BWCD
Junior
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
- Messages
- 2,711
To anyone not willing to make any changes right now, here's my question - if it's "too early" to make changes now, when the fvck do you make them? Wait until ACC play? Wait until ACCT? Wait until Regionals? Super Regionals?
Or is your actual answer "never" because of this long-term viewpoint?
What must be done eventually must be done immediately. Anyone eschewing change for the sake of patience or leaning on the law of averages is just hoping in one hand and sh1tting in the other.
A few things that are needed changes are as follows:
1) **Disclaimer - this can't be done during the season - too **** late** Get Lala/Vilar/Paige/etc in the ******* weight room. How one can be a starter at Miami and allow a bat to swing them instead of them swinging the bat is beyond me. And yes - this is my main bone to pick right now and I'm not gonna let it go, mainly because it shows 1) lack of gumption/motivation by those players to get stronger as they needed to, and 2) lack of foresight by the coaches/trainers to make that happen if those players weren't going to do it on their own (like they should have). This is a lot more glaring w/o Zamora in the lineup, but that's the reality we're living with this season.
2a) Find a pecking order in the bullpen and 2b) stick with it. Unless you have multiple lights-out type guys in the bullpen, you have to have defined roles. We simply don't have a singular closer right now. Take the next few weeks, figure out who your middle/short relief guys are, and find a closer. Once that is settled, don't tinker unless you have to with injuries involved. Once Gates or Keysor supplants Federman as the closer, you make sure each guy knows their job and is in the mindset to execute said job.
3) Approach at the plate doesn't need to change completely, but one philosophy has to improve - when you're in an obvious fastball count, and you get said fastball, swing like your life depends on it. We let too many of those go by in the name of plate discipline. If it's 2-0, and the opposing pitcher is just trying to get a fastball over for a strike...square that thing up and do something with it. This goes double for the ones that needed to hit the weight room and obviously didn't. Stop trying to work to 3-0, and put a good swing on possibly the easiest pitch you'll get to hit that whole AB. After that...feel free to try to work the walk.
4) Jenkins does need to be either 1 or 2 in the lineup. He is actually one of the smallish guys who seems to have gotten stronger, and has good control of the bat. Jenkins wasn't high on my list coming into the season, but he's performed well early and seems to have turned the corner a little. Reward him.
5) Underrated piece here...but figure out what the issue is on the basepaths. Our stats so far: steals = 7, caught stealing = 6. Without looking up last year's stats, I'm assuming we've greatly regressed there. We've got to figure that out. This could be the "curse" part of having a bunch of lefties in our lineup...that we're facing more lefties on the mound as a result with better moves to first to hold guys on. That could be part of it, could be something else mixed in too.
Or is your actual answer "never" because of this long-term viewpoint?
What must be done eventually must be done immediately. Anyone eschewing change for the sake of patience or leaning on the law of averages is just hoping in one hand and sh1tting in the other.
A few things that are needed changes are as follows:
1) **Disclaimer - this can't be done during the season - too **** late** Get Lala/Vilar/Paige/etc in the ******* weight room. How one can be a starter at Miami and allow a bat to swing them instead of them swinging the bat is beyond me. And yes - this is my main bone to pick right now and I'm not gonna let it go, mainly because it shows 1) lack of gumption/motivation by those players to get stronger as they needed to, and 2) lack of foresight by the coaches/trainers to make that happen if those players weren't going to do it on their own (like they should have). This is a lot more glaring w/o Zamora in the lineup, but that's the reality we're living with this season.
2a) Find a pecking order in the bullpen and 2b) stick with it. Unless you have multiple lights-out type guys in the bullpen, you have to have defined roles. We simply don't have a singular closer right now. Take the next few weeks, figure out who your middle/short relief guys are, and find a closer. Once that is settled, don't tinker unless you have to with injuries involved. Once Gates or Keysor supplants Federman as the closer, you make sure each guy knows their job and is in the mindset to execute said job.
3) Approach at the plate doesn't need to change completely, but one philosophy has to improve - when you're in an obvious fastball count, and you get said fastball, swing like your life depends on it. We let too many of those go by in the name of plate discipline. If it's 2-0, and the opposing pitcher is just trying to get a fastball over for a strike...square that thing up and do something with it. This goes double for the ones that needed to hit the weight room and obviously didn't. Stop trying to work to 3-0, and put a good swing on possibly the easiest pitch you'll get to hit that whole AB. After that...feel free to try to work the walk.
4) Jenkins does need to be either 1 or 2 in the lineup. He is actually one of the smallish guys who seems to have gotten stronger, and has good control of the bat. Jenkins wasn't high on my list coming into the season, but he's performed well early and seems to have turned the corner a little. Reward him.
5) Underrated piece here...but figure out what the issue is on the basepaths. Our stats so far: steals = 7, caught stealing = 6. Without looking up last year's stats, I'm assuming we've greatly regressed there. We've got to figure that out. This could be the "curse" part of having a bunch of lefties in our lineup...that we're facing more lefties on the mound as a result with better moves to first to hold guys on. That could be part of it, could be something else mixed in too.
