That’s a good take on Bishop and seems to be a lot of what, not only the Pirates, but every team is teaching.
Instead of being aggressive and trusting your eye, go up their looking for your pitch(mainly a pitch you can pull and damage) or get on base(looking for a walk). And no matter what, don’t expand the strike zone. While with two strikes, I see way too many hitters not protecting the plate; something that was beat to annoyance when I was young.
Striking out too much can be a product of being too passive too.
And btw, I’m a huge fan of zone contact rates and having good plate discipline. But there is a fine line sometimes b/ween good plate discipline and being too passive.
And every stat needs context. There are three kinds of lies; lies, damn lies and statistics. - Mark Twain.
Zone judgment and pitch recognition (plate discipline) along with in zone contact rates are the main things I look at. Power is also a plus but what good does it do if you swing at pitches out of the zone and miss them in it.
The reason I like Blake Burke so much, his pitch recognition and chase rate out of the zone is going in the right direction and he hits pitches in it. Also crushes mistakes. Another player in the draft that isn't rated high is Eli Serrano from NC State, whoever drafts him might get the steal of the draft. He's just starting to grow into his 6'5" body, plays a good center field and is just starting to elevate the ball. He only hit 5 hrs during the regular season but has 4 since tournament play has begun, while only striking out once and by walking or getting hit by a pitch 5 or 6 times.
Yeah along these lines I was looking at what Julio Rodriguez is doing currently. Not saying he’s a bust, but he clearly isn’t tapping into his potential and really the only culprit seems to be his overly swing happy ways.
By far his worst offensive season, correlated with his highest swing rates.
Here's another couple anecdotal stats...
Only five of the 20 worst rookies this year have average or better walk rates.
Only six of the 20 rookies with highest zone swing rates have below average strikeout rates.
BUT
The 15 rookies with posting average or better performances (>100 wRC+) are split almost exactly even between above and below average rates of swinging at strikes.
Good hitters seem to succeed with both aggressive *and* patient approaches while bad hitters almost universally fail due to aggression and not passivity.
Every umpire having a different strike zone is reason enough to protect the plate. Plus pitchers get scouting reports and know the hitters hitting zones. I'm fairly sure the majority of home runs are hit off of 'mistake' pitches which basically is just a pitch located poorly. The best offensive teams hitters are more aggressive at the plate and they get a lot of walks because pitchers are afraid to pitch to them, lol.
The Pirates since calling up NG have scored the 6th most runs in MLB. There is certainly a time to be aggressive, appears the league is doing this to Jones. But generally, you don't want to be super aggressive as you'll be making quick outs and keeping the opposing starters pitch count low. I was always taught to wait them out and make them come to you.
Javier Rivas and Carlson Reed won FSL player and pitcher of the week.
Great info Wilbur. Love the resource page write ups. Check the link for Fajardo. It links to Glenn, and his page did nit move up to Indy.
I’ll get that thx.
Who is Keiner Delgado? Any relation to the future home run champ of the Pirates named "Ralph" Keiner Delgado?
That’s a good take on Bishop and seems to be a lot of what, not only the Pirates, but every team is teaching.
Instead of being aggressive and trusting your eye, go up their looking for your pitch(mainly a pitch you can pull and damage) or get on base(looking for a walk). And no matter what, don’t expand the strike zone. While with two strikes, I see way too many hitters not protecting the plate; something that was beat to annoyance when I was young.
Lack of plate discipline is by far the most common reason talented hitting prospects bust.
On the other hand, talented hitters busting from being overly patient or whatever literally is not a thing that exists.
Striking out too much can be a product of being too passive too.
And btw, I’m a huge fan of zone contact rates and having good plate discipline. But there is a fine line sometimes b/ween good plate discipline and being too passive.
And every stat needs context. There are three kinds of lies; lies, damn lies and statistics. - Mark Twain.
Zone judgment and pitch recognition (plate discipline) along with in zone contact rates are the main things I look at. Power is also a plus but what good does it do if you swing at pitches out of the zone and miss them in it.
right on.
z-swing minus o-swing remains the GOAT of plate discipline metrics for me, honestly don't know why this isn't reported as a thing.
The reason I like Blake Burke so much, his pitch recognition and chase rate out of the zone is going in the right direction and he hits pitches in it. Also crushes mistakes. Another player in the draft that isn't rated high is Eli Serrano from NC State, whoever drafts him might get the steal of the draft. He's just starting to grow into his 6'5" body, plays a good center field and is just starting to elevate the ball. He only hit 5 hrs during the regular season but has 4 since tournament play has begun, while only striking out once and by walking or getting hit by a pitch 5 or 6 times.
you da man, mel.
Also the reason I would take Kurtz and Burke!
Yeah along these lines I was looking at what Julio Rodriguez is doing currently. Not saying he’s a bust, but he clearly isn’t tapping into his potential and really the only culprit seems to be his overly swing happy ways.
By far his worst offensive season, correlated with his highest swing rates.
Here's another couple anecdotal stats...
Only five of the 20 worst rookies this year have average or better walk rates.
Only six of the 20 rookies with highest zone swing rates have below average strikeout rates.
BUT
The 15 rookies with posting average or better performances (>100 wRC+) are split almost exactly even between above and below average rates of swinging at strikes.
Good hitters seem to succeed with both aggressive *and* patient approaches while bad hitters almost universally fail due to aggression and not passivity.
Good hitters know when to be aggressive. They go over a game plan and stick to it until the pitcher deviates, then they adjust.
Bad hitters are called hacks for a reason. They go up to the dish (Baez) with no plan other than being uber aggressive and swinging at everything.
Patience is a virtue, even in baseball.
Every umpire having a different strike zone is reason enough to protect the plate. Plus pitchers get scouting reports and know the hitters hitting zones. I'm fairly sure the majority of home runs are hit off of 'mistake' pitches which basically is just a pitch located poorly. The best offensive teams hitters are more aggressive at the plate and they get a lot of walks because pitchers are afraid to pitch to them, lol.
The Pirates since calling up NG have scored the 6th most runs in MLB. There is certainly a time to be aggressive, appears the league is doing this to Jones. But generally, you don't want to be super aggressive as you'll be making quick outs and keeping the opposing starters pitch count low. I was always taught to wait them out and make them come to you.
Your overarching hitting philosophy is to swing at pitcher's pitches?
Not even remotely. I really don't see where you get that from but to each his own.
my fault, the original comment sure seemed to be using waiting for your pitch as a pejorative and you sure seemed to be in agreement.