Angels hire Marcus Thames as hitting coach, Phil Plantier as assistant hitting coach, and Bill Hezel as assistant pitching coach (rest of 2022 staff retained)

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

Marlins hitting coach last season, Yankees before that.

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

 

[BTH]

 

 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Idk about thames, but i'm looking forward to hezel. 

[BTH]

I love all these hires.

The ex-Yankees hitting coaches were scape-goats for a flawed roster and Hezel is a driveline guy who has clearly had success working with pitchers in the Angels organization.

All three of these hires have connections already within the organization, which is good for relationship-building and earning trust.

[UndertheHalo]

Matt Dumb back

[Dtwncbad]

Plantier’s stance back in the day was something.  Hands super low and swing basically straight up at the ball.

So many made fun of it back then but now maybe you could say he was a “launch angle pioneer”?

Edited November 7, 2022 by Dtwncbad

[Taylor]

Thames seems like a solid choice. 

It's also good that we now have a face and a name to blame when the Angels go five straight games scoring fewer than 3 runs.

 

[Slegnaac]

It will be interesting to see how David Fletcher adjusts next season.

[mmc]

 

[Dtwncbad]

7 minutes ago, Slegnaac said:

It will be interesting to see how David Fletcher adjusts next season.

Just asking honestly. . .

Of all the Angel hitters, you are interested in how David Fletcher adjusts with the new hitting coaches??

I am interested in all the players, but that’s about the last name that comes to mind in my hopes of seeing something different next year.

Fletcher is a slap hitter that is not going to be an SLG guy no matter who the coaches are.

I am much more interested to see how Adell, Walsh, Stassi, Ward perform under the new coaching.  These are the guys that can make a difference in what the team needs.

 

[Chuck]

Great hires!!! I approve. 

[Chuck]

Man I remember Marcus Thames as the Yankees top prospect. Had tremendous power and so much promise, but never really panned out outside of a few decent seasons. 

 

[Chuck]

Pretty awesome to hit a HR on the first pitch you see in the big leagues of legend Randy Johnson. 

 

[Chuck]

Something worth reading. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/marcus-thames-goes-above-and-beyond-for-nyy-c272547142

[Brandon]

7 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Man I remember Marcus Thames as the Yankees top prospect. Had tremendous power and so much promise, but never really panned out outside of a few decent seasons. 

 

I was literally thinking this as I saw the thread title. I always feel old when I see dudes as coaches that I watched in college or coming up.

[Slegnaac]

30 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

Just asking honestly. . .

Of all the Angel hitters, you are interested in how David Fletcher adjusts with the new hitting coaches??

I am interested in all the players, but that’s about the last name that comes to mind in my hopes of seeing something different next year.

Fletcher is a slap hitter that is not going to be an SLG guy no matter who the coaches are.

I am much more interested to see how Adell, Walsh, Stassi, Ward perform under the new coaching.  These are the guys that can make a difference in what the team needs.

 

I am no expert, but Fletcher seems to swing at a lot of pitches outside of the zone, with a fair amount of success.  Will there be an effort to change that? 

[AngelsFaninGA]

Definitely got Marcus Thames confused with Eric Thames, who would've been an entertaining hire but probably not nearly as effective.

Otherwise, seems like a strong pair of hires on paper. 

[Lou]

1 hour ago, mmc said:

 

Looks like someone didn't listen in class. 

[Docwaukee]

16 minutes ago, Lou said:

Looks like someone didn't listen in class. 

there's more to life than just driveline.  

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Pretty awesome to hit a HR on the first pitch you see in the big leagues of legend Randy Johnson. 

 

20 years ago, seems like just a little while back.

[Erstad Grit]

A good hitting coach? It's about thame. 

[Docwaukee]

1 hour ago, Dtwncbad said:

Just asking honestly. . .

Of all the Angel hitters, you are interested in how David Fletcher adjusts with the new hitting coaches??

I am interested in all the players, but that’s about the last name that comes to mind in my hopes of seeing something different next year.

Fletcher is a slap hitter that is not going to be an SLG guy no matter who the coaches are.

I am much more interested to see how Adell, Walsh, Stassi, Ward perform under the new coaching.  These are the guys that can make a difference in what the team needs.

 

I'm actually very interested to see what can be done with Fletch.  His most productive years as a hitter were 2019/20 when he had a 8+% walk rate.  

His out of zone swing rate those two years was about 25%.  Then jumped to low 30's the last couple of years and his bb rate dropped to about 4% also tanking his BA and his BABIP. 

His swing rate the last two years was almost 50%.  It was about 36% during his good seasons.  

His exit velo dropped a bit and his hard hit rate tanked this last season.  His launch angle was 15 this year.  And in his better years it was significantly less.  His FB% was 40 last year and in the mid to high 20% in previous seasons.  

With his defensive abilities, turning him back into a 3 WAR player would be huge.  He's shown that he can succeed without hitting for power.