Changing hitting approach in the wind.

[MFDChief]

The announcers said the pitchers could feel comfortable throwing high fastballs because it would take a moonshot to get out of Wrigley tonight. What do the Reds do? Swing away baby! Surely our version of the Bronx bombers could overcome Mother Nature. And this dude was throwing batting practice fastballs. Came in staring down a 6 ERA and walked out having shaved almost a whole run off of that atrocious ERA. These are professional baseball players, see ball hit ball. Stop trying to hit homers on every swing.
And since I am venting, how bout defensive alignment? Who is calling the shots on outfield placement? Proper Castellanos positioning could have kept all three Cubs runs from scoring. Mahle was throwing mainly fastballs on the outer portion of the plate Nick should have been hugging the line with Shogo shading towards right center.
Oh well, I am tired physically and tired of watching bad baseball. Sometimes wish I was one of those people who could go with the flavor of the month but I have been a Reds fan since the early 70’s when in a small Oklahoma town My Grandfather, Father and my brothers would huddle around a radio listening to WLW and pulling for our fellow Okie Johnny Bench. In the immortal words of Brokeback Mountains Jack Twist, “I Wish I Knew How To Quit You”
Sorry for the rant and the long post. You folks have good evening and stay safe!

[CrosleyVet]

Castellanos is a designated hitter only. He is like a little leaguer in the field. His batting approach is dismal. Throw the ball in the dirt in the left handers batters box. he will swing every time. His homers are not making up for anything else. Another bad transaction for the Reds.

[Strikes Out Looking]

Alan Zinter should be checked out of the hotel and sent home by 5:00 pm today. There is no need for a hitting coach on this team at this point. And yes, I do think I could do a better job even though I never advanced past little league. I also think most posters here could do as well or better.

[MFDChief]

I obviously was not talented enough to make it to the majors but I played against several guys in college who did. I have seen a 93 mph fastball and yes in my youth I got a couple hits off them. If theses guys would shorten their swings and just put the barrel in the zone they should have been able to beat up on that kid last night. How many times recently have we seen Winker swing so hard he fell down? The Cardinals beat the hell out of us by just short swinging and taking the ball back up the middle or to the opposite field. Hell even Shogo looks like he is trying to hit every pitch out of the park.

[CrosleyVet]

I obviously was not talented enough to make it to the majors but I played against several guys in college who did. I have seen a 93 mph fastball and yes in my youth I got a couple hits off them. If theses guys would shorten their swings and just put the barrel in the zone they should have been able to beat up on that kid last night. How many times recently have we seen Winker swing so hard he fell down? The Cardinals beat the hell out of us by just short swinging and taking the ball back up the middle or to the opposite field. Hell even Shogo looks like he is trying to hit every pitch out of the park.

Winker falling down coincided with the start of his slump. A good hitting coach would have picked up on that.

[Shoeless Jeff]

When Jose Rijo tried to make his comeback, he started a game in April 2002 in Chicago with the wind howling in. They had actually closed Lake Shore Drive because the wind was driving the water from Lake Michigan up onto the road. Anyway he pitched five innings with no earned runs and everyone was making a big deal that Rijo was gonna make this big comeback. I could have pitched in Wrigley that day and not given up a home run. There is no question that sometimes as a batter you need to change your approach.

[klw]

A question which is not just rhetorical, I do not know the answer.

Due to COVID, are there limitations on how much players can do in either extra batting practice and video review? I thought I heard of some restriction on the usual access to video equipment but i think that was on a Red Sox broadcast so it may be due to their "activities" and subsequent MLB meted punishment.

If there are COVID restrictions on video and BP time, it may be limiting Zinter's ability to work with the hitters to identify and address problems.

[Strikes Out Looking]

A question which is not just rhetorical, I do not know the answer.

Due to COVID, are there limitations on how much players can do in either extra batting practice and video review? I thought I heard of some restriction on the usual access to video equipment but i think that was on a Red Sox broadcast so it may be due to their "activities" and subsequent MLB meted punishment.

If there are COVID restrictions on video and BP time, it may be limiting Zinter's ability to work with the hitters to identify and address problems.

Even if true, how come other teams have continued to hit the ball and score runs consistently?

[zigbeenuthouse]

Reds are who they are each and every game. That means less than 5 hits and struggle to score.

[klw]

Even if true, how come other teams have continued to hit the ball and score runs consistently?

The other teams get to face the Reds' bullpen.



Enjoy the game everyone!

[MFDChief]

That true and I just don’t get it. There’s never been a hitter alive who hit the ball as far as Mark McGwire and his swing was a simple load and unload. Even without the juice he still would have been a very effective power hitter with a short compact swing. Barry Bonds also had a very short compact swing.

[SunDeck]

I have wondered whether the current approach to developing young players ends up making them all the same with respect to their approach and whether this has anything to do with the fact that it's all very organized compared to the way kids learned to play in generations past. Could it be that hitters now have less understanding of how to adjust than earlier generations? I keep waiting for players to adjust their positions in the box, for instance, to make it easier to slap a ball to the opposite field against the shift and I am somewhat confident that creativity will come up with an answer. But I am surprised to see that players don't seem to make any adjustments at all. As far as the Reds go, this team just doesn't strike me as especially talented at the plate in the first place.