You want to be passive-aggressive, really
We want to thank brilliant reader Ryan for pointing out this quote from Buddy Bell in today’s Kansas City Star. He said it yesterday after the Royals lost to Chicago and pitcher Jon Garland 3-1. I read the quote first thing this morning, but I must admit to having read enough managers’ quotes through the years to have just sort of breezed through it without giving it the proper consideration. That was my mistake.
Here’s the quote:
"With the kind of pitcher (Jon Garland) is, you want to be aggressive," Bell said. "You know he's going to throw strikes, so you want to get after him early in the count. We probably made it a little easy for him. We weren't as patient as we should have been and swung at some balls out of the zone early.”
OK, what? How baffling is that? Remember when you had to diagram sentences in school? Do kids still have to do that? Well try diagramming the logic of this sentence.
Point 1: You know Garland will throw strikes.
Point 2: You want to be aggressive and get after him early in the count.
Point 3: We were aggressive and got after him early in the count.
Point 4: Garland did not throw strikes.
Point 5: We should have known that.
Point 6: You don’t want to be aggressive and get after him early in the count.
Hitting is a very difficult thing to do – the most difficult act in sports, most people will tell you. Explaining hitting, apparently, is even harder.
4 comments:
Joe (if I may?),
I'm no hitting coach, but I've been watching the game for over 25 years. That gives me some platform, yes? Whether or no, here goes.
Buddy Bell was a very good player, but I'm not sure he's the kind of player that makes a good manager. I'll bet the players are scratching their head about the comment you noted as much as you are.
Here in Chicago (I'm a KC transplant), we've got Lou Piniella. Lou preaches patience in waiting for your pitch. It's not a generalized kind of patience where everyone must wait for a 3-2 fastball - as if the fastball's a fait accompli. Piniella and Gerald Perry, the hitting coach (and former Royal, I believe), preach attacking the strike zone.
I realize this lesson plan is not easy. Afonso Soriano swings at first-pitches like crazy, but he's also a first-pitch fastball kind of guy who usually makes good contact on those grounds. So Soriano violates the "rules": talent transcends the rules sometimes, like Vlad Guerrero (sp?).
But Derrek Lee is the living embodiment of a talent who utilizes the wait-for-your-pitch strategy above. Aramis Ramirez also seems to be quite good at waiting for his pitch.
And 3-2 fastballs do come, if you're patient enough to work the count. I recall a HOF Royal, our only one, who was particularly good at working the count in his favor (Was Brett not a genius at fouling off pitches?!). There's truth to the notion that you're more likely to get fat pitches later in the count (if not a fastball, a tired, hanging breaker), notwithstanding my fait accompli comment above. And then you get the added bonus of working the usually very talented starter.
- Tim Lacy
Buddy Bell is a fine man and was a fine player, but he's no rocket scientist. (Aside: When did rocket scientists become the standard for intelligence? What about, I don't know, molecular biologists or something? Aren't they pretty smart, too?)
Anyway, Bell just isn't all that great at coaching hitters and it should surprise no one. After all, he wasn't all that great a hitter himself. There aren't many strapping, 6'2" third basemen who finish their careers with a .406 slugging percentage, ya know? We're talking abot a guy who once came to the plate 720 in one season and drew the grand total of 30 walks. You want a manager who preaches patience? Look elsewhere.
Still, bad as he is, one would hope he would at least be consistently bad, if that makes any sense. Either preach patience or preach aggressiveness, consistently. To do both, IN THE SAME QUOTE, is a sign of mental illness. Either that or he's in the Bob Boone Memorial Zen Zone. Either way, we're in trouble as Royals fans.
Yeah, I sent Joe that quote after I pulled my hair out after reading it online when I got to work.
Why is it that Gordon and Butler hit just fine through out their career until they get on Bell's squad?
The Royals made Danks (who had his best performance of his career on Saturday) and Garland look like Cy Youngs on Saturday and Sunday.
Being aggressive early in the count just to be aggressive is stupid. The emphasis should be on finding your pitch to hit. So, if it's the fastball on the first pitch, or the fasball on the 9th pitch after battling with the pitcher, it doesn't matter...unless of course you're late in the game and you also want to drive up the starter's pitch count, so you're extra picky with that first strike. Heaven forbid, Bell emphasize awareness of the pace of the game when approaching a hitting philosophy.
Also, the White Sox announcers (the worst in baseball, btw) pointed out yesterday that Garland's curveball "...must not have been on the Royals' scouting report. They don't know what to do with it. They're not expecting it."
Evidently, Garland in previous seasons abandoned his curveball for his slider, but has returned to it this season and was throwing it in abundance on Sunday.
When people rip the Royals organization as a whole, I think Bells' quote and the scouting/lack of adjustment by the hitters are what they're talking about.
To paraphrase Bugs Bunny, "What a bunch of maroons."
Also, the Padres ended up getting Milton Bradley in a trade for a minor league pitcher this weekend. The trade actually makes sense for them since they're in the freaking pennant race.
Bud Black for manager of the year. (We could have hired him two years ago.)
-Ryan
Chicago
>Why is it that Gordon and Butler
>hit just fine through out their
>career until they get on Bell's
>squad?
Um, because it's their first time in the majors?
And because Butler has been jerked around by Royals' management more than any Royals prospect since...well, pretty much all of them except Gordon?
And Butler's hitting pretty well anyway?
Sorry Ryan, of all the things you can blame on Buddy -- and it's a long list -- I don't think that one fits.
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