Reds Announce Alan Zinter as Hitting Coach

[Griffey012]

Target hitters who already have that approach. Some of that coaching can work in rookie league or maybe even Low A, but a guy is basically what he is in AA or AAA. HE can be refined, but drastically revamping what got him drafted and promoted to the high minors in the first place seems unrealistic. If they haven't got it by then, deal them away for guys who do have that philosophy. Again, I don't think one size fits all. My philosophy is avoid outs and acquire bases. Maybe it's pitching, defense and three run homers. It's the same thing. I don't really care how they do it, as long as they do it.

So if you are more worried about that philosophy in the developmental leagues, why do you place so much stock in the big league hitting coach? By then its too late. I want somebody who can spot the difference between what a guy was doing when going well and what he's doing when not going well and make those adjustments to get him back on track. Its mostly looking at film and pitching a bunch of extra BP or watching while somebody else does.. I don't really care about philosophy on the big league roster. They aren't changing big leaguers into something different IMO. If we don't like a particular players approach, get him off the roster and replace him with somebody who fits. Changing him is going to fail the overwhelming majority of time and will take a long time for it to pay-off if it does at all.

I guess I just see this as a way to go cheap on players they hope they can fix as opposed to going out and getting what they need. Its about the players, not the coaches or the manager IMO.

There are some pretty successful franchises doing a lot of what you just mentioned the reds can’t do. The Dodgers seem to come to mind.

You’re assuming these things have to be mutually exclusive. They aren’t. The Reds aren’t going to be targeting the Lewis Brinson’s of the world and think they are going to turn him into a high walk/low strikeout guy. But when they draft a guy like India who already has a solid approach, the organization will be better off surrounding him with a good player development system that increases his chances of meeting his full potential. How do they ensure the approach carries over and brings success against better and better pitching? Just moving the player along and hoping for the best is no way to do that. That seems like what they have been doing rather unsuccessfully for a while now. Or when you have a draftee with good power and solid bat to ball skills but would benefit from being less aggressive, how do they change that approach early and keep it in check as the player moves up the ladder? Having coaches preaching the same thing at every level will help with that.

Where did I say I place a ton of value on the big league coach? My original comment in which you replied to was about how to implement the philosophy organization wise. But anyhow, incremental improvements at the major league level will pay big dividends. We saw how a poor approach impacted some guys this year.

[Chip R]

Several years ago I bought this book by Buzz Bissinger - the author of Friday Night Lights and some other books. This book was called "3 Nights in August." It focused on this 3 game series in August of 2003 between the Cubs - when Dusty was there - and the Cardinals - when LaRussa was there. It focused mainly on LaRussa but it wasn't totally about that series. One of the passages early in the book I thought was very interesting was about hitting. LaRussa believed that most hitters don't like to be messed with mainly because they believe their hitting was good enough to get there and don't like to change their routine. I'll post a picture of the page I found that on.

[Tom Servo]

Well, we need a new assistant hitting coach now

C. Trent Rosecrans
@ctrent
18m18 minutes ago

Sources: #Reds assistant hitting coach Donnie Ecker will be named the #SFGiants big-league hitting coach

[Ron Madden]

Well, we need a new assistant hitting coach now

I was just thinking a few days ago that this might happen.

Hate to lose Ecker.

[klw]

Ecker probably just wanted to go scape the Zhinterlands of Cincinnati for the big city life.

[Griffey012]

Well, we need a new assistant hitting coach now

Damnit. Sorry for the unmasked profanity, mods.

[allpurpose]

For those interested in starting their very own hitting coach business.. https://howtostartanllc.com/business...-hitting-coach.. Basically a how-to manual.. I'm not saying it's worth a handful of warm or cold spit, but ya never know.. YOU could be the Reds next big thing!

[GAC]

Not much to see here IMO.

[Bob Sheed]

Most hitters don't like a change in their routine

Exactly. I figured this was common knowledge.

Which is why I was baffled last season that
1. There was an organizational one-size-fits-all approach to hitting, that required each player to adjust to.
and
2. All the crazy lineup and batting order changes.

Seemed like a great recipe for cranking out a crappy hitting team, and sure enough...

I just don't see why, other than mechanical tweaks here and there if they go astray, MLB hitters need dramatic changes to their batting style or philosophy. Just seems like a really really stupid thing to do.

[RedTeamGo!]

Exactly. I figured this was common knowledge.

Which is why I was baffled last season that
1. There was an organizational one-size-fits-all approach to hitting, that required each player to adjust to.
and
2. All the crazy lineup and batting order changes.

Seemed like a great recipe for cranking out a crappy hitting team, and sure enough...

I just don't see why, other than mechanical tweaks here and there if they go astray, MLB hitters need dramatic changes to their batting style of philosophy. Just seems like a really really stupid thing to do.

I think they had a crappy hitting team because they mostly had crappy hitters.

[WrongVerb]

Hmmmm...

Bob Nightengale
@BNightengale
Marlon Byrd, the 15-year #MLB outfielder who is now a personal hitting instructor, and instrumental in Hunter Pence’s turnaround last year, is now open to joining an organization as a hitting instructor.
3:26 PM · Dec 8, 2019

[The Operator]

Hmmmm...

Didn’t he leave Cincinnati on a pretty sour note, though?

[Bob Sheed]

Didn’t he leave Cincinnati on a pretty sour note, though?

Doesn't everybody?

[MikeS21]

Marlon Byrd doesn't strike me as the technological-savvy instructor that the Reds have recently been hiring into those assistant coaching slots. I could be wrong.

[Ron Madden]

C. Trent Rosecrans
@ctrent
Joe Mather, who was the Diamondbacks' field and hitting coordinator, will be the Reds' assistant Major League hitting coach. He replaced Donnie Ecker, who served in that role last year and was hired by the Giants as the big-league hitting coach