Buck: Kang Was Slow in Spring Training Too

[bobmc]

Yes, I think this is a great characterization of the adjustment. It's certainly difficult, but not insurmountable.

It's only a real problem if he doesn't have the bat speed to hit the major league fastballs and has to cheat by starting his swing earlier, costing him time for pitch ID and tracking. Given that he doesn't appear to have a long swing and isn't striking out by having fastballs blown past him, I think he's going to be ok.

Good stuff! That's what I have noticed from the get-go in his first AB at Disney. He wasn't overmatched. He has good pitch recognition and does let the ball travel deep. He fouls off pitcher's pitches. He hit a sharp grounder to first off a tough lefty in his third AB that day.

[SpinJr]

It is 24 ABs people!!! No walks yet, heaven forbid lets jump ship now!!!

If he hasn't walked or batted to his norm in such a small sample size so be it. The sample size is just too small at this point for me to worry.

Maybe after 60 ABs with similar results my anxiety will be ticking higher.

[CaptainRedbeard]

No. The other PA was a HBP.

Yeah I was just manually adding that in my head. I only found the spring training game logs on MLB.com and just added them together, and they don't included HBP, so if Kang had any I didn't account for them. In fact, I forgot to add Kim's hit yesterday, so he's actually 1-24. Pretty sure everything else is right.

[DrungoHazewood]

The hits will come, I wouldn't give up on him just yet.

Giving up on someone after a week's worth of spring ABs is reactionary and short-sighted in the extreme. Remember when Caleb Joseph began his MLB career 1-for-26? Or how Cal was hitting .169 on May 10th of his rookie year, after hitting .128 in his '81 cup of coffee? Knee-jerk is no way to run a baseball team.

[gmelson26]

I agree. I noticed that Kim and Rickard, both known for their eye and taking walks, have both had 24 abs and no walks this spring.

They must be adapting to the Oriole Way.

[OFFNY]

The hits will come. I wouldn't give up on him just yet.

Giving up on someone after a week's worth of spring ABs is reactionary and short-sighted in the extreme. Remember when Caleb Joseph began his MLB career 1-for-26? Or how Cal was hitting .169 on May 10th of his rookie year, after hitting .128 in his '81 cup of coffee? Knee-jerk is no way to run a baseball team.

Willie Mays started his career 1-for-26, also.

[TheBee]

It is 24 ABs people!!! No walks yet, heaven forbid lets jump ship now!!!

If he hasn't walked or batted to his norm in such a small sample size so be it. The sample size is just too small at this point for me to worry.

Maybe after 60 ABs with similar results my anxiety will be ticking higher.

I am the one who brought up the 24 abs for both Rickard and Kim, and my intention was simply to show that their approach may be a bit different than it would be in real game situations...that basically they are working on things and being a bit more aggressive than they might be otherwise. Just like pitchers working on new pitches or those they have less confidence in. I didn't see anyone in this thread who was panicking or making overly dramatic statements. Certainly none like in another thread where a poster has already described Kim as complete waste of money.