Developing hitters

[Frobby]

This seems to be my day to post snippets from Kevin Goldstein’s chat yesterday.   This was interesting:

Ralphie: What is valued more(or harder to find) offensive player development or pitching devopment?

1:19

Kevin Goldstein: As an industry we are WAY ahead on pitching, so hitting development is harder to do and good ones are harder to find.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/kevin-goldstein-fangraphs-chat-12-20-2021/

Seems to me the O’s have been very focused on hitter development at the MiL level.   Of course they’ve drafted mostly hitters the last three years, but also, they’ve hired a lot of hitting coaches, many without prior professional experience but from the “new school.”   And now they’re taking that to the major league level.  Heavy emphasis on technology, too.  Maybe the O’s will be the industry leader here?

Honestly I’d like to see some parallel efforts on the pitching side.    

 

[Sports Guy]

 

I think what he is talking about are the tools in place for developing pitching and how much emphasis is placed on pitching vs hitting.

It’s clearly easier to develop hitting, so I wouldn’t think that’s what he means.

[Pickles]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

This seems to be my day to post snippets from Kevin Goldstein’s chat yesterday.   This was interesting:

Ralphie: What is valued more(or harder to find) offensive player development or pitching devopment?

1:19

Kevin Goldstein: As an industry we are WAY ahead on pitching, so hitting development is harder to do and good ones are harder to find.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/kevin-goldstein-fangraphs-chat-12-20-2021/

Seems to me the O’s have been very focused on hitter development at the MiL level.   Of course they’ve drafted mostly hitters the last three years, but also, they’ve hired a lot of hitting coaches, many without prior professional experience but from the “new school.”   And now they’re taking that to the major league level.  Heavy emphasis on technology, too.  Maybe the O’s will be the industry leader here?

Honestly I’d like to see some parallel efforts on the pitching side.    

 

I feel like the exact opposite is true.

I'd like to hear his reasoning.

[emmett16]

I can’t imagine hitting now vs. these guys out there.  The velocity and the stuff is unreal.  Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports.  

[SilverRocket]

3 hours ago, Pickles said:

I feel like the exact opposite is true.

I'd like to hear his reasoning.

I'd guess he means in terms of the technology, like the cameras, sensors, and all the data stuff. e.g. Driveline did only pitching training for a few years before they added hitting.

If the O's think they can get an edge in hitting development where they're not starting from as far behind, then it makes sense to focus on hitters in the draft, and buy/trade for the pitchers when it's time.

[now]

Keep in mind that development has to occur within different constraints between pitchers and hitters. So if it's "easier to develop pitchers" in a narrow sense, remember also it's harder to keep them healthy. Conversely, not sure if I buy the statement "good [hitters] are harder to find." When you factor in injuries, I would guess they end up easier to find; at least, reliable ones you can count on, going forward. 

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, now said:

Keep in mind that development has to occur within different constraints between pitchers and hitters. So if it's "easier to develop pitchers" in a narrow sense, remember also it's harder to keep them healthy. Conversely, not sure if I buy the statement "good [hitters] are harder to find." When you factor in injuries, I would guess they end up easier to find; at least, reliable ones you can count on, going forward. 

I did not understand him to say that good hitters are harder to find.  I understood him to say good hitting development is harder to find.  

Part of the difference here is that pitching is proactive, hitting is reactive.   A pitcher can work on velocity, spin, how to shape pitches, what locations work best, commanding to those spots, and be aware of what an individual batter’s strengths and weaknesses are.   Then he can decide what pitch to execute in which location.  He’s got 20+ seconds to decide what to throw.  There’s a lot that development can do to impact all that.   With hitters, they’ve got 0.4 seconds to see the ball, identify type of pitch and probable location, and execute a swing.   Development of that is harder.   
 

[now]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

I did not understand him to say that good hitters are harder to find.  I understood him to say good hitting development is harder to find.  

Part of the difference here is that pitching is proactive, hitting is reactive.   A pitcher can work on velocity, spin, how to shape pitches, what locations work best, commanding to those spots, and be aware of what an individual batter’s strengths and weaknesses are.   Then he can decide what pitch to execute in which location.  He’s got 20+ seconds to decide what to throw.  There’s a lot that development can do to impact all that.   With hitters, they’ve got 0.4 seconds to see the ball, identify type of pitch and probable location, and execute a swing.   Development of that is harder.   
 

Yeah, good points. The way he worded that statement ("hitting development is harder to do and good ones are harder to find") was confusing.