Comments on: Pentland, hitting coach, coaching hitting

By: scotje

scotje — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 06:27:29 +0000

I broke down all 6 of the players individual changes (in addition to the averages) in post #16 Bela.

Sexson’s “patience” numbers are in fact way down there year. Beltre’s are up a bit. YuBet and Lopez combined are effectively a wash.

By: BelaXadux

BelaXadux — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 02:55:01 +0000

Say there scotje, aside from the problems with small sample size, there’s a huge outlier in the woodpile: Sexon is off to a horrible start, striking out a ton, and generally dragging the group totals down. Aggregate numbers should be discounted in favor of year over year changes for players, as twas opined above in assessing Pentland’s impact, if any. I’m particularly looking for changes in Betancourt and Lopez. I’d like to see changes in Reed taking more pitches ’cause his walk rate is still way, way too low; I don’t expect that anyone not named Adrian will have the slightest impact on Beltre, and he already saw a fair number of pitches last year so there’s little room for improvement in that regard.

The real reason for optimism with the Ms offense, in my view, isn’t Pentland but Lopez and Johjima. The latter two cats can hit, and they have significantly improved the ability of the Ms to finish off rallies for a tally at the pay station. Everybody else looks to me to be very much the same as last year. Sexson’s starting slow and Raul’s starting hot, but both are well within the range of their abilities and games, so.

By: Dave Clapper

Dave Clapper — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:40:04 +0000

Interesting. I was just thinking yesterday that the next Billy Beane trick might be looking for players who have good P/PA and are available at low cost. Getting the best lineup of P/PA guys from 2005 (with at least 400 PA) looks like:

C Gregg Zaun (4.25)
1B Chris Shelton (4.26)
2B Rickie Weeks (4.15)
3B Bill Hall (4.16)
SS Craig Counsell (4.08)
LF Pat Burrell (4.27)
CF Brad Wilkerson (4.21)
RF Bobby Abreu (4.39)
DH Travis Hafner (4.16)

That seems like a pretty affordable lineup. And wouldn’t high team P/PA ultimately force opposing starters out of the game that much more quickly?

Re #9: Everett’s P/PA last year was 3.73, lowest among qualifying DH’s. Spiezio’s P/PA last year was 4.25 (which was an anomaly–his career P/PA is 3.55), and he only had 51 PA, which is only 10 more PA than Everett has so far this season, so it’s not much of a comparison. And Petagine has had 3 PA so far this season, so he’s not that big a factor… yet. Here’s hoping that eventually, C-Rex will be pulled in favor of the far better hitter that Petagine is.

By: gwangung

gwangung — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:22:44 +0000

Interesting piece on Lopez. It makes the claim that hitting to the opposite field helps you on the balls you pull, too….

By: msb

msb — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:15:40 +0000

the TNT also has a Joh Gotta Love Him piece, and the PI has a discussion of what Pentland has done for Lopez which helped key last night's victory...

By: manzell

manzell — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:10:41 +0000

Hey…
The Mariners have the best RF/RA in the AL West, despite the fact that pitching has looked mediocre and hitting has been average to horrific. Of course, the could be the opposing pitchers effect; either way, the M’s hitting -should- get better.. and this is with essentially zero contribution from Everett and Beltre and below average Ichiro…

what’s a revised estimate for the M’s record, if any? Does anyone dare dream 500?

By: msb

msb — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:09:30 +0000

he really really wants to do well here, and is trying waaaay too hard?

By: juustabitoutside

juustabitoutside — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:01:32 +0000

I watched Beltre every chanced during the WBC.

He wasn’t lunging at balls off the plate. He got himself into good hitter’s counts, saw better pitches and stayed back on the ball, driving it with power consistently.

What happened between the end of the WBC and the start of the season?

By: Smegmalicious

Smegmalicious — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:47:27 +0000

Isn’t Beltre walking quite a bit right now? I mean a bit more than he’s hitting at least.

By: Steve T

Steve T — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:44:23 +0000

Beltre will never, ever, ever get another good pitch to hit if he continues to swing at the garbage. That’s the whole point of not swinging at balls. It’s not to gain more walks, though walks are nice; it’s to force pitchers to bring it into your wheelhouse.

Right now Beltre doesn’t look like he has a wheelhouse, though.