Mullins still in contention for a roster spot (MAKES TEAM) ....Elias mentions that he was sent by Orioles to a private batting instructor

[Redskins Rick]

11 hours ago, rudyrooster said:

"Can't hit Major League pitching".  It's been the downfall of many prospects.  

and some veteran ball players.

[Camden_yardbird]

39 minutes ago, VaBird1 said:

Umm, those two guys might not have only changed their swings.

To be fair, Bautista was a prodigious doubles hitter in the minors and his early years with the Pirates.  The problem was his defense stuck him at power position.  So the swing was there, but I agree, the PEDs gave him the power to turn those doubles into HRs.

On Mullins, I would like to see some OBP, if he can do that he has a lot of tools to be valuable bench player for 3 years.  The Orioles version of Jake Marisnick.

[Redskins Rick]

22 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Was looking through Rick Strickland's twitter feed. Says they have 9 MLB players there. Looked through his followers and saw Nick Pratto, Jose Trevino, Evan Gattis. Lots of Oriole coaches.

A tip of my hat to Elias, low risk and maybe high reward. 

[GuidoSarducci]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Here's a research project that maybe only God could do correctly, but I'd love to see the results: Percentage of players throughout history who reached their potential.  In 1900 it's low.  Half the player pool never gets seriously into baseball because the pay is low, the reputation bad.  Minorities are almost all shut out.  Scouting is barely organized.  Data is nonexistent.  Injuries often have no fix, leading to shortened careers or permanently reduced production .  Coaching staffs are tiny, and advice is very disorganized and often based on guesswork and unwritten rules.  Some players stay in Class D ball for six years before someone notices them.

Gets better over time.  Today is almost certainly the peak, but it would be interesting to track the changes.  For Mullins, in most of history there was no such thing as sending someone to an independent hitting coach in St. Louis.  You'd just send him to the minors or release him and he's got to figure something out or quit.

Steve Dalkowski almost certainly would been a regular starter with the right pitching coach with the right tools at their disposal, such as a slow-mo video breakdown and fine tuning of his delivery delivery/mechanics.  I'm not even sure command would have mattered all that much, all he had to figure out is how to hit the strike zone more often than not, and that should have been enough to at least make him a regular starter.  Sort of a gimmick pitcher, like knuckleballers - but pitchers have made a career out of that pitch.  But my image of baseball coaches in the 50s/60s is basically slapping players on the butt and say "you'll get it squared"

[Moose Milligan]

4 hours ago, VaBird1 said:

Umm, those two guys might not have only changed their swings.

Yeah, but they did.

Brady was always a workout fanatic, even before he hit 50 homers.  And Brady said it himself, if he was juicing the year that he hit 50 homers, why stop and go back down to 18 the next year?  

Brady's 50 homer season aside, he was still a good hitter after he made some changes.  

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, GuidoSarducci said:

Steve Dalkowski almost certainly would been a regular starter with the right pitching coach with the right tools at their disposal, such as a slow-mo video breakdown and fine tuning of his delivery delivery/mechanics.  I'm not even sure command would have mattered all that much, all he had to figure out is how to hit the strike zone more often than not, and that should have been enough to at least make him a regular starter.  Sort of a gimmick pitcher, like knuckleballers - but pitchers have made a career out of that pitch.  But my image of baseball coaches in the 50s/60s is basically slapping players on the butt and say "you'll get it squared"

If Steve Dalkowski came up today they'd immediately tell him to just aim his fastball down the middle, don't ever throw anything else, and make him a relief pitcher.

[DrungoHazewood]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yeah, but they did.

Brady was always a workout fanatic, even before he hit 50 homers.  And Brady said it himself, if he was juicing the year that he hit 50 homers, why stop and go back down to 18 the next year?  

Brady's 50 homer season aside, he was still a good hitter after he made some changes.  

I think Brady got messed up by bad coaching when he came to the majors.  This is me just trying to make sense of my observations, I don't have any direct knowledge of the situation.  But... In '86 at Winter Haven in A Ball, Brady had a .963 OPS.  Led the team by 140 points, led the league by 15 points and was only of only two regulars in the whole FSL to clear .900.  107 BB and 47 Ks. 

In '87 at New Britain, a notorious pitcher's park, he OPS'd .904, leading the team by 80 points, again walking almost twice as often as striking out.  After 52 games he went to AAA Pawtucket and OPS'd .991 in 95 PAs, with a .484 OBP.  The only guy who out-hit him was Sam Horn, who was about 6' 5" and 270 lbs and could hit a ball 75 miles.

Then he got called up the majors and was suddenly a guy hitting .210, striking out three times for every walk.  I think he struggled a little when he came up and some coach says "you're only 6', under 200 lbs., fast, you need to stop taking so many pitches and start slapping the ball around."  Took him about 3-4 years to get back to doing what made him the best player on those minor league teams.

[Moose Milligan]

15 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

If Steve Dalkowski came up today they'd immediately tell him to just aim his fastball down the middle, don't ever throw anything else, and make him a relief pitcher.

Problem was, he couldn't put his fastball down the middle, I don't think.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Problem was, he couldn't put his fastball down the middle, I don't think.

Wasn't the story that the one year Earl had him and he almost looked like a human pitcher Earl told him to stop with all the change ups and other stuff and just aim for the middle?  And when Dalkowski aimed for the middle he'd get close to the strike zone more often than not, and that was good enough when he threw 300 mph.

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, DrungoHazewood said:

Wasn't the story that the one year Earl had him and he almost looked like a human pitcher Earl told him to stop with all the change ups and other stuff and just aim for the middle?  And when Dalkowski aimed for the middle he'd get close to the strike zone more often than not, and that was good enough when he threw 300 mph.

I think he still walked a ton of guys.  Pretty sure it was like a 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio which for him, was pretty good.

[Can_of_corn]

22 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Wasn't the story that the one year Earl had him and he almost looked like a human pitcher Earl told him to stop with all the change ups and other stuff and just aim for the middle?  And when Dalkowski aimed for the middle he'd get close to the strike zone more often than not, and that was good enough when he threw 300 mph.

He also had him throwing at less than full velocity.  He would ramp it up when Earl gave the signal.

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Wasn't the story that the one year Earl had him and he almost looked like a human pitcher Earl told him to stop with all the change ups and other stuff and just aim for the middle?  And when Dalkowski aimed for the middle he'd get close to the strike zone more often than not, and that was good enough when he threw 300 mph.

It worked and Dalkowski was going to make the team out of spring training, but he injured his arm before the regular season started and was never the same pitcher again.

[Redskins Rick]

15 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yeah, but they did.

Brady was always a workout fanatic, even before he hit 50 homers.  And Brady said it himself, if he was juicing the year that he hit 50 homers, why stop and go back down to 18 the next year?  

Brady's 50 homer season aside, he was still a good hitter after he made some changes.  

Cal Ripken also said, Brady's body was a temple to him, he watched what he ate and drank.

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Cal Ripken also said, Brady's body was a temple to him, he watched what he ate and drank.

 

 

IIRC Brady was an early adopter of high fat, low carb eating, aka keto.  I remember a Sports Illustrated article from years ago where he said he had large amounts of bacon and eggs each morning.  Blew my mind because, as a kid, I was raised to believe that a lot of fat was bad for you and it would make you fat.  Looking back on it, he just knew what would keep him lean and the science behind it.

[Redskins Rick]

24 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

IIRC Brady was an early adopter of high fat, low carb eating, aka keto.  I remember a Sports Illustrated article from years ago where he said he had large amounts of bacon and eggs each morning.  Blew my mind because, as a kid, I was raised to believe that a lot of fat was bad for you and it would make you fat.  Looking back on it, he just knew what would keep him lean and the science behind it.

Brady gave the illusion of being a California surfing guy, and hitching rides on his skateboard didnt help his image.

I remember loving eggs, and the whole world was trying to tell you eggs was bad. My dad, said he was raised on a farm and they ate eggs daily and they were all healthy. So I kept eating eggs, then they came out and said eggs was actually good for you. LOL

But back to Brady, he was a very smart individual.