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IGNORED

First Base (still the elephant in the room)


Dtwncbad

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I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert at the ML level, but i did teach hitting to kids thru HS age for over 10 years and that having been said that swing doesnt scare me so much as most of the action is after contact. 
I look at the before and after and i see a huge difference.  Less hitch, less wasted motion, quick to impact.. the step feels a bit too much still but the lack of load up looks much improved to me.  The follow thru is actually a by product of the bat speed thru impact which looks pretty good overall.
Bottom line to me is that it looks better than it did, well see what results in brings 

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I honestly think Ward is going to end up the best hitter we've produced from the farm (not including Ohtani, since he didn't play 1 game in the Angels minor league system), since Trout. Granted, that's not a high bar, the best hitters this team has produced over the entire Mike Scioscia era, by production as an Angel are:

1. Mike Trout (obviously)

2. Chone Figgins

3. Kendrys Morales

4. Howie Kendrick

5. Juan Rivera

6. Erick Aybar

7. Macier Izturis

8. Mark Trumbo

9. Kole Calhoun

10. CJ Cron

11. Alberto Callaspo

12. Mike Napoli (most of his offensive success came after he left the Angels).

 

The criteria is players who made their debut in the majors under Scioscia, and played at least 1 season of minor league ball prior to their Angel Debut, in an Angel Uniform.

I'm hopeful. He just reminds me of a grinder, a guy who will get it right eventually.

 

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22 minutes ago, Hubs said:

I honestly think Ward is going to end up the best hitter we've produced from the farm (not including Ohtani, since he didn't play 1 game in the Angels minor league system), since Trout. Granted, that's not a high bar, the best hitters this team has produced over the entire Mike Scioscia era, by production as an Angel are:

1. Mike Trout (obviously)

2. Chone Figgins

3. Kendrys Morales

4. Howie Kendrick

5. Juan Rivera

6. Erick Aybar

7. Macier Izturis

8. Mark Trumbo

9. Kole Calhoun

10. CJ Cron

11. Alberto Callaspo

12. Mike Napoli (most of his offensive success came after he left the Angels).

 

The criteria is players who made their debut in the majors under Scioscia, and played at least 1 season of minor league ball prior to their Angel Debut, in an Angel Uniform.

I'm hopeful. He just reminds me of a grinder, a guy who will get it right eventually.

 

I hope you are right.

I keep saying it, but I would be so thrilled if Ward proved me wrong. 

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Putting together that list was kind of depressing. The best players the Angels have had other than Trout, then have basically all came from other organizations, whether in Free Agency, or in trades... At least on the offensive side. Of the 12 guys listed there, only Trout, Kendrick, Trumbo, Calhoun, Cron and Napoli were drafted by the Angels.

Obviously there have been other guys drafted or signed out of Latin America who have turned into All-Stars for other teams, like Segura, but even then, that is limited. The Astros or Indians or Dodgers, have far more solid performers coming from their farms.

It shows how bad Reagins and DiPoto were at drafting bats.

 

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3 hours ago, floplag said:

I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert at the ML level, but i did teach hitting to kids thru HS age for over 10 years and that having been said that swing doesnt scare me so much as most of the action is after contact. 
I look at the before and after and i see a huge difference.  Less hitch, less wasted motion, quick to impact.. the step feels a bit too much still but the lack of load up looks much improved to me.  The follow thru is actually a by product of the bat speed thru impact which looks pretty good overall.
Bottom line to me is that it looks better than it did, well see what results in brings 

Swing discussions are fun.

I just personally prefer swings that are not "big" and exploit leverage mechanics over pure bat speed.

Pedro Guerrero, Pujols in his prime, Trout now, Chase Utley, Barry Bonds, Mike Schmitt . . .

Obviously other swings can be successful but "big" swings I find to be inferior to the shorter compact, exploit pure leverage kind of swing.

But not every player can magically do that so they do what works best for them.

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18 hours ago, eligrba said:

Frank Thomas is the only hitter that comes to mind that has a similar approach.  He seemed to do pretty well with that kind of swing.

Troy Glaus has a long ass swing....  he got through the zone fast and had great coverage through the hitting zone -- but he had a super long extension post zone.

Edited by Inside Pitch
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42 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

Swing discussions are fun.

I just personally prefer swings that are not "big" and exploit leverage mechanics over pure bat speed.

Pedro Guerrero, Pujols in his prime, Trout now, Chase Utley, Barry Bonds, Mike Schmitt . . .

Obviously other swings can be successful but "big" swings I find to be inferior to the shorter compact, exploit pure leverage kind of swing.

But not every player can magically do that so they do what works best for them.

The only thing ill add to that is the post impact mechanics are telling.  Those with exaggerated actions after constant in my experience tended to generate more power thru contract than those with a more controlled release, not taking into account freakish athleticism of course.   
When i coached my focus was always on what happened before and leading up to contact, after that i let it take its natural motion aside from using the momentum to get into moving up the line.  Of course i wasn't dealing with 90+ splitters either but still. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Angels signing Bour gets this thread bumped.

I am very glad that the organization now appears to acknowledge how vulnerable they are to relying on Pujols at 1B for 2019.

All the points of how difficult it is to carry two 1B-only types and one DH-only were completely valid. . .but I personally hoped the team would be willing to wrestle that challenge OVER having a roster that has no functional answer to Pujols potentially (and predictably) not being able to handle the everyday rigors of playing 1B.

Given the clear decision last year with Cron, the hope was the team had a different viewpoint for 2019, a year later with Pujols another year older and another year expired on his contract.

I am very happy to see something is different.

The roster flexibility is a concern.  But I will take that concern over worrying about Pujols going down April 20 for the rest of the season and having nobody to take over for 145 games.

 

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On ‎12‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 11:24 AM, Hubs said:

Putting together that list was kind of depressing. The best players the Angels have had other than Trout, then have basically all came from other organizations, whether in Free Agency, or in trades... At least on the offensive side. Of the 12 guys listed there, only Trout, Kendrick, Trumbo, Calhoun, Cron and Napoli were drafted by the Angels.

Obviously there have been other guys drafted or signed out of Latin America who have turned into All-Stars for other teams, like Segura, but even then, that is limited. The Astros or Indians or Dodgers, have far more solid performers coming from their farms.

It shows how bad Reagins and DiPoto were at drafting bats.

 

FIFY

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16 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

what if the Angels decided to not let Ohtani hit next year and they just haven't told the fans yet.  

Why wouldn't they let him hit though? Afraid he'll get hurt? Or the surgery prevents hitting also? If it's the latter, I don't know why they wouldn't say it. If it's the former, you 'd have to believe Ohtani would fight it tooth and nail.

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41 minutes ago, Torridd said:

Why wouldn't they let him hit though? Afraid he'll get hurt? Or the surgery prevents hitting also? If it's the latter, I don't know why they wouldn't say it. If it's the former, you 'd have to believe Ohtani would fight it tooth and nail.

 

36 minutes ago, wopphil said:

This seems completely unlikely. No reason for it, and you piss off a guy who might still become the next biggest superstar in baseball.

cool your jets gentlemen.  I was joking.  

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On 12/14/2018 at 7:46 AM, Dochalo said:

what if the Angels decided to not let Ohtani hit next year and they just haven't told the fans yet.  

What if Doc stopped posting on this board and no one noticed for a few days, and then there was a forum conspiracy theory in which someone finally pieced together that he stopped posting shortly after writing the above.

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