Was on the cover of BP's annual and popped right after Albert popped, so the hope was always that he or Kearns would be as impactful.Originally Posted by M2
Life is a mean mistress
Was on the cover of BP's annual and popped right after Albert popped, so the hope was always that he or Kearns would be as impactful.
Life is a mean mistress
In many ways Dunn and Bruce followed a similar pattern. I watched both in the minors. Both were willing to go the other way with breaking stuff. Both got to the majors and got pull (HR happy) and it probably hurt their overall hitting as both had enough power to use all fields and still hit plenty of home runs.
I think both are different from Aquino in that it wasn't so much a case of the league adjusting to them and them not changing (Aquino), but them adjusting their swing to try and hit 40 home runs.
Take a look a Bruce's debut. This isn't just one good game. This is how Bruce hit all throughout the minors. But, he quickly got super pull happy (maybe it was the walkoff HR against the Braves a week or so later)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Le2C2EqBE
JCM11 (06-27-2022),KYExtemper (06-29-2022),M2 (06-26-2022),Old school 1983 (06-26-2022),Redhook (06-26-2022),REDREAD (06-27-2022),Tony Cloninger (06-26-2022)
Always thought GABP influenced Bruce’s hitting style.
I love Adam Dunn, but the idea a couple months of a hitting coach at age 21 or whatever ruined a 15 year baseball career is difficult to believe. When I read the quote my eyes rolled so hard I got a little dizzy. Sounds like a retired player that wishes he had a better career than he did and has trouble with personal accountability.
What would you say.....ya do here?
While I do believe a couple of months with the wrong hitting coach can certainly have a significant impact on a player, especially in an era of way less technology. Dunn had a pretty dang good career, and the numbers don't seem to show much of a change in his 2002 season.
"Today was the byproduct of us thinking we can come back from anything." - Joey Votto after blowing a 10-1 lead and holding on for the 12-11 win on 8/25/2010.
My feeling: probably not the case, but you also never know I suppose. Athletes are weird as hell.
A hitting coach completely unlocked a guy like Jose Bautista, I guess if somehow a coach makes you totally lose your old touch I could theoretically see it being hard to get back to it.
Too bad we’ll never know.
Last edited by Wonderful Monds; 06-27-2022 at 02:00 PM.
I’ve had this exact experience in amateur sports and always found it interesting that more pro athletes don’t get washed out this way. When you get knocked off a groove and that “feel” goes away, it’s almost impossible to explain what it is you’re missing.
Wonderful Monds (06-27-2022)
His main problem wasn't so much his bat (it was very productive), but the fact that his defense undid a lot of that production.
He was a fun distraction through some lean years, though. I was there for that walk off slammy against the Indians...all in good fun.
You’d probably always remember the hitting coach whose significant swing changes marked the last time you felt that effortless, smooth ability to hit, whether or not they truly did “ruin” your swing forever or set you down a road you can’t recover from.
Chip R (06-28-2022)
I blame Jim Lefevbre for the need to align payroll to available resources.
Where we gonna go?
what? From the article:
Dunn hit .300 with 17 homers in 366 plate appearances during the first half in 2002. He hit .191 with nine homers in 310 PAs during the second half.
Well, that's what those words mean. He was here. If they don't keep him, he will have been lost/subtracted. I headed out the door today with two shoes on my feet. If I don't return with them, I have lost them. If I do return with them, I haven't added them. ---M2
I friended mine who played in the orioles organization said that he never heard a sound like the ball made off Bruce’s bat. He said you could hear it three fields over.
When I see the 2016 Reds, I see a 100 loss team and no direction.
I don't put all the blame on the hitting coach. But, I do think it is easy to undersell how hard it is to get a swing back. Joey Votto is probably the smartest hitter since Ted Williams (Barry Bonds for all his faults is up there as well). And there have been years when he's altered his swing/approach, and sometimes it's worked, and sometimes it's taken almost 2 years to get it back. And we're talking about someone who would work all hours of the day and night. Do endless amounts of studying. Carry around Ted Williams book on hitting in his pocket. If it can take that dude 2 years. I can see it taking Dunn a lot longer.
In true RedsZone fashion, I blame Bob Boone for hiring Jim Lefevbre.
As Yogi was supposed to have said, "90% of this game is half mental." Back when LaRussa was managing the Cardinals and Dusty was managing the Cubs, H.G. (Buzz) Bissinger wrote a book called "3 Nights In August" about an August series between the teams. In the book, LaRussa notes that hitters hate to be meddled with. They hate trying a new stance or a new swing, even if it may lead to improvement, believing that they must have done something right to have gotten to where they have gotten. As a result, when someone starts telling them to do this and do that - someone who may have had trouble hitting .200 in the majors - they tend not to have an open mind. They operate on the superstition that if they do anything differently - anything, from stepping on a chalk line as they approach the batters box to the mechanics of the swing itself - the delicate assembly line they have concocted will collapse.
If a young player like Dunn, who had success, starts working with someone and regresses; they are probably going to believe the person they worked with is to blame. Maybe they are and maybe they aren't but if the player thinks they did, it's going to be in his head for a while. It also gives them a built in excuse for failure. "It's not my fault, it's the coach's fault."
REDREAD (06-29-2022)
There is also a nonzero probability that LaRussa was drunk when he said that.
Eric Stratton, Rush Chairman. Damn glad to meet ya.
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