Can anyone hit the #$%&! dang ball.....?

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The O's are 1st in the AL in walks.  The low OBP is because they are just not hitting to begin the season.

 

[Frobby]

35 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I wonder if this is players adjusting to the "swing decisions" approach at the major league level? The lack of power from this team is striking, even from the actual power hitters. This team has hit 4 home runs in 10 games. Now maybe they're all off to slow starts, but at some point you have to question is this part of the process? 

It’s a good question, but at the end of the day, ten games is not the point to do this.  Two months?

[Aglets]

We are first in the AL in strikeouts too.

I'm curious, does someone have a way to see if those are mostly swinging vs looking?  I'd be curious to know what that fraction is.  And if we compare it to previous seasons, that might really tell us if this is a systemic change from the big focus on 'swing decisions.'

[Tony-OH]

16 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It’s a good question, but at the end of the day, ten games is not the point to do this.  Two months?

Very true. It's way too early to draw any conclusions on anything right now, but it's certainly not a good start to the two-headed hitting coaches career.

[wildcard]

29 minutes ago, Aglets said:

We are first in the AL in strikeouts too.

I'm curious, does someone have a way to see if those are mostly swinging vs looking?  I'd be curious to know what that fraction is.  And if we compare it to previous seasons, that might really tell us if this is a systemic change from the big focus on 'swing decisions.'

This sounds like an effect from the new swing decision philosophy. If the pitch in not a ball the batter can drive don't swing.   So deeper counts. More walks and more strikeouts.  

Kind of the opposite from the 10 pitch at bat the other day by Chirinos where he fouled off pitches he could not drive.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Aglets said:

We are first in the AL in strikeouts too.

I'm curious, does someone have a way to see if those are mostly swinging vs looking?  I'd be curious to know what that fraction is.  And if we compare it to previous seasons, that might really tell us if this is a systemic change from the big focus on 'swing decisions.'

17.3% looking, compared to 21.8% last year.   In a sample of only 10 games (and 110 strikeouts), that’s not enough of a difference to be statistically meaningful yet.  

To get this info, go to the BB-ref page for Orioles 2022, click on Detailed Stats, then on Team Pitches Batting, and see the column L/SO%.   Then do the same for 2021.   Here’s the 2022 Detailed Stats page: https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/2021-batting.shtml

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Very true. It's way too early to draw any conclusions on anything right now, but it's certainly not a good start to the two-headed hitting coaches career.

I’m sure they’re feeling nervous about the lack of early success.   I know I would be.

[ChuckS]

5 hours ago, interloper said:

Mullins, Mancini, Hays, Mountcastle, Santander, Chirinos are all ML talent. They're just not hitting. 

The problem is there are three to four spots in the lineup everyday taken by replacement level or below replacement bats.  Chirinos is a major league backup catcher.  At this point in his career, there is not much left in the bat. 

So that's five guys who can hit when things are going right and four guys who are close to being automatic outs, especially against good pitching.  It limits the upside of the entire lineup tremendously. 

[interloper]

31 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

The problem is there are three to four spots in the lineup everyday taken by replacement level or below replacement bats.  Chirinos is a major league backup catcher.  At this point in his career, there is not much left in the bat. 

So that's five guys who can hit when things are going right and four guys who are close to being automatic outs, especially against good pitching.  It limits the upside of the entire lineup tremendously. 

No argument there.

[interloper]

Also, this isn't an excuse at all, but I don't know how anybody hits anything in today's game just looking at the pitchers through these first few series. It's like, even if you're 3-2, the guy is gonna have 97 on the corner or a slider off the edge with, like, a 6 foot break. So good luck deciding which it is in less than a second. Just seems like such a tall order to ever square anybody up, and when they have it's been right at somebody. 

And the pitching won't really get all that easier. It's just today's game. Even the O's have pitchers like this now if you look at the bullpen. 

[SilverRocket]

The walk rate's gone from 7.5% to 11.6%. That part looks good on the coaching. Santander especially has been getting on base.

A big part of the problem is that we have Odor, Gutierrez, Bemboom, McKenna and Owings on the team.

[Moose Milligan]

It’s too early to tell on the walks, I agree. 
 

But on the flip side, I don’t think you could point to any 10 game stretch over the past 4 years where they lead the league in walks. So that’s a positive. 
 

Ain’t that right @wildcard?

[wildcard]

5 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

It’s too early to tell on the walks, I agree. 
 

But on the flip side, I don’t think you could point to any 10 game stretch over the past 4 years where they lead the league in walks. So that’s a positive. 
 

Ain’t that right @wildcard?

I'll walk away from that question.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

I'll walk away from that question.

Trying to be positive here…..

[wildcard]