Wieters is pretty bad offensively

[Dipper9]

I have no idea whetehr Presely is a good hitting coach or not, but Wieters' flaws are pretty obvious so hopefully they are being worked on.

To my untrained eye, it appears Wieters has had the same flaws since his first day in the bigs. I'm not sure what happened between his dominance of MiL and May 29, 2009, but this guy sure doesn't look like "Mauer with Power" not to mention the "Switch Hitting Jesus." He's a good catcher, but not the force that I thought we were getting.

[jets4ever]

To my untrained eye, it appears Wieters has had the same flaws since his first day in the bigs. I'm not sure what happened between his dominance of MiL and May 29, 2009, but this guy sure doesn't look like "Mauer with Power" not to mention the "Switch Hitting Jesus." He's a good catcher, but not the force that I thought we were getting.

He's a very good defensive catcher, who is also a very streaky hitter.

[Dipper9]

He's a very good defensive catcher, who is also a very streaky hitter.

Okay....he's a VERY good defensive catcher, but not the force that I thought we were getting.

Better? My point remains, his offense ain't what I thought it was going to be.

[CA-ORIOLE]

You know, for as much as I didn't like Terry Crowley's approach (aggressive early, not working the count), during broadcasts Palmer always talked about specific drills that players were working on to improve. I am sure that is going on with Presley, but you don't hear much about that.

This was not Terry Crowley's approach. Crowley worked extensively with Nick and Roberts who were both very patient hitters. Both credited him with much of their success. Mora was also a very patient hitter. Millar did not become an impatient hitter when he came over and Tejada did not change his style of being aggressive hitter when he came here. Crowley worked with what he had. He was a competent hitting coach imo. I found these claims baseless then and still see them as baseless now.

The hitters you want are drafted and developed, not made at the ML level.

It's my opinion that hitting instructors at the ML level are pretty equal. If anything, management, attention to detail, communication and interpersonal/relationship skills are probably the difference makers over anything having to do with hitting philosophy.

[TGO]

When Wieters came up, no one in the minor leagues developmental staff said much to him about his hitting because he was hitting so well. He penchant for hand and wrist movement during his load means he has an inconsistent load point and can that slightly slow down your reaction time making a hitter susceptible to inside pitching, especially fastballs. He has struggled against good fastball, especially left-handed where his swing is a bit long.

This is basically what Kevin Long helped Curtis Granderson do. Calm the pre-swing movement, find a more consistent load and timing mechanism, and get to the ball quicker. It allows you to both get around on the fastball quicker and wait on breaking balls/changeups just a bit longer and has helped Granderson hit lefties much better. Not a problem for Wieters since he just switches to the right side, but he obviously still needs help against righties who can bust him inside with a good FB.

It's awfully tough to do in-season for a catcher, so I hope Wieters works with someone on it during the offseason. It takes some humility on the hitter's part, but I have some hope that Matt has that quality. I do think he needs some leeway/permission from Buck to really focus on taking his offensive game to the next level over the offseason.

[Thyrl]

Hate to pile on here, but it's worth mentioning that with all of the talk of Wieters' great defense, that hasn't really been the case this year either. Defensive metrics are pretty ok, nothing more. Maybe his reputation as a defensive catcher prevents teams from running as much, but fielding %, CS %, dWAR etc he's not exactly living up to the title of great defensive catcher.

[OFFNY]

.

We need 2 home runs tonight, Matthew.

[Back2Baseball]

How many catchers are just great hitters? a few, but not many. Catchers who can hit are just icing on the cake. Try bending down in that crouched position and taking balls off your body f

or 162 games a year and see how well you hit. Catchers are for defense; if you get a catcher who is a great hitter and also a great defensive catcher, well that's just an added bonus.

[bmoreosfan]

Once again, Matt Wieters fails to make an important contribution to this team by striking out tonight in a key situation. We cannot go to the playoffs until Wieters starts to earn his paycheck. I say that he is a bust because he was touted as a superstar, even the savior of this team, but he is currently pulling this team down offensively. We cannot win down the stretch with Wieters going 0-4 every night. When he came to the plate tonight I had zero confidence that he could get the ball out of the infield. What a pathetic performance this year by someone who was supposed to carry this team into the future.

[gallden]

Sit on a change up. But you knew he was going to k.

[Va Beach O's fan]

Pretty bad offensively may be giving him too much credit. Lately, he's been abysmal.

Between him hitting 5th and Hardy hitting 2nd, this offense is an absolute joke. Make a trade Dan, one way or the other.

Dump some of these scrubs or add some big time pieces and go for it but this garbage just cannot continue.

Thome hardy and wieters all hitting in the top 5 in the order is so bad it's mind blowing. Maybe as bad as we've ever had.

[EagleOriole]

This was not Terry Crowley's approach. Crowley worked extensively with Nick and Roberts who were both very patient hitters. Both credited him with much of their success. Mora was also a very patient hitter. Millar did not become an impatient hitter when he came over and Tejada did not change his style of being aggressive hitter when he came here. Crowley worked with what he had. He was a competent hitting coach imo. I found these claims baseless then and still see them as baseless now.

The hitters you want are drafted and developed, not made at the ML level.

It's my opinion that hitting instructors at the ML level are pretty equal. If anything, management, attention to detail, communication and interpersonal/relationship skills are probably the difference makers over anything having to do with hitting philosophy.

Baseless? I heard countless times from analysts and even Crowley himself that he preached being aggressive early in the count. During his tenure we were among the worst OBP teams in baseball year in and year out. I never said he wasn't competent and in fact my point was I heard often how well he worked individually with hitters on drills.

I never said that he didn't have patient hitters under his watch or that he tried to change a patient hitters approach completely, but he did tell hitters to be aggressive early in the count, unless my ears deceived me when I was watching 100-110 games a year for about 8 years.

[erb8472]

10 strikeouts in the last 6 games with 1 hit.

[ConnO'sFan]

I've enjoyed this thread because essentially there are many good arguments that Matt is lousy offensively yet others seem to argue that we give him a pass because he's a great catcher/game caller. I have to agree with the latter. Catching is a thankless job. Put it this way...in reference to tonight's game.

...you're starting a team today, you can pick one of the following...

Matt

Hellickson

Rodney

The two pitchers made mincemeat of Matt tonight. But I'm still pickin' Matt. So yes, he gets a pass.

[zweem]

With his current projection would you trade him for an END PRODUCT of Conger, Ervin Santana, K Morales and Mike Morse?