LBJKB24MJ23 wrote:
chemistry is an issue with the hitters this year. could it be because too many of the "culture" hitters were shipped out? did hitting coaches change this season?
something seems off for sure.
I'm not convinced "culture" means anything here. Most of this stuff is relatively explanatory if tougher to predict, tossed together with a bit of bad luck.
Springer is old. This was coming.
Varsho just isn't that good at the plate and is settling to where he normally hits once pitchers figure him out. He's still good in the field though.
Vlad is in his 5th season. He has 4 seasons with an OPS between .772 and .818 and 1 season with 1.002 and his current season fits within his norms rather than his outlier. He is who he is.
Kirk was amazing for 9 games in 2020 but has been a sub-.800 ops hitters ever since. He's been worse this year but he also is who he is.
Everyone else is pretty much within their career norms or better too. You could argue they don't handle pressure well but I've been saying that for the past few seasons and everyone here wanted to blame Montoyo.
There is a lot going on here but really, this team makes a lot more sense if you start from the position that Vlad is good but not great and his inability to make serious changes to his conditioning also applies to his ability to make positive changes to the other parts of his game. Doesn't mean he's bad because he isn't; he's just a good bat and nothing more. Same goes for Kirk but he has the advantage of having significantly more defensive value. If those two guys were performing to expectations (realistic or not) this team would be right there as a top 10 or even top 5 run-scoring offense and the team would have 4 or 5 more wins between Vlad and Kirk and would have a wildcard spot all but sewn up right now.