tulane observations

[bamamick]

Miller is a natural outfielder with the best arm of the bunch. The fact that he has dimished so much as a hitter is attributable completely to his hitting instructors. Last year I was watching one game and every time he came to the plate he looked completely confused and unhappy about even being there. He has no confidence at all, and it is a crying shame that he has gone down this road so far.

It may completely shock and surprise people, but if I were an MLB scout I would think seriously about giving Miller a look. The tools that you need to play pro ball he has. He just needs someone to get through to him on hitting. Hitting is something that can be taught, we just don't have anyone teaching it at Alabama.

rtr

 

[rolltydebb]

Miller is a natural outfielder with the best arm of the bunch. The fact that he has dimished so much as a hitter is attributable completely to his hitting instructors. Last year I was watching one game and every time he came to the plate he looked completely confused and unhappy about even being there. He has no confidence at all, and it is a crying shame that he has gone down this road so far.

It may completely shock and surprise people, but if I were an MLB scout I would think seriously about giving Miller a look. The tools that you need to play pro ball he has. He just needs someone to get through to him on hitting. Hitting is something that can be taught, we just don't have anyone teaching it at Alabama.

rtr

Hitting is something that can be taught, but at that level, you can either do it or you cant. A hitting coach can take a 330 hitter and make him a 370 hitter, but a hitting coach can't take a below average hitter and make him great

Again I'm not saying our coaching staff is the greatest in the country. I consider them all very very average. However that being said a kid that has never hit, it isn't the coaching staffs fault. He hasn't hit since he was at St Paul's High School. He hasn't hit at alabama nor any summer program he's ever been a part of. I'm sure its the summer coaches fault as well, that he hasn't hit.

And like I said, if a kid is dripping with talent and ability, yet hitting 230 and he has amibitons of playing professional baseball, and feels like the coaching staff and hitting coach are screwing him over on the deal. He's had 4 years to leave and find a program, hitting coach, etc that'll give him what he needs to be successful and have that professional career.

Truth his, he was recruited at a time when Alabama was making a lot of mistakes in the recruiting field. He was recruited when we had a Tuscaloosa All-Star team playing for us. Because the talent level here was so low, he was forced into playing. When he did play, he did not play well. Now we are actually getting some better recruits and talent here on campus, and between that and his level of performance, his playing time has dwindled. His bat speed is below average, he swings and misses a lot for a guy with no power, and truth is the bats took what little bit of power he could have produced away from him.

I'm tired of everytime you open these forums up our staff is getting ripped. I agree this is a make or break year for this staff, but it is not like our staff are bad baseball people, they know and understand baseball. They screwed up in a major way in recruiting their first couple of seasons. A lot of non-SEC level baseball players were playing here (and are still here), didn't recruit as hard or as well as they should have. And for everyone here ripping Phillips as a hitting guy, believe it or not the majority of our players are performing better this year as opposed to last and some, like Booth, have taken a dramatic step forward. Should that job have been handed to him on a silver platter, of course not, big mistake by CMG. That said the reason why certain people are not hitting is based more on sheer ability, than what a hitting coach is or is not telling them

 

[big jim]

Hitting is something that can be taught, but at that level, you can either do it or you cant. A hitting coach can take a 330 hitter and make him a 370 hitter, but a hitting coach can't take a below average hitter and make him great

Again I'm not saying our coaching staff is the greatest in the country. I consider them all very very average. However that being said a kid that has never hit, it isn't the coaching staffs fault. He hasn't hit since he was at St Paul's High School. He hasn't hit at alabama nor any summer program he's ever been a part of. I'm sure its the summer coaches fault as well, that he hasn't hit.

And like I said, if a kid is dripping with talent and ability, yet hitting 230 and he has amibitons of playing professional baseball, and feels like the coaching staff and hitting coach are screwing him over on the deal. He's had 4 years to leave and find a program, hitting coach, etc that'll give him what he needs to be successful and have that professional career.

Truth his, he was recruited at a time when Alabama was making a lot of mistakes in the recruiting field. He was recruited when we had a Tuscaloosa All-Star team playing for us. Because the talent level here was so low, he was forced into playing. When he did play, he did not play well. Now we are actually getting some better recruits and talent here on campus, and between that and his level of performance, his playing time has dwindled. His bat speed is below average, he swings and misses a lot for a guy with no power, and truth is the bats took what little bit of power he could have produced away from him.

I'm tired of everytime you open these forums up our staff is getting ripped. I agree this is a make or break year for this staff, but it is not like our staff are bad baseball people, they know and understand baseball. They screwed up in a major way in recruiting their first couple of seasons. A lot of non-SEC level baseball players were playing here (and are still here), didn't recruit as hard or as well as they should have. And for everyone here ripping Phillips as a hitting guy, believe it or not the majority of our players are performing better this year as opposed to last and some, like Booth, have taken a dramatic step forward. Should that job have been handed to him on a silver platter, of course not, big mistake by CMG. That said the reason why certain people are not hitting is based more on sheer ability, than what a hitting coach is or is not telling them

You my friend need to stop this attack on this bama kid. You apparently have a kid that is a freshman on the team. I am a fan not a parent so I can't look at things thru your eyes but when this kid was a freshman he was all sec and was one of the kids that helped us to the super regionals and has given Bama all he can for 4 years as other kids have. Has he complained to you about not playing as you are saying? On this platform I can tolerate critiquing a coach they are adults and are expected to develop kids and a opinion on them is what it is. Suggesting maybe switching the lineup is something else that can be discussed but you constantly attacking kids needs to stop. If this is your approach for four years till your kid graduates you will need to think about leaving this university as you preach because all these kids are here to get a education and because they love this university. Now lets get positive with our kids and hope our coaches have learned from there mistakes of a year ago and we can at least make the Hoover tournament

 

[rolltydebb]

I'm not a parent and have no relatively, family friend, etc in the program.

I do however attend my fair share of games. If you'd like you can sit by me or any given night at the joe, I'll buy you a stadium dog and drink.

I do support Alabama baseball, and it irks me when it is led by people on this board and this coaching staff plays favorite and some senior has been crapped on for years. When that clearly is not the case.

I'll leave the subject be, but I'm hoping our corner outfielders can produce say 320 with 6 homers this year, or 335 with 25 stole bases, or even a 370 single type hitter. Thats what's needed to win in the SEC. Not experience, and certainly not 235. And if we don't have anyone that can do that yet, then makes all the more sense to develop the guys that may be able to do that in the near future.

 

[big jim]

I'm not a parent and have no relatively, family friend, etc in the program.

I do however attend my fair share of games. If you'd like you can sit by me or any given night at the joe, I'll buy you a stadium dog and drink.

I do support Alabama baseball, and it irks me when it is led by people on this board and this coaching staff plays favorite and some senior has been crapped on for years. When that clearly is not the case.

I'll leave the subject be, but I'm hoping our corner outfielders can produce say 320 with 6 homers this year, or 335 with 25 stole bases, or even a 370 single type hitter. Thats what's needed to win in the SEC. Not experience, and certainly not 235. And if we don't have anyone that can do that yet, then makes all the more sense to develop the guys that may be able to do that in the near future.

I am sorry but a kid is a kid and I am a old man that gets enjoyment out of all kids having fun and growing as an adult. Our recent history shows that we will not have any player bat that not because of talent but because of the SEC pitching. If we can't produce extra base hits now it will get tough from now through the end of the season JoJo has referred to that in previous post. I'm with you i hope we do produce those numbers,but our averages aren't up enough to do that at this point because we have played a very easy schedule to this point and the SEC west is brutal. Our best hitting corner fielder has struggle with below average pitching as a whole with exception of a few pitchers he will really have to get hot to reach those numbers. I used to sit in the stands and watch Andy and Dax they were fun to watch and great players but they had a hot bat which helped there numbers as we discussed hitting with these bats are different and it is hard to teach if you never used that technique. Wood bats are better than these bats our center fielder last year told me that. But again I'm sorry lets move on and support the university because everyone of these kids love it are they wouldn't be here.

 

[JoJoforHeisman]

And for everyone here ripping Phillips as a hitting guy, believe it or not the majority of our players are performing better this year as opposed to last and some, like Booth, have taken a dramatic step forward.

You make some very good points. It's only an 11-game sample, but Booth has shown remarkable improvement at the plate. Not trying to nitpick here, but a majority of our hitters performing better than last year? I don't know. I'll give you Booth and Kenny Roberts. Baxter has "improved" from .152 last year to .192 this year. Moore has gotten off to a very slow start. Smith has hit ten singles. The rest of the regulars were in high school a year ago.

Offensively, the team remains ranked near the bottom of the conference in most statistical categories, as has been the case the entire time Phillips has been on the job. Is it entirely his fault? No, of course not. But the lack of improvement, Booth and Roberts last 11 games notwithstanding, is cause for concern. Fair or not, when teams fail to produce at the plate, the hitting coach typically takes the fall. The reality is that Phillips makes a convenient scapegoat because he was given the job despite being woefully under-qualified. He was hired because (1) he and CMG are good friends and (2) he is a former player popular amongst the fan base. It was nothing more than cronyism, pure and simple, and the on-field results since his arrival have done nothing but reinforce the skeptics' claims about his lack of coaching ability. Again, it's not fair to place 100% of the blame on the hitting coach, but it's all about results on the field. Let's just hope that what we've seen from Booth and Roberts thus far in 2013 portends similar improvement for the other hitters on the team.

 

[bamamick]

I'm not a parent and have no relatively, family friend, etc in the program.

I do however attend my fair share of games. If you'd like you can sit by me or any given night at the joe, I'll buy you a stadium dog and drink.

I do support Alabama baseball, and it irks me when it is led by people on this board and this coaching staff plays favorite and some senior has been crapped on for years. When that clearly is not the case.

I'll leave the subject be, but I'm hoping our corner outfielders can produce say 320 with 6 homers this year, or 335 with 25 stole bases, or even a 370 single type hitter. Thats what's needed to win in the SEC. Not experience, and certainly not 235. And if we don't have anyone that can do that yet, then makes all the more sense to develop the guys that may be able to do that in the near future.

If you frequent message boards then prepare to be irked. It irks ME when Austen Smith is obviously one of the only guys on our team who can hit yet he sits half of 2012 until the staff finally gives in and lets him play. It's irks me when guys who didn't start at Shelton State are starting at Alabama. It irks me when ture freshman pitchers are out there obviously struggling and our pitching coach is standing in the dugout and not visiting the mound to, I don't know, do some freakin' COACHING. It irks the hell out of me when we go 0-15 on the road in the SEC and get swept for the first time in history by Tennessee. A lot about this program irks me, and yes I am a season ticket holder, and I will be a season ticket holder next year and the year after and the year after that, even though it is a four hour drive from my house to 'the Joe'.

I coached at the high school level for awhile, and I readily admit that I was over my head and the team suffered because of it. I got the job because no one else wanted it (at an inner city school in Mobile). What I see when I watch Alabama play baseball is a team in over their heads, and that should never be the case at the University of Alabama. This is not about Andrew Miller. It's about a program going absolutely nowhere in a hurry.

jmo rtr

 

[BAMASHAQ]

No doubt you can see it Bamamick. You are correct I just wished AD could see it. Or maybe just care about it. Getting pick off at 1st yesterday with a runner at 2nd no outs not going to get it at the middle school either. I am a season ticket holder too and it is just crazy some of the things that this staff lets happen time and time again at the Division I level.

 

[bamamick]

Aw, heck. I apologise for getting worked up. It's a bunch of young guys doing their best and playing a boy's game. No way should it affect my life except to give me a few hours of enjoyment when I am lucky enough to be able to make it up to town for a game. This time last year I was minding a father whose health finally gave way the first of April. Just the chance to see a game is a privilege and not something I should be taking for granted.

College baseball is one of the last 'true' sports in that most of these guys didn't come here to promote themselves into a professional career. These guys still play for the love of being able to play, and it's not my job to take that away from them. I am sorry to have come across in the way that I did. I will leave off of my opinions on the staff for awhile.

rtr

 

[rolltydebb]

You make some very good points. It's only an 11-game sample, but Booth has shown remarkable improvement at the plate. Not trying to nitpick here, but a majority of our hitters performing better than last year? I don't know. I'll give you Booth and Kenny Roberts. Baxter has "improved" from .152 last year to .192 this year. Moore has gotten off to a very slow start. Smith has hit ten singles. The rest of the regulars were in high school a year ago.

Offensively, the team remains ranked near the bottom of the conference in most statistical categories, as has been the case the entire time Phillips has been on the job. Is it entirely his fault? No, of course not. But the lack of improvement, Booth and Roberts last 11 games notwithstanding, is cause for concern. Fair or not, when teams fail to produce at the plate, the hitting coach typically takes the fall. The reality is that Phillips makes a convenient scapegoat because he was given the job despite being woefully under-qualified. He was hired because (1) he and CMG are good friends and (2) he is a former player popular amongst the fan base. It was nothing more than cronyism, pure and simple, and the on-field results since his arrival have done nothing but reinforce the skeptics' claims about his lack of coaching ability. Again, it's not fair to place 100% of the blame on the hitting coach, but it's all about results on the field. Let's just hope that what we've seen from Booth and Roberts thus far in 2013 portends similar improvement for the other hitters on the team.

A hitting coach for the post part is one of the most over-rated positions in baseball. I mean we can probably all name 20 pitching coaches and we see them in the dugout on TBS and Fox right by the manager, but I bet half of us can't name 20 hitting coaches.

I do agree 100% that the hire for Phillips should not have occurred. A real pitching coach should have been hired, and Dax should have been left to the hitters. The main thing I believe it hurt was with was recruiting, if you've never recruited before, you are going to make some mistakes and obviously we have.

As for being better or worse offensively, 11 game is too little to know from a stat standpoint. However anyone that watched last year and compared to this year, can obviously see that we are better. I do realize that we have a lot of freshman out there, but thats a credit to the coaching staff for recruiting talented and ready players. However, we will likely be in the bottom chunk of the SEC in terms of offensively production because 1) We are still starting 6-7 freshman and sophomores, and 2) because we still have to put some players out there by default, b/c we screwed up the recruiting process over the past few years.

 

[BamaBriar]

Not that it much matters, but the pick off at first yesterday was a really bad call - it happens in baseball.

 

[JoJoforHeisman]

A hitting coach for the post part is one of the most over-rated positions in baseball. I mean we can probably all name 20 pitching coaches and we see them in the dugout on TBS and Fox right by the manager, but I bet half of us can't name 20 hitting coaches.

I'd hope that we could at least name one...

 

[crimsonkelly]

I'd hope that we could at least name one...

But he is a professional with little to no college experience recruiting....

 

[Hoot30]

2 more

Greg Walker, hitting coach for ATL and...

 

[crimsonkelly]

2 more

Can't speak for McGwire, but Pendleton doesn't count. I have seen too many Braves players that look lost at the plate. Not he may be to blame completely but it falls on him imo. Andruw Jones...when he was hitting it up the middle/other way he was as good a hitter as there was in the game. But, when he was dead pull (98%) he was nothing but an out (usually a K or DP) waiting to happen. I attribute it to the hitting coach and organization. The Braves have had too many guys guys go elsewhere that "turned" it around, but were all but dead weight in ATL.

 

[Hoot30]

Can't speak for McGwire, but Pendleton doesn't count. I have seen too many Braves players that look lost at the plate. Not he may be to blame completely but it falls on him imo. Andruw Jones...when he was hitting it up the middle/other way he was as good a hitter as there was in the game. But, when he was dead pull (98%) he was nothing but an out (usually a K or DP) waiting to happen. I attribute it to the hitting coach and organization. The Braves have had too many guys guys go elsewhere that "turned" it around, but were all but dead weight in ATL.

They do count, since they are hitting coaches. The post was simply a reply to JJfH in naming hitting coaches, not a comment about their quality. However, it is debatable whether former Braves have turned it around after going elsewhere. I'm thinking of Francouer, Kelly Johnson, and Escobar. I would argue that Andruw Jones became less of a hitter when he gained weight, rather than blaming that on TP or the organization. :smile:

 

[GreatMarch]

Can't speak for McGwire, but Pendleton doesn't count. I have seen too many Braves players that look lost at the plate. Not he may be to blame completely but it falls on him imo. Andruw Jones...when he was hitting it up the middle/other way he was as good a hitter as there was in the game. But, when he was dead pull (98%) he was nothing but an out (usually a K or DP) waiting to happen. I attribute it to the hitting coach and organization. The Braves have had too many guys guys go elsewhere that "turned" it around, but were all but dead weight in ATL.

When you speak of players like Andrew Jones, Francouer, Escobar, etc....and their failures as hitters (and there were many) is the reason why TP is NOT the Braves hitting coach anymore. I think Scott Walker is the hitting coach. To be honest, I am not sure if there are too many good hitting coaches anymore at any level. Maybe I am wrong but if you think about the difference in hitting .250 as opposed to .300 for a career, many times the hitting coach may not be the reason for the success or lack there of. It may be a thankless job. Tony Gywnn was one of the best hitters in history and played with one team, can anyone name his hitting coach(es)? Goerge Brett believed in the Charlie Lau theory but I do not think that Lau ever worked in KC. That is professional players at a HoF level. As far as Bama players and its program, hiring an Andy Philips seems to have hurt recruiting and from what little I have seemed of this team (and last year's) I just do not see too many guys in the 2 deep that are quality hitters. There are a couple but I am not sure if there is one player that a top 5 team would look at and say "he would be a nice 8 hole hitter for us."

 

[JDCrimson]

I think we are just going have to endure until the end of his contract. Baseball simply isnt profitable enough to fund a new baseball coach while you are buying out the old one. If start doing too much of that you end up like UT - broke.

I dont know how many years he has left but the end cant get here soon enough, imo.

 

[cuda.1973]

I'd hope that we could at least name one...

Hey, can't have him........the stRangers need him. Bad.

 

[bamamick]

I think we are just going have to endure until the end of his contract. Baseball simply isnt profitable enough to fund a new baseball coach while you are buying out the old one. If start doing too much of that you end up like UT - broke.

I dont know how many years he has left but the end cant get here soon enough, imo.

The athletic department has some money, and will have as long as Nick Saban is the football coach. Thank goodness.

Games like the one last night are going to happen to a very young team like ours. Hopefully the light will come on for some guys before this season ends, but right now they are struggling as a group. And it is painful to watch.

rtr