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Post by caseytins on Jul 21, 2019 14:15:38 GMT -5
Is it time to consider how valuable Lance Zawadzki is for the hitting in Salem? He has done wonders with several hitters, and then those batters struggle often in Portland, with Lee May, Jr as hitting coach. This is becoming a disconcerting trend for me.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jul 21, 2019 20:42:06 GMT -5
What batters are contributing to your seeing this as a "trend"?
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cdj
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Post by cdj on Jul 21, 2019 21:46:45 GMT -5
I for one am not surprised that players play worse at a higher level. Baseball is hard and it gets harder the further you go. The jump from A+ to AA is probably the toughest.
I’d imagine the suggestion here is Duran?
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Post by redsoxfan2 on Jul 21, 2019 22:43:33 GMT -5
What has Marcus Wilson's numbers been since the promotion? I know he was horrendous and was on fire after his demotion, but the site (to my knowledge) only shows his total numbers in Portland.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jul 21, 2019 23:03:53 GMT -5
What has Marcus Wilson's numbers been since the promotion? I know he was horrendous and was on fire after his demotion, but the site (to my knowledge) only shows his total numbers in Portland. Off to a good start but too SSS to make any major conclusions. 8 games (the first as a pinch runner) 21 ABs 29 PA 6H 2 HR 2 2B 5 BB 3 K 2 HBP 1 SF 10 R 6 RBI |
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Jul 21, 2019 23:19:31 GMT -5
There's little to no evidence to support this outside of the one article about Marcus Wilson.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jul 21, 2019 23:32:03 GMT -5
There's little to no evidence to support this outside of the one article about Marcus Wilson. Exactly and it's pretty much no way for anybody who doesn't see the day to day operations to know for sure. On the other hand, the coaches I've come to like over the years have had numerous mentions in various coverage. I haven't seen Lee mentioned anyplace. |
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Post by caseytins on Jul 22, 2019 8:05:29 GMT -5
What batters are contributing to your seeing this as a "trend"? Duran, Wilson, Dalbec off the top of my head. No doubt the level of competition is higher, but it's something that has stood out to me. |
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Post by James Dunne on Jul 22, 2019 8:43:46 GMT -5
Dalbec is hitting better than he did in Greenville and is making much more consistent contact than he did in Salem. His strikeout rates have been on a pretty gradual decline - they were enormous after his promotion last year during the transition, fine to start the 2019 season, went a little bit backwards in June, but have been the best of his career this month. If Dalbec's developmental goal was to strike out significantly less this year (and that absolutely needed to be the goal) then his work with May should be considered a positive. His jump onto Top-100 lists reflect that.
Duran was, again, IN COLLEGE one year before making it to Double-A. Blaming the hitting coach for that being an aggressive transition seems off the mark. He's popping the ball up quite a bit more, but it's hard to overstate the difference in pitcher quality from the Carolina League to the Eastern League. Other than Triple-A to the majors it's the biggest jump.
If Zawadzki found something in Wilson's swing then he deserves credit for that. We don't need to bash May to be positive about Zawadzki though.
EDIT: I think we got a bit spoiled by the crew that came through earlier this decade - Bogaerts, Betts, Benintendi, Moncada, and Devers - who largely had relatively smooth transitions after promotions. That isn't the norm!
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jul 22, 2019 10:20:50 GMT -5
This argument doesn't even make sense. It's not like the hitting coach is telling guys to do different things once they get to Portland.
The jump to AA is considered the hardest in the minors. Guys will be worse after that promotion.
May has been the hitting coach in Portland since 2017. Among those he's coached there are Michael Chavis and Rafael Devers. He helped Jeremy Barfield become a thing for a hot second. Tzu-Wei Lin turned his career around under May. When May was in Greenville in 2016, Luis Alejandro Basabe had a career half season he never replicated, allowing them to trade him for value.
What James said. You're seizing on one story related to Wilson and finding a "pattern" where there is none.
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Post by dcb26 on Jul 22, 2019 13:47:52 GMT -5
Ive gotten the sense from interviews etc. the last few years that AA is where they really start working on launch angle with hitters - or possibly even more generally when they really focus on optimizing a hitter's mechanics etc. rather than more basic fixes and simply working out the kinks a hitter may have in their swing/approach. Just speculation and may be completely off base, but if at all true it might further explain some of the changes (as many positive as negative) hitters have experienced upon reaching that level.
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