brett05
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I understand that, but it seems like my answer needed more explanation. Plus I am rarely on over the weekend..work, family, church, life.
I understand that, but it seems like my answer needed more explanation. Plus I am rarely on over the weekend..work, family, church, life.
TC in Mississippi
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While it is still very early I think it's looking more and more clear that Javy Baez really has some work to do and should almost certainly start in AAA. What's going to be interesting though is if they continue to tell him to only make the recommended swing adjustments with 2 strikes or if, after being sent down, they try to remake his swing entirely. This is a really tough call for the team and this young man. Trying to completely retool a swing at this stage of development can have catastrophic results but the question of whether he can be effective against MLB pitching without changes is real.
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Yeah. I worked over the weekend and went to church, too. There is no excuse for your lack of activity on the forum over the weekend and subsequent need to rehash stuff that has already been hammered out. :tongue:I understand that, but it seems like my answer needed more explanation. Plus I am rarely on over the weekend..work, family, church, life.
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Here is the Cubs hitting instructor, just as an FYI for everyone-
brett05
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Yeah. I worked over the weekend and went to church, too. There is no excuse for your lack of activity on the forum over the weekend and subsequent need to rehash stuff that has already been hammered out. :tongue:
I beg your forgiveness.
Now get to coming up with the terms of our one week of being a superfan for the bullpens.
brett05
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Here is the Cubs hitting instructor, just as an FYI for everyone-
Pardon the ignorance, but is he showing what to do with two strikes or what to do period? It looks like he's stressing contact with no power.
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Correct. This is a disconnected swing with the hands leading the hips and the traditional swing down/Point A to Point B swing that isn't actually what good MLBers do.
Here is a former MLBer with a solid career. Note that his swing would have resulted in hitting the screen, if it were placed behind him, as in the previous gif I posted.
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Calm down, The Cubs struck out 9 times yesterday besides Baez. LaStella struckout twice. Pitchers are always a head of hitters at this time. He may need to start in AAA, but lets see more of a substance before declaring. He could go the next 4 games without a K. This is like I said with Schwarber. Its spring training dont get over emotional from one game to the next.
brett05
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I agree except one point. Hitters are ahead of pitchers at this point. It's not really until mid April that Pitchers are throwing like they always do.
TC in Mississippi
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Actually not emotional about it at all. I've felt since his struggles in winter league ball that Baez would probably need to go to AAA to straighten things out. I don't think there's anything wrong with that either and I root for the kid. It's been reported that he hasn't had many, if any, strong at bats yet in very limited play and while whether he strikes out or not isn't important his approach to each AB is. My point was it will be interesting to see how they try to "fix" him. Some think he need an overhaul which is the kind of thing that derails prospect's careers. One would hope it doesn't come to that.
Spring training, IMHO, is about little picture stuff, process if you will. Results may not be important but approach and the little details are. If a pitcher has a rough outing it might not mean much unless one particular pitch is failing in a certain spot, lack of command is evident or even just lack of confidence in his throws. For a hitter it's important in how he approaches his ABs, how he seems to be recognizing the pitches and what his general approach is. What you can't do is try to take any big picture stuff out of any of it. Everything needs to be looked at as an individual action, whereas in the regular season you're looking at how all those action work in conjunction to form a larger performance.
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Not at all
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He has had 5 or 7 at bats. I heard he had a bad strikeout yesterday. I heard the first game he had two solid at bats. Lets not go game to game. In another two weeks or so, there will be a clearer picture. I havent even seen an at bat of his yet this season.
brett05
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Can you explain more? Your reply is lost on me
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For the Cubs’ part, they’re preaching patience, but they’ve also made it known to Baez that his ways have to chance. And they’ve given him some parameters.
“It’s a little bit of a mindset issue,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer told the Mully and Hanley Show on Friday morning. “Take your shot to do damage early in the count, but when you get two strikes, I think it’s important you put the ball in play. I think we’ve gotten to a stage in baseball where unfortunately where we overlook the negative aspect of strikeouts. A strikeout with two outs and no one on is not a big deal. But a strikeout with guys on base, when you have a chance to move runners or have a chance to drive in a run with less than two outs, that is a big deal.
“He has to understand there are times when you can’t strike out. You have to put the ball in play. He’s worked hard. When people have asked me about Javy this spring, I’ve kind of looked back to (Anthony) Rizzo. When Rizzo came up to the big leagues in 2011, very similar struggles. Once things started going in the wrong direction, they really plummeted that direction. And he had to come back that next spring and really revamped his swing to catch up with better fastballs that the saw in the big leagues. And he did that. Adjustments are hard when you have to make adjustments in the big leagues.”
Hoyer and the Cubs brass remain high on Baez’s potential.
“That’s what Javy’s going to have to do,” Hoyer said. “He’s going to have to make some adjustments and going to have to cut down on his strikeouts. If he does that, we’ve got a guy who can play shortstop and second base and hit 30 home runs on an annual basis. But you’re going to have to put the ball in lay more often than he did last year. He knows that, and he’s working hard to make the adjustments.”
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/03...t-for-javier-baez-in-cutting-down-strikeouts/
“It’s a little bit of a mindset issue,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer told the Mully and Hanley Show on Friday morning. “Take your shot to do damage early in the count, but when you get two strikes, I think it’s important you put the ball in play. I think we’ve gotten to a stage in baseball where unfortunately where we overlook the negative aspect of strikeouts. A strikeout with two outs and no one on is not a big deal. But a strikeout with guys on base, when you have a chance to move runners or have a chance to drive in a run with less than two outs, that is a big deal.
“He has to understand there are times when you can’t strike out. You have to put the ball in play. He’s worked hard. When people have asked me about Javy this spring, I’ve kind of looked back to (Anthony) Rizzo. When Rizzo came up to the big leagues in 2011, very similar struggles. Once things started going in the wrong direction, they really plummeted that direction. And he had to come back that next spring and really revamped his swing to catch up with better fastballs that the saw in the big leagues. And he did that. Adjustments are hard when you have to make adjustments in the big leagues.”
Hoyer and the Cubs brass remain high on Baez’s potential.
“That’s what Javy’s going to have to do,” Hoyer said. “He’s going to have to make some adjustments and going to have to cut down on his strikeouts. If he does that, we’ve got a guy who can play shortstop and second base and hit 30 home runs on an annual basis. But you’re going to have to put the ball in lay more often than he did last year. He knows that, and he’s working hard to make the adjustments.”
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/03...t-for-javier-baez-in-cutting-down-strikeouts/
TC in Mississippi
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I saw the first two. Didn't look great but you were able to see the adjustment of his hands being lower after 2 strikes and the leg kick being not quite so exaggerated. You're right though a couple of more weeks and a clearer picture will emerge. Frankly my expectations for this team don't include Javy Baez as I just don't see him as being ready. I think at this point they're in a much different place as a team than they were last year when he came up and his development matters both as a future player and as an asset.
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brett05
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So I like the premise of the article but it does not fit the constraints. From the beginning of camp to roughly Mid April the hitters are ahead of pitchers. The evidence I would use is the amount of money I would make (not initially as I had no idea that this was true) the first two weeks of the season betting against the best pitchers in baseball. Their odds were always mid season form yet the actual percentage was no worse than 50% of the time the better pitcher would win. It would fund my ups and downs for the remainder of the year by killing it the first two weeks.
Until today I have never heard Pitchers ahead of Hitters. It was always the other way around.
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What? Pitchers start camp two weeks earlier. I have never heard hitters over pitchers at this time. In fact, watching the Rockies and Padres broadcast yesterday. Announcers were stating how hitters are slow to the pitchers velocity. Its one thing to take BP and there is another to have live action. They specifically said pitchers are always ahead of hitters at this time.
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Except for Schwarber, who we know is a beast. He hit a home run in his first ST AB on his birthday. He's ahead of the pitchers! Go cubbies!
brett05
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It takes Pitchers that much longer to get ready.
Pitchers throw less breaking stuff initially, and their fastballs are at a lower quality then say mid April.
Like I said, watch the games in how many big time pitchers do not win nor do their teams win in the first two weeks of the season. It's almost borderline not gambling.