get better. He could just plain suck. La Stella is mega struggling at Gwinnett too. Why is he the magic answer?
 
Dee Gordon at 2B leading off, The 1991 version of Otis Nixon in CF hitting second. The 1999 version of Chipper Jones at 3B hitting third. The 1982 version of Dale Murphy in RF hitting cleanup. Freeman at 1B hitting fifth. Gattis catching and hitting sixth. Heyward in LF hitting seventh. Simba right where he is.
 
NinersSBChamps said:
I never understood the idea of the "at some point" or "eventually" crowd? I get it that you are tying to be positive, but a player doesn't have to ever get better. He could just plain suck. La Stella is mega struggling at Gwinnett too. Why is he the magic answer?
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The way I would explain it is this: If a player is hitting .100 in mid-May but has an established track record of hitting better than that, then I would say that "at some point" or "eventually" he will turn things around. Capiche?
 
nsacpi said:
The way I would explain it is this: If a player is hitting .100 in mid-May but has an established track record of hitting better than that, then I would say that "at some point" or "eventually" he will turn things around. Capiche?
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Yes. I just don't get the people that expect BJ to turn it around? His track record is poor save for one season.
 
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