Maaddi: Phillies Can’t Teach Old Dogs New Batting Approaches
Ryan Howard swings at a 3-0 pitch trailing by a run and flies out. Shane Victorino swings at a changeup right after a four-pitch walk and grounds out weakly. Jimmy Rollins swings at the first pitch leading off game after game and pops out.
Smart hitting?
You don’t have to be a major-league manager or a hitting coach to know the answer. It’s bad baseball at any level.
The Philadelphia Phillies failed miserably in their all-or-nothing quest to win the World Series. Everyone wants to know why a team that was heavily favored to win it all got knocked out of the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Well, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has finally figured out that a major problem was the way hitters treated their at-bats.
“We have to have a different mindset or different approach than we did in ’08 or 2010. We don’t have nearly as much power, have to be better with two strikes, better situational at-bats. Those are frankly things we have to change,” Amaro said during his postseason eulogy this week.
“Offensively, we have to try to look at different ways to improve. We have the personnel to do it; it’s matter of whether they want to take the time and be committed to improving on some areas they need to improve on.”
Manager Charlie Manuel concurred with Amaro not because he has to agree with his boss, but he’s been preaching that same philosophy for a few years now.
“All those things he talks about, I talked about, I teach that,” Manuel said a day after Amaro spoke to the media. “It’s a matter of keep reminding guys. We definitely will have meetings and things like that in spring training and carry it out during the season. We have to get better hitting. You have to know what kind of hitter you are. I’m definitely on board with what Ruben says.”
Problem is the hitters aren’t on board. If they were, they would’ve made changes already.
The Phillies have a veteran lineup filled with players who’ve had a lot of success. Asking them to change their approach, to take more pitches, to show more plate discipline doesn’t sink in like it would with rookies and younger guys.
Players simply don’t make drastic adjustments after doing it one way, and in many cases, doing it well that way for years. They may tinker with their stance or tweak a thing here or there. But that’s it.
Just take a look at how many players choke up on the bat. Hunter Pence does it and he hit .314 this season. Placido Polanco had an off year partly because of injuries, but he does it and he’s a career .301 hitter.
No one else on the Phillies chokes up. Very few players around the league do it.
Barry Bonds, like him or not, was the best all-around hitter of his generation. He choked up.
But it’s a lost art these days.
Phils hitting coach Greg Gross told me last month he doesn’t even try to get players to choke up.
“They have it ingrained that they’re quicker their way and they have more whip that way and they have more power,” he said. “I don’t agree with it, but they don’t see it that way.”
So if Amaro thinks the same players are suddenly going to change their approach at the plate, he better re-evaluate.
He needs to add a couple professional hitters who are patient at the plate, who know how to work the count into their favor and force pitchers to throw hittable pitches.
If not, the Phillies will spend next October doing the same things they’re doing now: fishing, golfing or sipping drinks by a pool.
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