Jack Cust

[PlumOriole]

There's a good article about Jack Cust that just came out in SI. It talks about him bouncing around, considering going to Japan last year and finally getting comfortable in Oakland (his second time around there). He said Baltimore and another organization he was with tried to get him to swing too aggressively and not take as many pitches and it messed him up. Imagine that, an Oriole hitter not taking enough pitches!

It would be nice if the O's can find lightning in a bottle like this next year with a FA or even Gibbons or Huff since we probably can't unload them.

[Camden_yardbird]

Do you have a link?

I think it is interesting what he said about taking pitches. There seem to be two schools of thought - the take pitches and the be aggressive schools of hitting. It seems to me in todays game, with pitchers on strict pitch counts and bullpens stretched out that one should be the clear organizational philosophy. But also that an organization must adapt to a player as a player must adapt to an organization.

I hope this is a good lesson to whomever oriole coach is listening.

[geschinger]

He said Baltimore and another organization he was with tried to get him to swing too aggressively and not take as many pitches and it messed him up. Imagine that, an Oriole hitter not taking enough pitches!

It may have been a situation where teams thought being aggressive might help him show some semblance of power not realizing that it was bum wrists that needed surgery that was responsible for the power outage.

[Eli Eon]

It may have been a situation where teams thought being aggressive might help him show some semblance of power not realizing that it was bum wrists that needed surgery that was responsible for the power outage.

I don't think he had bum wrists when he was an Oriole nor do I think he had any power problems. They just didn't give him enough at bats to prove himself and also were messing him up in the process!

[Mark Carver]

I don't think he had bum wrists when he was an Oriole nor do I think he had any power problems. They just didn't give him enough at bats to prove himself and also were messing him up in the process!

Cust played for the Orioles in 2003 and 2004. According to Jack Cust himself, he had numbness in his hands in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. He finally had surgery before the 2006 season.

From OregonLive.com, dating April 2007.

And it was Juck Cust leading the way again for the Beavers. The story has an interesting tidbit about Cust and hs recent power streak:

Cust, who had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists before the 2006 season, said he played two seasons with numbness in his hands but felt his power return last year. This was Cust's second two-homer game in four days and he leads the Pacific Coast League with eight homers.

"I started off slow, real slow," said Cust, who has an 11-game hitting streak. "But I'm starting to get rolling now."

Hard to hit anything when you can't feel your hands.

[Eli Eon]

Cust played for the Orioles in 2003 and 2004. According to Jack Cust himself, he had numbness in his hands in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. He finally had surgery before the 2006 season.

From OregonLive.com, dating April 2007.

Okay, but I can still recall him standing there Babe Ruth - like after powering one over the Green Monster in Fenway something I had not seen a LH Oriole hitter do since Boog and possibly Harold Raines did. So his power still looked pretty darn impressive even with the hand problem back then!!

[TGO]

Okay, but I can still recall him standing there Babe Ruth - like after powering one over the Green Monster in Fenway something I had not seen a LH Oriole hitter do since Boog and possibly Harold Raines did. So his power still looked pretty darn impressive even with the hand problem back then!!

That was 2003, before he got hurt. August 10, 2003 to be exact. A two run HR off Jeff Suppan.

Basically what happened with Cust is he hit when they brought him up in 2003, but had the infamous fall down and generally looked incapable of running the bases or playing a position. They sent him back down and at some point he got hurt but I guess didn't tell anyone, and the O's said, "a ha, see, pitchers got you figured out, man." And the rest was history.

[Elbren]

There's a good article about Jack Cust that just came out in SI. It talks about him bouncing around, considering going to Japan last year and finally getting comfortable in Oakland (his second time around there). He said Baltimore and another organization he was with tried to get him to swing too aggressively and not take as many pitches and it messed him up. Imagine that, an Oriole hitter not taking enough pitches!

It would be nice if the O's can find lightning in a bottle like this next year with a FA or even Gibbons or Huff since we probably can't unload them.

Hmmm ... Terry Crowley telling a hitter to swing too much and be overly aggressive. I can't imagine that.

[Eli Eon]

That was 2003, before he got hurt. August 10, 2003 to be exact. A two run HR off Jeff Suppan.

Basically what happened with Cust is he hit when they brought him up in 2003, but had the infamous fall down and generally looked incapable of running the bases or playing a position. They sent him back down and at some point he got hurt but I guess didn't tell anyone, and the O's said, "a ha, see, pitchers got you figured out, man." And the rest was history.

Did he hurt his wrists when he fell down twice on that play he was running against the Yankees? I always thought that play was overblown as far as what was made of it anyway. IMO the Orioles blew it bigtime in giving up on him and I thought that regardless of what he has done this season with Oakland which is no surprise to me whatsover. Another FO blunder like letting Gary Matthews Jr go.

[MChance]

Did he hurt his wrists when he fell down twice on that play he was running against the Yankees? I always thought that play was overblown as far as what was made of it anyway. IMO the Orioles blew it bigtime in giving up on him and I thought that regardless of what he has done this season with Oakland which is no surprise to me whatsover. Another FO blunder like letting Gary Matthews Jr go.

Yes, because we needed another steroid scandal. As if Raffy wasn't enough. And Grimsley. And ...

[Sports Guy]

All of the people that used to bash people like Drungo and I about Cust have been awfully quiet...Wonder where they all are now???

[Eli Eon]

All of the people that used to bash people like Drungo and I about Cust have been awfully quiet...Wonder where they all are now???

Practicing selective memory loss would be my guess. I got attacked over on the Sun forum for being a big fan and proponent of Cust. Now those idiots over there are also no doubt doing the same (practicing selective memory loss or worse, revisionist history. I don't even read that board anymore so can't say for certain but would bet money on it!

[MChance]

All of the people that used to bash people like Drungo and I about Cust have been awfully quiet...Wonder where they all are now???

They're all happy they were right about Guthrie.

[Mark Carver]

All of the people that used to bash people like Drungo and I about Cust have been awfully quiet...Wonder where they all are now???

I guess your lucky that he finally had surgery to fix his wrists because he was going nowhere with the way he was hitting in 2004 and 2005, when he was injured. I mean Oakland even gave up on him in 2005...

BTW - I was neither pro or con on him.

[geschinger]

All of the people that used to bash people like Drungo and I about Cust have been awfully quiet...Wonder where they all are now???

What was your argument for Cust that led you to being bashed?

Maybe I'm remembering wrong but I think I recall you attributing his powerless Ottawa days to the weather and/or change of approach forced upon him etc... If that is the case I don't see the relevance as the pre-surgery Cust was not ever going to be a successful major leaguer regardless of how wise the organization that picked him up was. He simply was not going to stick with anyone as long as he had a SLG% in the .425 range.

Now if you said the Orioles should keep Cust and get him medical attention to fix his wrists then you would deserve an "I told you so" moment.