Davis strikeouts

[BohKnowsBmore]

I have a couple of issues with this. First how many times does Chris swing at bad pitches to put him in a 2 strike hole? That is what is so odd about his approach to me, he looks like he is going to swing at anything until he gets to 2 strikes. Secondly how many times when we started playing the game were you told that pitch was too close to take? When you don't swing at borderline pitches it takes the hitter out of the control of the AB and puts it squarely on the umpire. We all agree that umpires can be erratic at best so why not learn from that and make some adjustments?

At this point I think he is a guess hitter that is not really seeing the ball very well at all. Anyone that swings at uninhabitable pitches yet let's hittable ones go proves that he is just in a bad spot right now. It would do wonders for the O's chances if he can somehow figure this out.

At least on the final AB of Sunday, the answer is zero swings to get to that point.

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[LookitsPuck]

Where are you getting that data? Does the data indicate that Davis is the victim of bad strike three calls a higher percentage of the time than other hitters?

That said, where are you getting the called strike 3 vs. swinging strike 3 data? Just trying to add that to my toolbelt.

[Frobby]

It's easy for us to talk about it, much harder for Chris Davis to do it. I do think he is taking too many called strike threes. The risk is that if he tries to get more aggressive, he will find himself swinging at more pitches out of the strike zone that he can't hit well. It's a delicate balance, but I think he has been able to balance it better in previous seasons. It's mostly just a function of being a bit out of rhythm and not seeing the ball well, rather than some conscious decision to take more pitches.

[turtlebowl]

At least on the final AB of Sunday, the answer is zero swings to get to that point.

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Yep, you're right, bat never left the shoulder.

I always thought the best way to approach hitting is 0 strikes you look for a pitch in a small window (happy zone). With 1 strike that window gets a little bigger. With 2 strikes you are protecting the strike zone. Kim's at bat leading off that last inning was a great 2 strike approach. It almost looks like Davis has the opposite approach. Can't remember ever watching anyone have such a backwards approach.

I think I'd almost rather see him take Jones approach for a while, see ball swing at it, just to see if It would help Davis to stop thinking and just react.

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[Ruzious]

Baseball is hard, pitchers adjust, and everyone reacts differently. I know the excuse for 2014 was Adderall, but what if its just that he sometimes takes a real long time to adjust approach?

It seems to me that he doesn't adjust his approach. I know it's hard and that I couldn't begin to do it, but he's proven to be slightly more talented than I am.

[DrungoHazewood]

It's easy for us to talk about it, much harder for Chris Davis to do it. I do think he is taking too many called strike threes. The risk is that if he tries to get more aggressive, he will find himself swinging at more pitches out of the strike zone that he can't hit well. It's a delicate balance, but I think he has been able to balance it better in previous seasons. It's mostly just a function of being a bit out of rhythm and not seeing the ball well, rather than some conscious decision to take more pitches.

Short term I think that's true, but it's pretty obvious he's changed over time as his walk rate has about doubled. Some is the Sammy Sosa effect; pitchers are far more careful with a .900 OPS guy than a .650 OPS guy. But he still has to have an approach that takes what the pitcher gives.

[El Gordo]

CD was always more successful when he would go to the opposite field. He doesn't do that much any more, though he seems to get just as many pitches on the outside corner as ever.

[DrungoHazewood]

CD was always more successful when he would go to the opposite field. He doesn't do that much any more, though he seems to get just as many pitches on the outside corner as ever.

Whatever happened there? His most amazing home runs, to me, were the ones where he appeared to lazily swing and hit one 400' to left.

[turtlebowl]

The solution to his problems is almost certainly not to swing at anything halfway close with two strikes.

The guy has been playing baseball all of his life. Obviously there is a big difference in swinging at a pitch 3 inches off the plate or 1 foot off the plate. All I'm suggesting is he start swinging at the pitches a couple inches off the plate with 2 strikes. If he can't tell the difference between a ball close to the zone that he should swing at or 1 that has zero chance of being a strike then his problems could be worse than just an approach issue.

[DrungoHazewood]

The guy has been playing baseball all of his life. Obviously there is a big difference in swinging at a pitch 3 inches off the plate or 1 foot off the plate. All I'm suggesting is he start swinging at the pitches a couple inches off the plate with 2 strikes. If he can't tell the difference between a ball close to the zone that he should swing at or 1 that has zero chance of being a strike then his problems could be worse than just an approach issue.

Yes, he's been playing all his life and probably shouldn't be mucking around with his approach to swinging at balls. He's having trouble identifying pitches, I wouldn't mess that up further by changing what he's looking to swing at.

[Frobby]

Short term I think that's true, but it's pretty obvious he's changed over time as his walk rate has about doubled. Some is the Sammy Sosa effect; pitchers are far more careful with a .900 OPS guy than a .650 OPS guy. But he still has to have an approach that takes what the pitcher gives.

Yes, I agree with this. In 2011, he swung at pitches outside the strike zone 44.7% of the time. Now it's 28.1%.

[Frobby]

Off on a slight tangent, Brandon Belt has the 25th lowest percentage of swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, and yet is 7th highest in swinging at pitches that are in the strike zone. That's what I call having excellent strike zone judgment!

At the other end of the spectrum you have Eric Aybar, who has the 8th highest percentage of swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, and yet is right in the middle of the pack (75/158) in swinging at pitches in the strike zone.

Davis is 40th lowest in Z% and 58th lowest in O%.

[weams]

Short term I think that's true, but it's pretty obvious he's changed over time as his walk rate has about doubled. Some is the Sammy Sosa effect; pitchers are far more careful with a .900 OPS guy than a .650 OPS guy. But he still has to have an approach that takes what the pitcher gives.

Still, he does not get close calls.

[Redskins Rick]

Still, he does not get close calls.

Not sure any Oriole gets close calls these days, for whatever reason that is.

[DrungoHazewood]

Not sure any Oriole gets close calls these days, for whatever reason that is.

It's a proven fact that 87.4% of all close calls go against your favorite team. Whichever team that may be.