Orioles promote 1 Coach, hire second

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

If Adley says he is a good coach it will carry a lot of weight with the rest of the team.

I doubt the rest of the team will care much.   If he said the opposite (privately), they might care.   Otherwise, they’ll work with the guy and form their own opinions.   

[Frobby]

Here’s a podcast interview with the new hire, Matt Borgschulte, while he was with the Twins organization.   

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/ahead-of-the-curve-with-jonath-541011/episodes/matt-borgschulte-milb-hitting-53798840
 

[Jammer7]

19 minutes ago, CarrRun49 said:

https://theathletic.com/2958360/2021/11/16/connolly-orioles-hiring-of-two-hitting-coaches-with-no-big-league-experience-seems-shortsighted/ Behind a paywall but great look at this hire

So, after this year they will both have major league experience. Have to begin somewhere. Hitting coaches do not need major league experience to work on mechanics and approach, or to front toss, or to throw flips, or to show video. They need to know what they are doing, of course. But they need to be self-motivated hard workers and be able to communicate very well with a variety of players from different backgrounds.

They will study pitchers and trends. Look at advance scouting reports and all of the data analysis of their guys. Understanding those things are more important that how many years of MLB experience they have.

[Philip]

6 hours ago, wildcard said:

If Adley says he is a good coach it will carry a lot of weight with the rest of the team.

Can you think of any planet in the universe where he would say something negative?

[Frobby]

Just now, Philip said:

Can you think of any planet in the universe where he would say something negative?

Not in public.  But do you think that privately players don’t discuss it if they think a coach isn’t very good?   

[Philip]

2 hours ago, Jammer7 said:

 

Two young inexperienced energetic analytical-approach coaches. It isn’t what they know, it is their ability to communicate what they DO know to the player. Like any coach, it will take time to build

 

This is exactly right, but it is incomplete. To be a good teacher you have to know what you know, you really have to know your weaknesses as well, you have to have many different ways of accomplishing a given goal and you have to be able to adapt to the needs of the player as well as Diagnosing the problem and the best course of action for an individual player.

Finally, you have to be able to deal with the ego of a player who thinks he knows more than you do. I have never dealt with a student who thought he knew more than I did, but I’ve dealt with countless arrogant teachers who are confident that they knew everything and I knew nothing, and would not even deign to listen to anything I had to say. Those teachers were always wrong, by the way. A fellow teacher who really does know more than I do, is rarely arrogant about it. Confident, assertive, sure, but arrogant or condescending, never. So I can’t anticipate those problems, but I can sure anticipate the others that I mentioned, and if Holt tried a bunch of stuff that made guys worse, He needs to change his approach immediately and immediately get the guys at least back to where they were, or he should go.

[Philip]

26 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Not in public.  But do you think that privately players don’t discuss it if they think a coach isn’t very good?   

Actually, I thought about that and I’m not sure. Wildcard was talking about public commentary, however; he wasn’t talking about private stuff. We aren’t going to know what it said in private unless someone leaks some thing, and then there will be the usual round of denials and counter claims and we will be left to make our own decisions.

privately, however, I wonder what will take place. If a fellow player came up to me and asked what I thought about coach blank, and I hated coach blank, I doubt seriously that I would say, “boy I hate Coach blank I think he’s awful.“ Instead I would make subtle suggestions as to how to approach dealing with whatever the problem was, without impugning the coach. Mostly I would deflect the question:” if you have a problem with Coach Blank you should really talk to Brandon.”

So yeah, I doubt AR or anyone except someone impossibly arrogant like Barry Bonds would cast stones publicly or privately.

That’s why “tell-all” books are always Written after the guy leaves the firm.

[wildcard]

39 minutes ago, Philip said:

Can you think of any planet in the universe where he would say something negative?

About who?

[Philip]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

About who?

Your comment that if AR likes someone that would be meaningful. I was refuting it.

[wildcard]

17 minutes ago, Philip said:

Wildcard was talking about public commentary, however; he wasn’t talking about private stuff. 

 

Are you just making stuff up or are you a mind reader?

I would guess that Adley's comments with other players will be private, informal comments.  

[Tony-OH]

I think what this shows is the complete change from "ex-major league players" as coaches to guys who understand the new analytics, Blast motion, Rapsodo, video work, etc. We saw it in the minor leagues as ex players were let go and young, energetic, and probably cheaper alternatives were brought in to focus on the technology side vs the "old school" approach to hitting.

While some veteran players may have some resentment to these guys, I do think this next generation is growing up with this stuff and they are embracing it. 

My question of, "Wonder how the veteran hitters will respond" was not to say this wasn't the right thing to do, just thought it was interesting question to ask.

We are seeing this all over baseball and not surprising that it's reaching the major league team. When you look at the OBP in the Orioles system this year, it sure is hard to argue with the swing decision approach of only swinging at pitches the batter can hit well, even if they may be strikes.

It's a hard thing to learn because most hitters are taught to swing and hit strikes, but when the analytics show that you don't hit balls well in a certain part of the zone, you work on improving that while potentially not swinging in that zone with less than two strikes. 

It's not as easy as it sounds, but the proof is in the pudding. I'm interested if known free swingers like Mountcastle, Hays and Santander can improve their swing decisions or if the aggressiveness is what makes them good at times. 

At the end of the day, Why not? I've never really believed a hitting coach does a ton for players unless they really understand why the hitter is struggling. Is it mechanical, is it eye sight, is he just facing guys with stuff that he's not good at hitting? 

 

[NCRaven]

Ten years from now, as today's players get used to the analytic approach to hitting, we may see guys with both big league experience and the analytic experience in the coaching ranks.

[Philip]

9 hours ago, wildcard said:

If Adley says he is a good coach it will carry a lot of weight with the rest of the team.

No, I was responding to your comment.  Neither reading your mind,  nor making stuff up.

[ThomasTomasz]

7 hours ago, CarrRun49 said:

https://theathletic.com/2958360/2021/11/16/connolly-orioles-hiring-of-two-hitting-coaches-with-no-big-league-experience-seems-shortsighted/ Behind a paywall but great look at this hire

I read this but I am torn on it.  For one, I do agree that it would make sense to have one experienced hitting coach and one of these guys.  But, what if another team was trying to poach our guy?  What if we were trying to poach the guy from the Twins and really wanted him because he aligned with our vision?  What if the only way to bring these two guys, who were valued highly by the organization it seems, was to make them “co-coaches?”  In my mind, you do it.  

Needless to say, Dan also doesn’t mention the reverse of this…….how our team was stuck in the stone ages for years in the front office and player development, where guys were hired and kept their jobs by focusing on their past as part of the “Oriole Way” as opposed to them actually being good at their job.  There is a reason why we had developed only one TORP between Mussina and John Means (referring to Erik Bedard here) and it’s not because we refused to invest in pitching.  We failed to develop them.  I favor the new analytics approach and hope that this direction works out for us.  

[Roll Tide]

23 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

We've been through this before.

Just because teams can get away with it doesn't mean it isn't cheating the system. 

 

If the owners and players agreed and it’s in the rules it’s not cheating anymore than how the Super 2 benefits the player.