Buck lays into Mountcastle during "reassignment to minor camp" and possible new position?

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Per Roch:

Quote

Showalter’s exit meeting with Ryan Mountcastle, who was reassigned today to minor league camp, included a challenge to improve his plate discipline. Seventeen walks last summer in 127 games - 14 at Single-A Frederick and three at Double-A Bowie - is an unsatisfactory total.

“I said, ‘I noticed last year the whole season you walked 17 times. What was that all about?’” Showalter said. “He starts laughing and I said, ‘Understand, it’s not funny. This won’t work.’ It’s one of the challenges (Austin) Hays is going to have, because if they don’t get a feel for the strike zone, the guys at this level will eat them up.

“When he said, ‘I’m a free swinger,’ I said, ‘You need to correct that.’ I said, ‘You notice I never put you in foul ground at third base because I don’t care for you to defend a ground ball that’s foul. We can’t teach you to defend a ball that’s two feet out of the strike zone.’ I said, ‘If I look down there and you’ve walked 17 times this year, you’re going to go back to that level. You’ve got to figure it out. It’s just like learning how to play third base. You’re walking 17 times and you’re in the big leagues, it don’t work.’ But he’s got a chance to be really good.

“Try to keep in mind he just turned 21. We had a good talk today. With the young guys, I like to let them do a little self-evaluating, let them grade themselves out.”

Showalter said Mountcastle, who hit two long home runs, benefitted from being around veteran players and observing their daily routines. How they work out, their eating and sleep habits, “all the things that go into giving themselves the best chance to be successful.

“They see we have a lot of fun, but when it’s time to work you work.”

It'll be interesting to see if he works on it this year in Bowie, after being so productive with the bat when swinging.

Also, another little tidbit:

 

Mountcastle will continue to play third base, but eventually could move across the diamond. He’s been taking fly balls on the back fields, as the Orioles try to find a position where he’s most comfortable and productive.

[jamalshw]

I'm glad the Orioles are pushing for more patience amongst the younger players. I wish they'd prioritize that when acquiring players, too.

I hope Mountcastle can develop at third. He probably does, too. That's the clearest path to the big leagues as OF and 1B are far more saturated.

[Frobby]

I've had the impression that we've preached aggressiveness at the minor league level.    This may be a case of mixed messages.  Personally, I agree with Buck's message.

[Aristotelian]

It's clear that Buck's methods have worked with Jones, Schoop, Trumbo, etc. I bet Mountcastle is still laughing.

[Tony-OH]

These are the things some people don't give Buck enough credit for. This is EXACTLY what he needed to hear and from the EXACT person.

The fact that he laughed didn't surprise me based on some of the stories I've heard about him in the minors. He's been put on notice by the minor league staff for being too aggressive and popping up or getting himself out on bad pitches in hitter's counts and his response would be, "If I had hit a double you wouldn't be talking to me right now."

He has all the tools to be an impact hitter, and no one is telling him to not hit good pitches regardless of the counts, but he needs to learn more about hitting and having more of a plan during an AB. He's 21-years old and of course his maturity will continue to grow, but I'm very happy that not only did Buck tell him this but he made it public. 

I'm sure his reaction was why Buck made it public. Great job by Buck and hopefully he'll take that advice to heart as he returns back to Bowie.

[Dark Helmet]

Maybe Buck should preach that same messages to guys at the major league level.

[Aglets]

17 walks in 538 PA in the minor leagues last year............that is indeed pretty bad.  a BB rate of 3.16%.

MLB average is apparently 8.5%.   According to bb-ref every Oriole had a lower than average BB rate for us in 2017 except for Davis, Gentry, Seth Smith, and Flaherty.

I assume Buck's argument is when you get promoted to MLB your rate is likely going to fall even further.

Joey Rickard is an interesting case; he walked at a 12.7% rate across AA and AAA but last year it fell dramatically to 3.3%. 

 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Dark Helmet said:

Maybe Buck should preach that same messages to guys at the major league level.

Buck is a lot more likely to talk tough with kids in the minors or rookies than he is his vets.

[Tony-OH]

12 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I've had the impression that we've preached aggressiveness at the minor league level.    This may be a case of mixed messages.  Personally, I agree with Buck's message.

No, that's not true at all. What is being taught is to be aggressive on YOUR pitch. That's really the key. Being aggressive on a 2-0 fastball in the middle of the plate is a good thing. Swinging at a 2-0 curveball in the dirt is a bad thing. They want the players to have a plan at the plate and understand what the pitchers are trying to do to them. I was told Mountcastle got himself out way too much in AA by swinging at bad pitches, even in hitter's counts. AS he goes up in levels, you can't expect a down the middle 3-0 fastball in certain situations (like say with a tie runner on 2nd, late in a game and a base open).

There was the story where this happened. With two outs and that tie runner on, Mountcastle swang at ball four and popped up for out number three leaving the older better hitter on deck with no opportunity. That player was livid at Mountcastle so the coaching staff brought them together. That's when Mountcastle was like, "If I had hit a double no one would be talking to me."

That's where his lack of maturity and understand of the game came into question. That's where being over aggressive hurts him. Clearly the pitcher did not want Mountcastle to hurt him so he was basically pitching around him, but instead of taking the walk he swang at a bad pitch and got himself out. 

I don't think this is anything that maturity and getting the right advice from the right people won't cure. Mountcastle has all the tools, and he isn't the first or last 21-year old who needed to mature.

[Aglets]

And yea, it's always interesting to me when Buck calls out a guy in public like this.  Usually he seems to defend guys to a fault.  I can't think of too many examples.  I think I agree with Tony that it seems like he probably needs an attitude adjustment and this might be the way to do it.

[Dark Helmet]

21 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Buck is a lot more likely to talk tough with kids in the minors or rookies than he is his vets.

I agree. He likes his guys.

[Tony-OH]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

Buck is a lot more likely to talk tough with kids in the minors or rookies than he is his vets.

I'm not sure any of us knows what Buck says to his vets behind close doors. Buck doesn't make his talks with vets very public because he respects their professionalism. He also rarely makes these talks public unless he feels he needs to make a point.

Notice he said he told Hays the same thing, but didn't go public with it until the Mountcastle talk. I can guarantee that Hays' reaction to Bucks advice was 180 degrees different than Mountcastle's.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

No, that's not true at all. What is being taught is to be aggressive on YOUR pitch. That's really the key. Being aggressive in a 2-0 fastball is a good thing. Swinging at a 2-0 curveball in the dirt is a bad thing. They want the players to have a plan at the plate and understand what the pitchers are trying to do to them. I was told Mountcastle got himself out way too much in AA by swinging at bad pitches, even in hitter's counts. AS he goes up in levels, you can't expect a down the middle 3-0 fastball in certain situations (like say with a tie runner on 2nd, late in a game and a base open).

There was the story where this happened. With two outs and that tie runner on, Mountcastle swang at ball four and popped up for out number three leaving the older better hitter on deck with no opportunity. That player was livid at Mountcastle so the coaching staff brought them together. That's when Mountcastle was like, "If I had hit a double no one would be talking to me."

That's where his lack of maturity and understand of the game came into question. That's where being over aggressive hurts him. Clearly the pitcher did not want Mountcastle to hurt him so he was basically pitching around him, but instead of taking the walk he swang at a bad pitch and got himself out. 

I don't think this is anything that maturity and getting the right advice from the right people won't cure. Mountcastle has all the tools, and he isn't the first or last 21-year old who needed to mature.

This was a bit of a reason for his struggle in Bowie. He was super aggressive on bad pitches, but due to his bat speed and coordination, he was able to make contact instead of striking out.

[tntoriole]

6 minutes ago, Dark Helmet said:

Maybe Buck should preach that same messages to guys at the major league level.

Old dogs, new tricks versus new dogs, old tricks.  Hard to tell 30 year old big league veteran millionaires much.  21 year old that wants to make it...different audience, differently message.   Buck would, on some level, enjoy being a minor league development person. 

[interloper]

Hell yeah, Buck.