Are The Players..
- Thread starter sluggercatfan
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
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Never been a proponent of taking pitches at this level in baseball, unless the opposing pitcher has walked about three batters in a row. Take a strike, ump calls another strike on a close pitch or you foul one off, suddenly, you're 0-2.
And taking 3rd strikes is the worst. We were all taught since beginning baseball swing at anything close with 2 strikes. With all of our problems, that's the one that aggravates me the most. "Leveraging the Baseball" is Guilliams' philosophy and it has worked fairly well the first two years. But not with this team. Pitch recognition with this group is not good. I watched one of our "sluggers" swing and miss at three straight curveballs. All three were the same speed in the same location. There's no excuse to not at least foul some of those off.
Strikeouts have been a problem in each of the first three years. I don’t think it will ever change. It is worse with this team because we are not as good at putting the ball in play to begin with, but even the last two years too many rallies were killed by untimely strikeouts.
Getting into the opponent's bullpen is huge at this level, so taking pitches is a wise approach in general. You can't put yourself in a lot of 0-2 holes, though. That seems to be something the Cats have done a lot.
Just speaking from a fan/media/onlooker standpoint, it's bad for the game to see so many deep counts and drag-out ABs. Coaches love 'em (if their team is batting) but it's not real good for the health of the sport.
Just speaking from a fan/media/onlooker standpoint, it's bad for the game to see so many deep counts and drag-out ABs. Coaches love 'em (if their team is batting) but it's not real good for the health of the sport.
It is awful!! But part of the problem is that pitchers are taught to throw as hard as possible, so the control is just not there or not emphasized nearly like it once was, so if you stand up there to take pitches, not all that likely you will be in an 0-2 count, like you would have been with Greg Maddux, to name one HOF pitcher.
Best example I can think of in the modern game is Aroldis Chapman. Throws 100 MPH, but even starting the 9th inning with no one on, like Dusty used to do, he would almost always take 20-30 pitches to get three outs. A K, a BB, a K, maybe a single every now and then, and another K. 30 pitches, ten or twelve minutes of actual elapsed time, and maybe one ball is put in play. :zzz:
That style of ball is turning a lot of fans off.
I think Mingione has a system where you can do 6-7 things to qualify as having a positive AB...im sure going 6+ pitches in an AB is one of them...but not the only one.
Some players just like taking.
When I was playing college (always open about it being vs d2/NAIA/d3 opponents) our coaches talked about swinging at "hittable pitches" so we actually expanded the strike zone and took an aggressive approach.
Some players just like taking.
When I was playing college (always open about it being vs d2/NAIA/d3 opponents) our coaches talked about swinging at "hittable pitches" so we actually expanded the strike zone and took an aggressive approach.
I don’t mind takes. What I hate more is being too aggressive at strange times. For instance, a pitcher just struggles and walks a guy or two and instead of making him pitch to us we have someone come in and swing at the first pitch, and often they get out. I suppose it is one of those things where if it works you aren’t upset about it, but when it fails it really frustrates me. The guy was struggling and we basically just helped him out by swinging at the first good pitch he’s thrown in 8 some odd pitches.
Taking an 0-0 pitch on the corner at the knees is one thing. Taking it down the middle is another. Getting in Texas A&M's bullpen was not a good game plan. A&M's entire offense took a more professional approach. Hitting the other way, moving base runners and such. We seem lost at the plate. Pitch recognition is terrible.
Yes, putting the ball in play and forcing the opposition to make a play in the field instead of whiffing 17 times seems to be a more prudent strategy in the long run. :scream: