nykballa2k4 wrote:HarthorneWingo wrote:nykballa2k4 wrote:
Is Long capable? Dude broke him last year...
He did a great job with Murphy in bringing him to the next level. Cespedes has been a better hitter since coming here. Walks are up; strikeouts are down. He's more selective at the plate. Neil Walker hit much better right handed only after getting to NY. Cabrera was great last year. I'm cherry picking of course, but those are some of his successes. D'Arnaud has regressed, but injuries have played a part. But his swing is mess. I also don't know if he's taking Long's advise to heart or disregarding it. Ultimately, I think batting coaches are crap shoots.
I don't mind the cherry picking, I just don't know what Long is actually teaching. Walker, for example, was impacted by the fact he was EMPOWERED to take on a bigger role. Cespedes has been playing for contracts since coming to NY, this season will be his first real test. Granderson and Murphy surely had a benefit from working with him (but it took Murphy like 3/4 a season to make a change). On the other hand, we have 0 pitchers who can lay down a bunt in the NL... that's an issue. We play like the clunky yankees of the early 2000's where offense is feast or famine. To me, that is no good. We need to be able to play small ball.
I honestly don't know what goes on between hitting coach and individual hitters because I'm sure each one is handled differently; each hitter's issues are different.
The pitchers not being able to bunt, I can't put that on Long. Pitcher hardly ever get to really use the batting cage. Hitters won't let them. lol. It's true. I was a pitcher who liked to hit and I was always getting kicked out of the cage. I'd end up going to the batting cages to make up for it.
As for the all or nothing tendencies of our lineup, I'd have to see the stats on where we ranked offensively. But Sandy did bring in a bunch of boppers who do tend to strike out a lot. But that's been a trend across the league. That's what made KC's team so special. They all made contact. We couldn't strike them out. I think that's probably an anomaly though (again, I'd probably need to see the stats). Sandy likes the long ball.