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Post by irimi on Apr 8, 2023 8:17:37 GMT -8
It's all in the head. You either have a hitters mentality or you don't. We don't. We go to the batters box HOPING to get a walk rather than EXPECTING to get a hit. I have never understood letting pitches straight down the middle go by with no intention of swinging, It's the big difference between the players on this team and the notable players on the 2018 team. Our players now can hit the ball, but the ball has to be in a certain spot. Madrigal, Kwan, Rutschman and company were much more versatile hitters. They could handle more pitches and more locations. They could adapt. Donkey is a good hitter and he has a great eye, but he cannot adapt. He can't adapt to a wide strike zone or a bad ump. He can't adapt to the count. He's looking for one pitch. But give the Duck pitcher his due. He pitched a helluva game and shut us out. He wanted it more than we did. He had more grit. Come on, Beavers! Wake up! Get in that box and hit the dam ball. |
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Post by beavaristotle on Apr 8, 2023 8:54:48 GMT -8
A good hitter manages the count and the strike zone. The count dictates how much of the strike zone you need to cover. A plus count allows a hitter to shrink the strike zone. I don’t think our hitters are nearly aggressive enough in plus counts. They wait for a pitch in an area the size of a tuna can when it should be the size of a bucket lid. That perfect pitch is likely not coming. Our lack of aggressiveness allows the pitcher back in the count. Also waiting for the perfect pitch show a degree of defeat, like I go to the plate thinking I can only handle a perfect hitter’s pitch. Be in attack mode, hunt fastballs and use the count to your advantage. Oh ya, and some guys grow a pair at the plate. If you don’t think you are better than that prick on the mound, you aren’t
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Post by zeroposter on Apr 8, 2023 9:08:19 GMT -8
I agree and disagree Irimi. Agree on the approach, particularly the 3rd strike approach. I think we disagree on the reasons for the decline in performance. The decline this year is strictly caused by whichever coach decided that Forrester needed to pull the ball this year. He has had a few good hits to right field, but those hits have generally been the result of Garret being somewhat fooled on an outside pitch and still making good enough contact. He is usually still trying to pull that outside pitch which results in a 375’ flyout, or a pop foul to the first baseman, or just a swing and miss. Pitchers are feasting on the outside strike. Finally, Forrester is now looking for the outside pitch(and the selective approach results in a take on a wide zone) and he is frozen by anything over the middle-in pitch. The pull the ball stuff approach was stated early in the season by one of the announcers so it is not pure conjecture.
Also, the hitting coach worked with TravisB onlaunch angle to turn those deep line drives into loftier homers. Works great when Travis gets the right pitch, but there has been a lot of warning track fly outs.
Way too many times this year, just good contact by the key hitters would have been productive rather than the swing for the fence approach. Of course, I am the couch coach, but the results so far are exactly as I feared after hearing the remarks early in the season.
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rafer
Sophomore
Posts: 1,626 
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Post by rafer on Apr 8, 2023 9:35:46 GMT -8
Welp, I was frustrated I didn't get to watch, but apparently that was a good thing. When is it time to write off this team for the year? seems it's getting closer. By reading this stream, it is becoming apparent we may not have a legit competitive team right now, growing pains are just that, painful to watch. Maybe next year will be better, maybe there will be hitters that can make contact with a ball down the middle, rather than watch it go by hoping for a walk???
Worse than that, PK has seemingly bought $$ himself a PAC12 winning BB team, GOOD ON YA UNCA FILL and nike!! Sucks to have to admit they are better than us and sucks isn't strong enough...........
Try to get ONE today.......
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Post by rgeorge on Apr 8, 2023 9:44:00 GMT -8
Yeah, 2 fer 29 and 13 Ks... I'm not sure where their pitching staff got such crap #s, but the three guys OSU saw tonight were very good. Tight, balanced motion, didn't over throw, multiple pitches for strikes in any count. Plus that's 11 straight Ws for them. Going to have to jump on them early tomorrow as they've built some confidence. OSU just lacking any sort of leadership by example. Forget the "rah rah" crap. No one is consistently showing up! After tonight we've got no one hitting even .300 in Pac12 play! We've got only three regulars hitting over .250! (Macias will be, but in only 6 games). I think 127 Ks in 13 games, only 59 walks! Didn't think the offense would be that good, but never this bad! Maybe Mitch needs to replace his hitting/offensive coach! I have no idea what goes on in their practices/instruction. But, from my perspective and background there is a ton of "hesitation". That typically come from the old adage "analysis leads to paralysis". Some say it is from "over coaching"... a term that surely can be applied, but it certainly not the staff's intent. The more some teams move toward analytics the more and more info that is imparted on players. Sometimes it is just too much and they need to get back to basics and stop analyzing their approach and swing. Besides the fundamentals (which can vary a ton by different instructors), the goal is a fluid, tension free swing. with head still and both eyes focused. The mental philosophy I always tried to impart is a controlled aggressiveness best summarized by Ron Polk: "Plate discipline has to center around the mental to physical concept of “yes, yes, yes, NO” or “yes, yes, yes, YES”. A hitter must establish the fact that he will be swinging at the pitch, and then make the adjustment to hold back on the swing at the last possible instance. Sometimes replacing a hitting coach is the rash approach. But, I think all hitters benefit from hearing from another/outside approach when struggling. When I see one young player in particular who is struggling mightily at the plate, I notice a huge issue that not only effects his balance, but his depth perception, hence pitch recognition. His head/nose is "pointed" somewhere between the 1st and 2nd baseman. As a RH hitter if I were to go cover his left eye he'd not see the pitcher! You need your nose at the mound for both eyes to not only pick up the release point, but allow for depth perception/pitch recognition. Couple a simple physical issue with the loss of confidence a player begins to try to compensate/adjust, sometimes inadvertently. Front side/foot opens, head moves, swings become off balance, etc. (Same issues apply to golfers as their body and swing will try to compensate for flaws). A bunch of words from an outsider to basically say that an "outside" voice... not another coach within the program... maybe a good idea. Start with some hip toss, tee work, regular toss, then some over the shoulder toss for breaking ball tracking and attacking from the inside out. But, all the while "vision" is the only skill being worked on. Let the kid swing it freely. Ok... my two cents. |
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Post by badwack on Apr 8, 2023 10:49:34 GMT -8
Now what coach? Considering we can't hit a ball out of the infield we bunt every time with a runner on third. Maybe even with 2 outs. Why not? See if the Ducks can screw up a throw or something.
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Post by irimi on Apr 8, 2023 11:30:07 GMT -8
Now what coach? Considering we can't hit a ball out of the infield we bunt every time with a runner on third. Maybe even with 2 outs. Why not? See if the Ducks can screw up a throw or something. I sit Donkey (unpopular choice). Play Dernedde at ss, Kane at 3 and Krieg at 1b. I give McDowell a little more time to get back in rhythm. |
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Post by rgeorge on Apr 8, 2023 11:36:41 GMT -8
Now what coach? Considering we can't hit a ball out of the infield we bunt every time with a runner on third. Maybe even with 2 outs. Why not? See if the Ducks can screw up a throw or something. Well, playing the %'s they are 0/1 in handling a bunt!? Offensively you need to do anything that keeps the catcher from accounting for 1/2 the POs! Between the cans of corn (11 pop ups or FOs) and Ks (13) on 24 of 27 put outs Oregon basically had to make one play, catch a ball! It may have been the worst display of offense I've seen from a OSU team... at least that I can remember. |
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Post by badwack on Apr 8, 2023 12:03:11 GMT -8
Bazz is pretty much our only guy that we don't know the outcome of the AB. Also, notice 2 of the big kids swing rather stiff and it doesn't look like they drive through the ball. Mason and Smith both seem to swat the ball. Both look like they should really be good hitters.
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Post by messi on Apr 8, 2023 12:46:00 GMT -8
At the start of the season, I made a mention how the offense will only go as far as Bazzana and Forrester would carry it. Wish I was wrong.
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Post by irimi on Apr 8, 2023 12:47:11 GMT -8
At the start of the season, I made a mention how the offense will only go as far as Bazzana and Forrester would carry it. Wish I was wrong. Bazz is trying. |
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Post by Henry Skrimshander on Apr 8, 2023 12:53:08 GMT -8
It's all in the head. You either have a hitters mentality or you don't. We don't. We go to the batters box HOPING to get a walk rather than EXPECTING to get a hit. I have never understood letting pitches straight down the middle go by with no intention of swinging, Every single one of our players probably hit close to .400 in high school. Every single MLB player probably hit .300 or better in college. It's not anywhere near that simple. |
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Apr 8, 2023 17:44:26 GMT -8
At the start of the season, I made a mention how the offense will only go as far as Bazzana and Forrester would carry it. Wish I was wrong. Bazz is trying. Forrester did well, per usual. |
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