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-   -   Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences (http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82279)

NJReds 05-26-2010 04:37 PM
Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
A few snippets from an article about Blue Jays hitting coach Dwayne Murphy and his "grip it and rip it" philosophy.

I thought it was interesting as it seems to go against the growing trend of OBA and taking a lot of pitches.

Quote:
The no-name, some-game Jays – none is in the top four of the AL All-Star balloting through this week – have adopted a single, simple strategy: Get ready, get a pitch, swing hard.

“Murph’s a big believer in getting started early and letting it fly,” said Vernon Wells(notes), the club’s resurgent cleanup hitter. “If you know anything about him, he didn’t hold anything back at the plate. He expects the same out of us.”
Quote:
Through Tuesday night, when Jose Bautista(notes), Aaron Hill(notes) and Jeremy Reed(notes) went deep in Anaheim for the entirety of the Jays’ scoring against Angels starter Ervin Santana, you could find Murph men ranking first (Bautista, 15), fifth (Wells, 11) and eighth (Alex Gonzalez, 10) in the AL in home runs. Four Jays are in the top 20 and eight in the top 31. You could also find the Jays – as a whole – second in the major leagues in strikeouts, 25th in batting, 22nd in walks and 29th in on-base percentage.

Quote:
“I think on-base percentage is an overrated stat,” Murphy said flatly. “Those guys getting on base, most of them aren’t getting them in. Give me somebody who drives them in after that. I need guys who can drive the ball.”

Quote:
Bautista recited the mantra: Get ready, get a pitch and swing hard.

“You can’t change these guys’ swings,” Murphy said. “Their swings are their swings. You can’t do much. You change a guy’s mechanics and by game time they revert back to what they were. It’s the hardest thing to do. Guys are taught, ‘See the ball, let it travel,’ a lot of terms. Instead of, ‘Get ready, get a good pitch to hit and barrel it up.’

“I’m not going to make Jose Bautista a .300 hitter. He’s a .240 hitter. But, he’s a .240 hitter who can do some damage.”

lollipopcurve 05-26-2010 04:40 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
Very interesting.

We'll see how long the Jays offense stays productive.

Roy Tucker 05-26-2010 04:56 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJReds (Post 2096650)
“I think on-base percentage is an overrated stat,” Murphy said flatly. “Those guys getting on base, most of them aren’t getting them in. Give me somebody who drives them in after that. I need guys who can drive the ball.”
They just clog the bases.

pedro 05-26-2010 04:59 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
Dwayne was a good CF. Played hella shallow.

I remember going and seeing him play for the A's when I was in HS.

westofyou 05-26-2010 05:00 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedro (Post 2096662)
Dwayne was a good CF. Played hella shallow.

I remember going and seeing him play for the A's when I was in HS.
Total underrated stud

westofyou 05-26-2010 05:01 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJReds (Post 2096650)

I thought it was interesting as it seems to go against the growing trend of OBA and taking a lot of pitches.
He's not even looking at his own career

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...urphdw01.shtml

.246 BA
.356 OB%

Brutus 05-26-2010 05:02 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
I aspire to see the harmonious universe where both OBP and power can coexist together, and not in mutually exclusive relationship to one another.

If you get on base a bunch but don't have guys knocking them over and in, it will not do you a ton of good. If you have a bunch of guys cranking homers but few people on base, you're still not going to score a ton.

The right answer is that both OBP and isolated power are important and you want both. They're not overrated or underrated - just sometimes taken out of context.

As a rule of thumb, the quickest run estimation (or at least most accurate intuitively without a more detailed calculation) is OBP * SLG. OPS won out as a mainstream stat because it's easier to calculate.

KronoRed 05-26-2010 08:45 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
I don't understand the guys who somehow see obp and batting avg as being opposed, as if HITS don't count for getting on base.

RedsManRick 05-26-2010 08:48 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
The idea that proponents of OBP are about taking pitches is just wrong. It's about taking pitches that you can't drive. It's quite possible that the grip it and rip it approach leads to more walks because you don't have guys doing anything and everything just to put the ball in play. There's a reason sluggers tend to be walkers and its not just because pitchers are avoiding them.

15fan 05-26-2010 10:39 PM
Re: Blue Jays hitting coach as team swinging for the fences
 
Bret and Aaron Boone approve of this hitting philosophy.


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