Reds Announce Alan Zinter as Hitting Coach

[Griffey012]

Long bio short:

-- Long career as minor league Bull Durham type
-- Began with DBacks. Goldschmidt gives him some praise as helping him become the guy he is now.
-- Moved on to Cleveland and Francisco Lindor.
-- Made the majors as an assistant hitting coach and worked with Carlos Correa and others.
-- Moved from there to San Diego, where Will Myers and and Austin Hedges found their best success with him.
-- Did not have much success there and was fired after two years of very poor results.

A key quote makes him sound an awful lot like pitching coach Derek Johnson:

I love everything about that quote.

[Tom Servo]

I remember reading some stuff about Zinter when he was the Padres hitting coach that impressed me, obviously the results there weren’t great but the Padres offenses have been awful for years.

[Red Raindog]

He’ll be a good fit in Zinzinnati.

keep your day job

[OhioRiverBarge]

Good fangraphs article on him:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/alan-zin...-young-padres/

“With technology being what it is today, with the slo-mo cameras — the ability to slow down the swing — we can actually see what a good swing looks like.”

And the reason for this hire is all coming into focus.

[George Anderson]

Zzzzzzz

[redsman2007]

Zzzzzzz

Don't sleep on Zinter!

[Chip R]

I remember reading some stuff about Zinter when he was the Padres hitting coach that impressed me, obviously the results there weren’t great but the Padres offenses have been awful for years.

Probably not easy being a hitting coach when half your games are in Petco. Kind of like being a pitching coach for the Rockies.

[Griffey012]

More written about the hire in the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/1321745/2019...er-reds-brass/

[Ron Madden]

“This is a concerted effort by Nick and David to continue to connect even more closely the organization as a whole and specifically the Minor Leagues to the Major Leagues,” Williams said. “It’s important that we make hitting and pitching as simple as we can for these guys. … We want to make sure [the players] are hearing similar language, similar philosophies.”

https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/alan-z...-hitting-coach

[RedsManRick]

I like what I've heard/read. Just like with Boddy, it's about marrying a more rigorous understanding of what drives production with a fundamental, physics-based understanding of the mechanics that produce those outcomes -- all of which is then tailored by coaches to ensure each player performs his best within that framework. That's in contrast to short cut ideas and platitudes based in well-worn "widsom" -- most of which are true/useful for some players in some cases but can do just as much harm as good.

I am curious. There was an episode of the Jim Day podcast this summer with Nick Senzel and Josh VanMeter where they talked at length about their hitting approach. Senzel talked about being very instinctive and not wanting to take the more intellectual/analytical approach to his craft. This is why it's so big to have the whole system aligned behind a single coaching philosophy.

[malcontent]

I remember getting this card in packs

Attachment 15366

Pretty strong bubble gum odor on that card.

[KronoRed]

Nothing on his resume looks impressive, doesn't mean much as the last guy had an impressive resume and was awful.

[JaxRed]

In the Athletic article they mention that in addition to doing a hitting cage session with bullpen coach Morillo, he also had to go thru a simulated pre-game prep with Morillo where they went over the simulated St Louis starter and the possible relievers they might see that night.

There was also a comment that indicated Bell, Williams, Krall and others did this process with other candidates. And that among those people observing was no one named Jocketty.

[corkedbat]

This thread is turning into Zinterfest.

[Frank Robinson]

Let's just hope that Zinter doesn't go Nuclear.