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I was talking about the Nike bats in general. Even before the BBCOR standard came in last year, Nike bats weren't worth the material that they were made with.
Well, as a high caliber middle school coach here
, we have a specific approach we want to take at the plate. It is an up the middle other way approach. Most kids this age want to throw away, so we take advantage of it. Now with 20 or so middle schoolers who are just learning, some pick it up quick, other never do. For those that don't, they usually are pull hitters, so we coach them to simply spoil the outside pitch by taking it (if early in the count or way ahead) or by fouling it off and then hitting the pitch that they can handle. Now, I know I am along way off from high caliber SEC baseball, but the approach doesn't change, you have to take your player and work with them, not force them to change what they do well. Now, for our "pull" hitters, what is the difference between a double in the left gap and a double in the right field gap? Nothing. All it does with them is takes the hit and run away most of the time, but allows us to fake bunt, then steal, so problem is solved...Man this coaching stuff is really easy now that I think about it! So, this is our approach to our middle school team, tell me what is different about it versus the "big boys", other than actual ability:
offense:
up the middle, other way (for most altered if need be as stated above)
Steal bases, hit and run with slower guys
Bunt when needed
Pitching:
Location, location, location, I am the pitching/infield coach. We throw 90% fastballs working on location and mix in other pitches if they feature them, mostly change-ups. Very few curveballs/sliders.
Defense:
Make routine plays
hit cut off men
keep from throwing the ball to a minimum (reduces chance at errors)
Get the lead out
Well, as a high caliber middle school coach here
So, this is our approach to our middle school team, tell me what is different about it versus the "big boys", other than actual ability:
offense:
up the middle, other way (for most altered if need be as stated above)
Steal bases, hit and run with slower guys
Bunt when needed
Pitching:
Location, location, location, I am the pitching/infield coach. We throw 90% fastballs working on location and mix in other pitches if they feature them, mostly change-ups. Very few curveballs/sliders.
Defense:
Make routine plays
hit cut off men
keep from throwing the ball to a minimum (reduces chance at errors)
Get the lead out
apparently, baseball at Alabama is not so cut and dried.
nice post, BTW.
apparently, baseball at Alabama is not so cut and dried.
nice post, BTW.
Thanks, On a side note, as our pitching coach, We work the ball around, not just away. I prefer to throw it inside, but the opposing hitter actually tells me where we want to pitch it based on swing/stance in the box....
I am not sold on Dax hitting coach numbers they were with the old bats. Austin Smith made a base running error Saturday and now he is thru for a week are two. Austin is totally confused at the plate they are wanting more power from him instead of letting him swing it the way he is comfortable. Tulledge at third in the SEC is conceding that we will not be able to compete. If Moore catches put Booth at third if Booth catches put Moore at third. Even with that Booth is 0-13 the last 3 or 4 games. Andrew Miller was a 277 avg last year in SEC play 3rd highest on team behind Dugas and Smith and defensively he is one of the best in the SEC. The coaches are not playing to win if you don't have him in right field he has 18 at bats and that isn't enough when the rest of the team is swinging it as bad all but Dugas and he is not as good as I have seen in the past. With that said the kids parents should be furious with what our great university has given there kids to try and get them to the next level.
I agree if we play the kids that should not even be on the team we will get embarrassed. If Miller, Rosecrans, Smith had the at bats as the preferably favorite players then I am confident there average would be at a good percent. Just look at all the kids that got there average up on Arkansas Pine Bluff (a high school team) that at this point is falling Gregory, Booth,Moore,Baxter ,Roberts ,kelton these kids will really struggle when they see SEC pitching but they continue to play. Gaspard is told what to do by local residents and kids he does not play to win he plays to please certain kids and that is facts. We will see if gaspard wants to win this weekend are not by the line-up he uses if he continues to play kids that smile pretty at him and tells him how great he is we will get beat. It is time to stop posting around the problem and look into the program and speak what is actually the truth.
I am told I have a pretty smile, can I play? Seriously just trying to lighten the mood some
Some of you guys paint a seriously ugly picture of Alabama baseball. I don't live around Tuscaloosa so I don't know any of this stuff. I buy a pair of season tickets each year to try and support the program but only make it to 6-8 home games a year. What you are describing is NOT the kind of thing that should be happening at a DI program, and especially not at one located in the toughest league in America.
I can only hope that some of this stuff is being over-stated.
rtr
I can only hope that some of this stuff is being over-stated.
rtr
i kinda agree with some of what zona says. he seems to be a little hard on booth. the team seems to be playing better with him catching. he also forgot to mention the nixon kid who has struggled mightly. unfortunately everyone don't get the same number of at bats. i to question some playing time issues but can't do anything about that so i'll just keep supporting the team - coaches and all. hey zona i just checked the stats and guess what -your man booth is leading the team in rbi's and got on 2 times and scored 2 runs tonite, maybe the coach was right to work off that smile tonite. seriously though i think we need smith, miller and carlise in the line up but i don't see how that would happen.
Look for Smith or Miller or maybe both to play this weekend. That would not be fair to either of them they should have been getting hitting reps this week against live game pitching. With the way we hit as a whole Arkansas could no hit us with the staff they have. Booth is your better catcher but his 2 times on base last night was error by 2nd baseman and a home field scoring him a hit on one to shortstop without our scoreres at home our team batting average would be worse. Samford is a good team that has a great approach at the plate but make no joke about it they should not 2 hit us for 8 innings. I read Gaspards quotes about the game and he always says we have some good approaches but no results it is time to play to win with kids that you have been to battle with ( smith and miller) they finished 2nd and 3rd on team last year in SEC batting averages. If we are keeping them out because there approach is bad then sit the whole damn team.
I do live in the area and zona would love to know why Booth all of a sudden is catching but I won't tell even though he is the better catcher. SEC is big boys baseball and if you play the team we have field for the last 2 games we will get embarrassed. There is no way that smith and miller should not be playing they practice well and are draft able kids per the scouts. I see practice from a distance and can't understand the line up from day to day but when you go to Arkansas this weekend it will weed out the men from the boys. Only time will tell but believe one thing there is a favorite thing going on in Tuscaloosa in baseball and it will cost them there jobs because if we don't win this year it will be worse next year. You will lose a lot good players and don't be surprised if the ones being mistreated don't transfer are beg to be drafted out of this mess.
I can certainly understand playing Miller over the likes of Baxter, but I'm not seeing how he can possibly be considered one of the best hitters on the team. He hardly ever hits the ball with any authority, and when a kid with that kind of strength is reduced to being nothing more than a singles hitter, something is just not right. Could it be a mechanical flaw with his swing? Whatever the problem is, the hitting coach should diagnose and fix it, and help Miller unlock his potential. Hitting .277 against SEC opponents is fine, but that .337 slugging percentage is more telling. He's draftable because he has tools, but he's in need of considerable refinement at the plate.
Miller is a kid that shows his frustration at the plate with every at-bat, and that can't be a good thing. A good friend of mine played high school ball with Andrew's dad and he told me weeks ago that their whole family is frustrated at his lack of progress with the bat. Thing about it is, with Andrew you KNOW that he can play right field and that sooner or later he will straighten out his swing enough to hit a respectable number, so why not pencil him in and leave him out there?
Oh well. There are a heck of lot more questions than answers with this program right now.
rtr
Oh well. There are a heck of lot more questions than answers with this program right now.
rtr
I am normally a very positive person when it comes to Bama baseball. There just isn't that much to be positive about this year. I am, however, going to give some credit to one particular player in this post. Brett Booth has caught an awful lot of heat on here, but he showed me something last night that I have not seen much of this year. He showed some leadership and desire. I thought he handled the pitchers very well last night, constantly talking to them, encouraging them and letting them know when they did something right and when they did something wrong. Even when he was telling them they did something wrong, he did so in a positive manner. Booth was the first batter in the bottom of the 9th. He hit a slow roller that should have been an easy out. However, he busted his can getting down the line and because of his pure hustle forced the fielder to hurry his throw. The throw was off line and pulled the first baseman toward the plate. When the first baseman tried to tag him, Booth made a heck of a head first slide into foul territory and reached back with his hand to get the bag. The next batter was Jon Kelton. Kelton hit a sinking line drive into shallow left center field. The Samford center fielder made a diving attempt and, honestly, it looked like he made the catch. Booth was about 2/3 of the way from first to second. He thought it was a catch so he turned to get back to first. He also kept an eye on the umpire for his call. When he saw the "no catch" call, he hit the brakes again and busted his can to beat the throw to second. After scoring two batters later, Booth returned to the dugout and continued to cheer on his teammates. Until that point in time, he was the only player who was consistently "talking it up" in the dugout. By the way, he also scored the first run from second base on a single to right only by making an incredible slide to get around the catcher's tag at the plate. In my opinion, he was the player of the game for Bama last night.
Now to the downright ugly. We officially had 5 hits last night. One was the slow roller by Booth in the 9th that I think should have been scored an error. Another was on an almost identical ground ball hit by Jared Reeves that, in my opinion, should have been scored an error. In reality, we had three hits against the Samford midweek starter and bullpen. That does not bode well for this weekend. I was extremely frustrated by our approach at the plate last night. I wish I had kept count of how many batters walked to the plate and took a medium fastball right down Broadway for strike one and then looked at the second pitch, a slow curve for strike two digging an 0-2 hole before ever moving the bat off of the shoulder. I am not exaggerating folks. It didn't take Casey Dunn and his staff long to figure out that we were simply not going to hit the first pitch so they just served up an easy strike on the first pitch. Any pitcher is better when he is ahead in the count, much less when he is ahead 0-2 and hasn't thrown anywhere near his best pitches. If we have any hope of success in SEC play, this philosophy simply must be changed. If not, look for us to have a team batting average somewhere below the Mendoza line in conference.
Time for me to put on my crimson colored glasses. I think we can still turn things around and have some success during the rest of the year. To do so, we absolutely, positively must change our hitting approach. This team is not going to hit a bunch of bombs. We have hit 6 through 17 games so far (as opposed to Samford who has hit 20 in the same number of games). We have to focus on hitting line drives and using the entire field. The guys that we have can do this. We just have to work hard during BP and carry that over to games.
Now to the downright ugly. We officially had 5 hits last night. One was the slow roller by Booth in the 9th that I think should have been scored an error. Another was on an almost identical ground ball hit by Jared Reeves that, in my opinion, should have been scored an error. In reality, we had three hits against the Samford midweek starter and bullpen. That does not bode well for this weekend. I was extremely frustrated by our approach at the plate last night. I wish I had kept count of how many batters walked to the plate and took a medium fastball right down Broadway for strike one and then looked at the second pitch, a slow curve for strike two digging an 0-2 hole before ever moving the bat off of the shoulder. I am not exaggerating folks. It didn't take Casey Dunn and his staff long to figure out that we were simply not going to hit the first pitch so they just served up an easy strike on the first pitch. Any pitcher is better when he is ahead in the count, much less when he is ahead 0-2 and hasn't thrown anywhere near his best pitches. If we have any hope of success in SEC play, this philosophy simply must be changed. If not, look for us to have a team batting average somewhere below the Mendoza line in conference.
Time for me to put on my crimson colored glasses. I think we can still turn things around and have some success during the rest of the year. To do so, we absolutely, positively must change our hitting approach. This team is not going to hit a bunch of bombs. We have hit 6 through 17 games so far (as opposed to Samford who has hit 20 in the same number of games). We have to focus on hitting line drives and using the entire field. The guys that we have can do this. We just have to work hard during BP and carry that over to games.
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Miller has never been a power hitter he has the potential but is always been a gap to gap hitter all the way thru his high school and college years. His freshman year in Clemson in the super regionals he put on a show in BP he hit 6 or7 bombs over the center and right field fence back to back. Now they have changed and changed him to yes you would be frustraited. The coaching in our hitting has the whole team be-littled to nothing. People we have no instruction for our team as for as hitting.
That's good to hear, bamajake, especially since the player in question arrived as a freshman with some rather concerning makeup issues. After all, how many legitimate Division I prospects quit on their high school teams as seniors? Very positive that he's gotten his act together since then.
I am familiar with those concerns and was aware of them at the time. I think what we are seeing (hopefully) is the difference between an immature 18 year old and a more mature 21 year old. Let's hope it continues.
Yeah, I probably do hate on Booth a little bit too much. Maybe it just speaks more to the quality of our team when he's one of the better players. If he's hitting in the 8 or 9 spot, he's effective, if you ask him to hit 5-6, that's a bit much.
I doubt we can keep winning games with a Tullidge or Dye (walk-ons) playing 3B, where most good teams have power/gap threats there.
I doubt we can keep winning games with a Tullidge or Dye (walk-ons) playing 3B, where most good teams have power/gap threats there.
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