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Orioles Hire Harford JUCO coach for minor league hitting coach

jrobb21613

By jrobb21613
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jrobb21613 Major Leaguer

jrobb21613

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https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/productive-juco-coach-hired-by-orioles/

Eller’s teams always hit for power and draw walks. Last year’s team hit 112 home runs in 61 games (third-best in junior college ball). They also led the country with 422 walks and led the country with 234 stolen bases. 

It was no one-year fluke, either. Harford has led NJCAA baseball in walks each of the past four seasons. During that time, Harford finished first in home runs in 2017 (137 in 62 games), third in 2016 and sixth in the country in 2015. Eller’s Harford teams have consistently shown the plate discipline to draw walks at an inordinate rate, while also hitting massive numbers of home runs (and a lot of doubles). 

Eller’s team’s philosophy is to get into advantageous counts and then try to do damage by hitting the ball hard in the air, which makes him a useful fit for a revamping Orioles' farm system that had only four minor leaguers who hit more than 15 home runs last season. They will trade strikeouts for home runs—they finished 176th in whiffs in 2018 and 173rd in 2017 and 2016.

Sounds like a solid Hire!

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MCO'sFan Major Leaguer

MCO'sFan

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Very happy for Tom. I am a pitching coach and former head coach in MDJUCO and experienced first hand for over a dozen years his team’s approach. I feel like we gave up most of the HR and BB but I suspect most of his opponents feel that way. He has taken a lot of grief for his style but he certainly stuck to his beliefs. Any idea where he’ll be? 

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Luke-OH Hangout Grand Counsel

Luke-OH

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10 minutes ago, MCO'sFan said:

Very happy for Tom. I am a pitching coach and former head coach in MDJUCO and experienced first hand for over a dozen years his team’s approach. I feel like we gave up most of the HR and BB but I suspect most of his opponents feel that way. He has taken a lot of grief for his style but he certainly stuck to his beliefs. Any idea where he’ll be? 

Not sure, the O’s have job postings for MiLB coaches up on job sites, but the affiliates aren’t specified.

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=46a558293cf1052a&from=serp

 

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now Perennial All-Star

now

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I think this hire points to the answer from an earlier thread, about a single stat for hitters that might correspond to Elias's focus on pitcher Ks: Walks. 

Actually both sides of that equation feature in Melewski's latest post on Kremer. Of course, HRs and extra-base hits won't hurt either, and it appears these are strengths of Eller's as well.

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