Does anyone think that us using the Adidas bats could be one of our reasons for poor hitting? I' ok with what Adidas has done with our uniforms but good gracious those bats are dead! I saw someone else mention this question on Twitter and thought I would get yall's thoughts...
Adidas Bats our hitting problem?
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I agree our hitting w/RISP has to improve and we have to get someone as a deep threat. I just wondered if it affected our guys, saying it doesn't is like saying you could hit a 300yd drive with the "walmart driver" vs your Taylormade types. Give Rea & Detz their trusty Easton back maybe they make better contact... over all it was just a thought..
I understand where you're coming from and it may get in their head but I would
be willing to bet there is very little difference in the bats, maybe a little but Cohen needs to address the issue with his players if that is something going around clubhouse. Don't blame the bats boys let's hold each other accountable and get the job done.
be willing to bet there is very little difference in the bats, maybe a little but Cohen needs to address the issue with his players if that is something going around clubhouse. Don't blame the bats boys let's hold each other accountable and get the job done.
If you can hit genuine true 300 yard drives, you can do it with something new off the shelf from Walmart too.
Its the Indian not the arrow.
Same thing here with hitting. As long as we aren't using yellow wiffle ball bats, the bat isn't the issue.
Hitting overall is a HUGE issue for this team. We're 11th in the SEC in batting average and last (not even close to 13th) in extra base hits. Yeah, we suck at getting runners in scoring position home. But we suck just as much at getting runners into scoring position to begin with.
our players simply arent very good when it matters.
2 outs and nobody on....they are good for a hit
bases juiced or runner at second with no outs or one out and they completely **** the bed and look clueless in the process.
we had a lot of that last year as well, but were able to overcome with frazier and renfroe and rea not sucking ***. a few hits sprinkled here or there and we are talking about an entirely different outcome to our season thus far.
anyone looking to blame the bat is just looking for a convenient scapegoat or overreaching on why we have sucked, but a quick comparison to last year and we were doing a lot of the same ****, just were better at capitalizing with runners on particularly at the end of the season.
2 outs and nobody on....they are good for a hit
bases juiced or runner at second with no outs or one out and they completely **** the bed and look clueless in the process.
we had a lot of that last year as well, but were able to overcome with frazier and renfroe and rea not sucking ***. a few hits sprinkled here or there and we are talking about an entirely different outcome to our season thus far.
anyone looking to blame the bat is just looking for a convenient scapegoat or overreaching on why we have sucked, but a quick comparison to last year and we were doing a lot of the same ****, just were better at capitalizing with runners on particularly at the end of the season.
We are using Adidas bats this year (changed from Easton). I talked to a couple of the players after the Saturday night LSU game and asked them what they thought of the Adidas bats. All of them said they preferred the Adidas bats to the Eastons. I followed that up by asking if there's really that much of a difference between manufacturers since they all have to conform to BBCOR. Again, the unanimous response was that: yes, there's a difference, and the Adidas bats have more "pop" than the Eastons did.
Now, take that with a grain of salt being that we're sponsored by Adidas and the guys probably won't bad-mouth them to the general public, but that's what they told me Saturday night.
Bat selection is never given as much concern as it should. I have not used a bat in many years so I can't speak to any current brands. I do think the bats they used last year were horrible. As a hitter you should find the bat that best fits you. I would not care in the least what bat we were provided by the school. When I was there my first year we were supplied by Worth (Tennessee Thumpers) and I absolutely could not find a bat I liked. I was first using a Wilson Indestructo then found the green Easton and used that throughout my time at MSU. Now other guys used Thumpers and loved them. So if it is the bat, it is ultimately the players fault. I would fight the coaches or administration if they tried to force me to use a tool I felt was inferior.
When I went to the minors all those years ago they asked us what bat we wanted ordered for us. I was like, I have not used a wood bat in 4 years how can I possibly tell them that. It was even an after thought for a professional team. I don't accept a good hitter can hit with anything. There is a tool that fits them best and they need to find it.
Ted Williams told a story in his book The Science of Hitting how he used a 35in/33oz bat of a certain model. Here is an excerpt describing his thoughts on the subject:
"I think you will find as we go along that much of what I have to say about hitting comes down to your own self-education: thinking it out, learning the situations, knowing your opponent and, most important, knowing yourself. You, the hitter, are the greatest variable in this game, because to know yourself takes dedication. Today that's a hard thing to have. Today ballplayers have a dozen distractions. They're always on the run. In the old days we didn't fly, we rode the train. We might be 10 to 12 hours on a train, and much of the talk was hitting. We didn't have television, we didn't have a lot of money to play around with. We lived in an atmosphere of baseball. We talked it, we experimented, we swapped bats. I was forever trying a new stance, trying to hit like Hank Greenberg or Jimmy Foxx or somebody, and then going back to my old way. I recommend that for kids. Experiment. Try what you see that looks good on somebody else. Try different bats, a bigger handle, a bigger barrel, anything.
My preference was a light bat. I treated my bats as though they were babies. I boned them. I used to take them to the post office to check their weights. I ordered 33-ounce bats, but they'd come to 33 1/2 ounces, maybe 34, so I always checked. I'll never forget, Mr. Hillerich of Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the Louisville Slugger company, put six bats on a bed one time. One was half an ounce heavier than the others. He had me close my eyes and pick out the heavier bat. I picked it out twice in a row."
Bat selection is critical to hitting.
When I went to the minors all those years ago they asked us what bat we wanted ordered for us. I was like, I have not used a wood bat in 4 years how can I possibly tell them that. It was even an after thought for a professional team. I don't accept a good hitter can hit with anything. There is a tool that fits them best and they need to find it.
Ted Williams told a story in his book The Science of Hitting how he used a 35in/33oz bat of a certain model. Here is an excerpt describing his thoughts on the subject:
"I think you will find as we go along that much of what I have to say about hitting comes down to your own self-education: thinking it out, learning the situations, knowing your opponent and, most important, knowing yourself. You, the hitter, are the greatest variable in this game, because to know yourself takes dedication. Today that's a hard thing to have. Today ballplayers have a dozen distractions. They're always on the run. In the old days we didn't fly, we rode the train. We might be 10 to 12 hours on a train, and much of the talk was hitting. We didn't have television, we didn't have a lot of money to play around with. We lived in an atmosphere of baseball. We talked it, we experimented, we swapped bats. I was forever trying a new stance, trying to hit like Hank Greenberg or Jimmy Foxx or somebody, and then going back to my old way. I recommend that for kids. Experiment. Try what you see that looks good on somebody else. Try different bats, a bigger handle, a bigger barrel, anything.
My preference was a light bat. I treated my bats as though they were babies. I boned them. I used to take them to the post office to check their weights. I ordered 33-ounce bats, but they'd come to 33 1/2 ounces, maybe 34, so I always checked. I'll never forget, Mr. Hillerich of Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the Louisville Slugger company, put six bats on a bed one time. One was half an ounce heavier than the others. He had me close my eyes and pick out the heavier bat. I picked it out twice in a row."
Bat selection is critical to hitting.
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Not sure about this season, but in 2012 I went through and analyzed the brand used by the top power hitting teams and posted it on this board. By far the top brand was Demarini, it was something like 8 out of the top 10 , and 12 out of the top 15. They were clearly, statistically better than all others. I'm convinced that some brands push the BBCOR envelope more than others.
Not sure if that trend still exists in 2014 or if the other brands have caught up.
Not sure if that trend still exists in 2014 or if the other brands have caught up.
Didn't we have this same discussion about the bats last year? It's not the bats. It's the people swinging them