So far, it doesn’t look like the Chicago White Sox miss Dave LaRoche or what was called by certain players as the leadership and inspiration in the constant clubhouse presence of his 14 year old son.
********
Jared Weaver has become a guy serving up batting practice unless he spots every ball perfectly according to area, speed and arm angle. An impossibility, especially when hitters lick their chops and look for breaking stuff and don’t worry about a fastball after facing today’s power arms on almost every team. Mike Scioscia continues to make excuses for him but the only reason Weaver is on the staff is because the farm system was depleted with the signings of Pujols, Hamilton and Wilson.
This is another lost season for the Angels, and a waste of what will probably be Mike Trout’s greatest year now that he is learning to stop taking hittable first strikes and fishing for un-hittable strikes and balls.
********
The Angel front office should have harkened back to what the Dodgers did back in the 1970s, when they signed Cey, Garvey, Russell, Lopes and most of their young pitching staff to long term contracts in their early and mid twenties and then let them go in their early thirties and let somebody else waste money on players beyond their prime years.
********
Yasiel Puig might be too emotionally and mentally fragile to ever reach his incredible potential and compile a season of production similar to the Trout’s, Harper’s and other emerging 5 tool stars. He appears unable to endure the ups and downs of a long season. Bad at bats, and bad games eat him alive and down-spin him into prolonged slumps. He rages in the dugout after striking out and seems miserable and morose. He so far is unable to adjust to changing patterns in the way he is pitched to. He has a gorgeous swing but swings too hard and repeatedly misses inside pitches with heat and fishes for typical low outside bait. Although he plays the field and runs the bases with scintillating abandon and is a joy to watch, at other times he seems unable to relax and enjoy the game. He is woefully inconsistent and therefore undependable.
Here’s hoping the kid can somehow harness his awesome talent. Perhaps he would perform best as the big dog on an inferior team like Minnesota or Atlanta.
********
A philosophy of hitting that has dominated baseball for almost 3 decades might slowly disappear or at least be tempered by the prevailing shifts posed by analytic experts in every front office. A majority of today’s hitters have adopted vicious bottom-hand semi-uppercut swings leveraging power and are capable of hitting tape measure homeruns in many cases but strike out far, far too much and are unable to place the ball. They are robotic, stances deep in the box, high front leg lifts, bats held high with elbows up, making most of them vulnerable to inside heat.
The shift was originated by Cleveland shortstop Lou Boudreau on Ted Williams, a man Boudreau knew was so skillful with the bat he COULD go the other way and beat the shift, but was so stubborn, egotistical and proud that he preferred to ram the ball down the throats of infielders on the shift.
Very few of today’s hitters swing with the level top-hand swing where the right shoulder never dips and the batter is capable of making contact on almost any pitch in or out of the zone and in many cases hit that pitch where he wants. Bat control has been replaced by power. None of these hitters appear to be weaned on the game of pepper. None of them realize that a good level swing from a powerful ball player will still hit line drives out of the park, even if they’re not tape measure.
With the heat these huge rawboned pitchers are providing today, and the movement on splitters and two-seamers, the more compact swing is ideal to wear these kinds of pitchers down and find holes in the infield and gaps in the outfield.
Today’s hitters are weaned from little league on to drag that bottom hand through, almost like golfers. They don’t give a hoot if they strike out. It has to change.
********
The Yankees have too many old players who are already struggling and will be out of gas or injured by August, if they’re not already out of the running.
********
Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs could be the rising superstar this year. He has the most compact power swing in the game next to Mike Trout, is fearless at guarding the plate; is dedicated and studious as a hitter and ambitious for greatness. He is the perfect example of being a big strong guy with the compact swing who hits homeruns.
His swing is a near carbon copy of Chase Utley’s, a secondbaseman with more than 200 homeruns and high average, a great top-hand hitter in his prime who is still effective.
********
The Cubs are the team to beat, but in the playoffs it will all depend on their third starter and bullpen. We are talking John Lackey, a gutty winner.
********
St. Louis, a great organization, might have to suffer an off year with their old slow shortstop out, a few of their stars getting old, Lackey and Hayward gone, a pitching staff coming down with injuries, and several up and coming players still unproven. Next year.
********
San Francisco has to release Jake Peavy, who is finished, and probably Matt Cain, whose stuff no longer has late life or sharp breaking action. They’ve got to find a 4th and 5th starter somewhere if they want to get into the playoffs, where they are capable of beating better teams.
********
Kansas City misses Zobrist and Rios, two tough hitters who worked counts and solidified their line-up.
********
Barry Bonds is already making a difference with Miami hitters, and though Don Mattingly won’t admit it, it had to be sweet to come into Chavez Ravine and sweep the Dodgers in 4 games after their sabermetric geniuses tortured him.
********
Jared Weaver has become a guy serving up batting practice unless he spots every ball perfectly according to area, speed and arm angle. An impossibility, especially when hitters lick their chops and look for breaking stuff and don’t worry about a fastball after facing today’s power arms on almost every team. Mike Scioscia continues to make excuses for him but the only reason Weaver is on the staff is because the farm system was depleted with the signings of Pujols, Hamilton and Wilson.
This is another lost season for the Angels, and a waste of what will probably be Mike Trout’s greatest year now that he is learning to stop taking hittable first strikes and fishing for un-hittable strikes and balls.
********
The Angel front office should have harkened back to what the Dodgers did back in the 1970s, when they signed Cey, Garvey, Russell, Lopes and most of their young pitching staff to long term contracts in their early and mid twenties and then let them go in their early thirties and let somebody else waste money on players beyond their prime years.
********
Yasiel Puig might be too emotionally and mentally fragile to ever reach his incredible potential and compile a season of production similar to the Trout’s, Harper’s and other emerging 5 tool stars. He appears unable to endure the ups and downs of a long season. Bad at bats, and bad games eat him alive and down-spin him into prolonged slumps. He rages in the dugout after striking out and seems miserable and morose. He so far is unable to adjust to changing patterns in the way he is pitched to. He has a gorgeous swing but swings too hard and repeatedly misses inside pitches with heat and fishes for typical low outside bait. Although he plays the field and runs the bases with scintillating abandon and is a joy to watch, at other times he seems unable to relax and enjoy the game. He is woefully inconsistent and therefore undependable.
Here’s hoping the kid can somehow harness his awesome talent. Perhaps he would perform best as the big dog on an inferior team like Minnesota or Atlanta.
********
A philosophy of hitting that has dominated baseball for almost 3 decades might slowly disappear or at least be tempered by the prevailing shifts posed by analytic experts in every front office. A majority of today’s hitters have adopted vicious bottom-hand semi-uppercut swings leveraging power and are capable of hitting tape measure homeruns in many cases but strike out far, far too much and are unable to place the ball. They are robotic, stances deep in the box, high front leg lifts, bats held high with elbows up, making most of them vulnerable to inside heat.
The shift was originated by Cleveland shortstop Lou Boudreau on Ted Williams, a man Boudreau knew was so skillful with the bat he COULD go the other way and beat the shift, but was so stubborn, egotistical and proud that he preferred to ram the ball down the throats of infielders on the shift.
Very few of today’s hitters swing with the level top-hand swing where the right shoulder never dips and the batter is capable of making contact on almost any pitch in or out of the zone and in many cases hit that pitch where he wants. Bat control has been replaced by power. None of these hitters appear to be weaned on the game of pepper. None of them realize that a good level swing from a powerful ball player will still hit line drives out of the park, even if they’re not tape measure.
With the heat these huge rawboned pitchers are providing today, and the movement on splitters and two-seamers, the more compact swing is ideal to wear these kinds of pitchers down and find holes in the infield and gaps in the outfield.
Today’s hitters are weaned from little league on to drag that bottom hand through, almost like golfers. They don’t give a hoot if they strike out. It has to change.
********
The Yankees have too many old players who are already struggling and will be out of gas or injured by August, if they’re not already out of the running.
********
Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs could be the rising superstar this year. He has the most compact power swing in the game next to Mike Trout, is fearless at guarding the plate; is dedicated and studious as a hitter and ambitious for greatness. He is the perfect example of being a big strong guy with the compact swing who hits homeruns.
His swing is a near carbon copy of Chase Utley’s, a secondbaseman with more than 200 homeruns and high average, a great top-hand hitter in his prime who is still effective.
********
The Cubs are the team to beat, but in the playoffs it will all depend on their third starter and bullpen. We are talking John Lackey, a gutty winner.
********
St. Louis, a great organization, might have to suffer an off year with their old slow shortstop out, a few of their stars getting old, Lackey and Hayward gone, a pitching staff coming down with injuries, and several up and coming players still unproven. Next year.
********
San Francisco has to release Jake Peavy, who is finished, and probably Matt Cain, whose stuff no longer has late life or sharp breaking action. They’ve got to find a 4th and 5th starter somewhere if they want to get into the playoffs, where they are capable of beating better teams.
********
Kansas City misses Zobrist and Rios, two tough hitters who worked counts and solidified their line-up.
********
Barry Bonds is already making a difference with Miami hitters, and though Don Mattingly won’t admit it, it had to be sweet to come into Chavez Ravine and sweep the Dodgers in 4 games after their sabermetric geniuses tortured him.
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