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Post by inger on Dec 10, 2023 20:51:56 GMT -5
Mattingly was the exemplar I presented, so I’ll present this article (below) as evidence that Lou Pinella worked with Mattingly to get him to pull the ball more. Gardner went from fly-swatter to HR hitter through the years, he absolutely made changes to elevate and pull. Right or wrong, tgat was his choice. It made Kaybli eat a hat at the time. I’ll give you Granderson, as I predicted he might hit 40+ in NY with the knowledge that having reached thirty at home with Detroit he was hitting to the HR field there when we acquired him… www.nytimes.com/1984/06/24/sports/mattingly-in-good-company.htmlI recalled specifically that Mattingly hit for grotesquely high MiLB BA’s by punching the ball to left field. He started tgat first full season doing that as well, as can be demonstrated in his monthly spilts as he hit only 1 HR in March/April and then started finding the seats with 6 in May. To Pinella’s credit he knew he didn’t have the pop to hit that way all the time himself, plus had to battle the left field dimensions, so he continued to be a line to line hitter as well as to warn Donnie not to get home-run happy. In fact, you can see that Mattingly went back to punching the ball to left in July because he felt he was becoming pull-happy. After getting back to his “roots” he wax able to start pulling the ball again… |
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 11, 2023 0:37:25 GMT -5
Mattingly was the exemplar I presented, so I’ll present this article (below) as evidence that Lou Pinella worked with Mattingly to get him to pull the ball more. Gardner went from fly-swatter to HR hitter through the years, he absolutely made changes to elevate and pull. Right or wrong, tgat was his choice. It made Kaybli eat a hat at the time. I’ll give you Granderson, as I predicted he might hit 40+ in NY with the knowledge that having reached thirty at home with Detroit he was hitting to the HR field there when we acquired him… www.nytimes.com/1984/06/24/sports/mattingly-in-good-company.htmlI recalled specifically that Mattingly hit for grotesquely high MiLB BA’s by punching the ball to left field. He started tgat first full season doing that as well, as can be demonstrated in his monthly spilts as he hit only 1 HR in March/April and then started finding the seats with 6 in May. To Pinella’s credit he knew he didn’t have the pop to hit that way all the time himself, plus had to battle the left field dimensions, so he continued to be a line to line hitter as well as to warn Donnie not to get home-run happy. In fact, you can see that Mattingly went back to punching the ball to left in July because he felt he was becoming pull-happy. After getting back to his “roots” he wax able to start pulling the ball again… Gardner was never a "HR hitter" with only 139 in a 14 year career, and 28 of those came in 2019; unfortunately, he thought he was after abandoning the approach that got him to the big leagues, which came at a cost of batting average and no longer seeing himself as a base stealer. I always loved Lou Pinella as a player, but Lou Pinella nearly ruined Paul O'Neill's career trying to get him to pull the ball and be more of a home run hitter. Luckily, the Reds traded Paulie to the Yankees, where Stick Michael told him to be who he was at the plate. Again, that was Mattingly at the beginning of his first full season at 23 years old. Nevertheless, from Mattingly himself: ''I'm not trying to hit home runs,'' he said. ''In fact, it's really a mistake when I hit one. Early in the season I hit a couple of dingers in a row and then I got out of my game. I didn't stay within myself." In other words, Mattingly fell for the siren song of the right field porch and was smart enough to make adjustments to get back to his overall mindset at the plate. Mattingly was notorious for working in the cage and tweaking his swing during the year and also year to year, especially when the injuries occurred and robbed him of much of his power. But, if you look at his swing from the beginning to end in terms of approach, Donny Baseball continued to be the same type of hitter, staying within himself, hitting to all fields. He never got away from what got him to the big leagues. That was the point of my post. Soto needs to continue being the hitter he is, not abandoning an all around bat for slugging to be his primary focus: see Teixeira, Mark or the definition of pull-happy and stubbornly hitting into the shift. |
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Post by inger on Dec 11, 2023 0:51:05 GMT -5
Mattingly was the exemplar I presented, so I’ll present this article (below) as evidence that Lou Pinella worked with Mattingly to get him to pull the ball more. Gardner went from fly-swatter to HR hitter through the years, he absolutely made changes to elevate and pull. Right or wrong, tgat was his choice. It made Kaybli eat a hat at the time. I’ll give you Granderson, as I predicted he might hit 40+ in NY with the knowledge that having reached thirty at home with Detroit he was hitting to the HR field there when we acquired him… www.nytimes.com/1984/06/24/sports/mattingly-in-good-company.htmlI recalled specifically that Mattingly hit for grotesquely high MiLB BA’s by punching the ball to left field. He started tgat first full season doing that as well, as can be demonstrated in his monthly spilts as he hit only 1 HR in March/April and then started finding the seats with 6 in May. To Pinella’s credit he knew he didn’t have the pop to hit that way all the time himself, plus had to battle the left field dimensions, so he continued to be a line to line hitter as well as to warn Donnie not to get home-run happy. In fact, you can see that Mattingly went back to punching the ball to left in July because he felt he was becoming pull-happy. After getting back to his “roots” he wax able to start pulling the ball again… Gardner was never a "HR hitter" with only 139 in a 14 year career, and 28 of those came in 2019; unfortunately, he thought he was after abandoning the approach that got him to the big leagues, which came at a cost of batting average and no longer seeing himself as a base stealer. I always loved Lou Pinella as a player, but Lou Pinella nearly ruined Paul O'Neill's career trying to get him to pull the ball and be more of a home run hitter. Luckily, the Reds traded Paulie to the Yankees, where Stick Michael told him to be who he was at the plate. Again, that was Mattingly at the beginning of his first full season at 23 years old. Nevertheless, from Mattingly himself: ''I'm not trying to hit home runs,'' he said. ''In fact, it's really a mistake when I hit one. Early in the season I hit a couple of dingers in a row and then I got out of my game. I didn't stay within myself." In other words, Mattingly fell for the siren song of the right field porch and was smart enough to make adjustments to get back to his overall mindset at the plate. Mattingly was notorious for working in the cage and tweaking his swing during the year and also year to year, especially when the injuries occurred and robbed him of much of his power. But, if you look at his swing from the beginning to end in terms of approach, Donny Baseball continued to be the same type of hitter, staying within himself, hitting to all fields. He never got away from what got him to the big leagues. That was the point of my post. Soto needs to continue being the hitter he is, not abandoning an all around bat for slugging to be his primary focus: see Teixeira, Mark or the definition of pull-happy and stubbornly hitting into the shift. Nobody would want him to completely change his approach nor mind set, but a great hitter will be smart enough to know when and how to use what’s placed before him. Some of the biggest stars are players that had enormous home/road splits. As for Mattingly, we will continue to disagree over split hairs I suppose. Mattingly learned to pull the ball. Not trying to hit home runs? True. But hitting the ball to the part of the park that produced more home runs. As you said… a smart hitter. Teixeira surprised and disappointed me with his change of approach. You might think he would have been able to what happened to Giambi. I thought Tex was a smarter hitter than that and he let me down… |
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Post by kaybli on Dec 12, 2023 14:19:01 GMT -5
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Post by desousa on Dec 12, 2023 16:14:06 GMT -5
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 12, 2023 16:36:11 GMT -5
Let's see if he can handle New York and not immediately fall into a slump in his first thirty games. |
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Post by kaybli on Dec 12, 2023 18:19:52 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Dec 12, 2023 19:38:46 GMT -5
Let's see if he can handle New York and not immediately fall into a slump in his first thirty games. He could probably wind up at last year’s .279 even he did “A Gallo” the first month… |
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 13, 2023 13:42:00 GMT -5
NY Post:
“We all know there’s a really short porch right there, and it’s going to be on your mind, but definitely I’m going to try to stay in the same approach I’ve been doing,” Soto said Tuesday during his introductory Zoom call. “That’s what has taken me all the way to where I am right now. So I think there’s no reason to change it. I’m going to be trying to do the same thing.
“If I get the chance to pull any ball and hit it that way, that’s fine for me. But my strength is going to left-center, and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
That's what I've been waiting to hear. Evidently much smarter than Mark Teixeira et al.
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 13, 2023 13:44:03 GMT -5
More:
"In seven games as a visitor at Yankee Stadium, Soto has hit .261 with a 1.219 OPS — including four of his six hits going for home runs across 28 plate appearances."
“It’s a great ballpark,” he said. “It’s a great batter’s box. It feels great to stand up there. It’s just the way it goes. It feels comfortable to be there. I get the chance to get really good pitches in the strike zone to do damage and I did it at the end of the day. … I just try to concentrate, put the ball in play and it just happens. I don’t even try to hit homers, I just try to hit low line drives to the middle.”
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Post by inger on Dec 13, 2023 21:00:01 GMT -5
More: "In seven games as a visitor at Yankee Stadium, Soto has hit .261 with a 1.219 OPS — including four of his six hits going for home runs across 28 plate appearances." “It’s a great ballpark,” he said. “It’s a great batter’s box. It feels great to stand up there. It’s just the way it goes. It feels comfortable to be there. I get the chance to get really good pitches in the strike zone to do damage and I did it at the end of the day. … I just try to concentrate, put the ball in play and it just happens. I don’t even try to hit homers, I just try to hit low line drives to the middle.” When you’re Juan Soto, every ball park is a great ball park… |
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 14, 2023 15:12:13 GMT -5
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Post by kaybli on Dec 14, 2023 20:16:34 GMT -5
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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 15, 2023 16:29:19 GMT -5
That is brilliant Kaybli. I don't know if it's the crown or plopping his head on George Herman's frame, but he actually kind of resembles the Colossus of Clout in that photo. Similar nose and dimples and eyes. |
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Post by kaybli on Dec 15, 2023 18:43:24 GMT -5
That is brilliant Kaybli. I don't know if it's the crown or plopping his head on George Herman's frame, but he actually kind of resembles the Colossus of Clout in that photo. Similar nose and dimples and eyes. Glad you enjoyed pipps! If anyone didn’t know his nickname of childish bambino is a play on a famous rappers name of childish gambino. |
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