LA Times: Josh Hamilton's season-long slump has the Angels concerned

[AngelsWin.com]

Is this a down year that the five-time All-Star will bounce back from? Or is this as good as it's going to get for Hamilton, who often looks overmatched at the plate?

CLEVELAND — At least with Albert Pujols the Angels can point to the excruciating pain he felt in his left heel, which finally gave out on July 26, and a sore right knee as tangible reasons for his career-low average and on-base and slugging percentages.

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[Angelsjunky]

I'm pretty worried to. It will be interesting to see how this plays out if Hamilton tanks again next year. Will Arte try to buy him out? Sure Hamilton won't be able to play through four more years of this, especially when he starts sitting on the bench?

[wopphil]

I think he is done. Put a fork in him. A Gary Matthews Jr. mistake, but at more than double the cost.

[AngelsLakersFan]

There is no reason to believe he is going to bounce back at this point.

[gotbeer]

I remember when people would say not to worry, he was streaky.  Man, I didn't think he would decline this badly.

[bloodbrother]

"It's a typical pitching pattern that gets him out — left-handed breaking balls down and away, right-handed changeups down and away," one major league scout said. "There's just not a whole lot of adjustments going on."

 

 

And that's why there won't be any improvement. No adjustments, just the same hack approach at the plate.

[bloodbrother]

I remember when people would say not to worry, he was streaky.  Man, I didn't think he would decline this badly.

 

With his approach and his swing and miss, I don't see him hitting above .250 for this team

[Tyler]

season and a half

[Amazing Larry]

I remember when people would say not to worry, he was streaky.  Man, I didn't think he would decline this badly.

He's so streaky hell probably leave stains on the bowl after Arte flushes him.

[m0nkey]

No worries. He'll get hot and help the angels make a playoff push. Hambone can get hot at anytime. Allegedly

[ukyah]

i'd say his body of work should give every reason to expect him to rebound, but i do get concerned with the way he offhandedly dismissed the idea of adjustments. his problem is that he is not making pitchers throw strikes to him.

[Erstad Grit]

If can he hit .250, 30 hr, and actually take some walks it's not great but I would take it for the next couple of years

[Docwaukee]

Of course it's purely speculative and I could be totally off base, but I think that it could be a combo of any one of the following.

 

1. Arrogance - he's Josh Hamilton.  The world will adjust to him.

2. He doesn't give a squat - He got his money

3. He stopped taking PEDs

4. The years of abuse to his body has had a significant effect on him.  Perhaps related to his vision or his ability to process. 

5. He's pressing - for all the talk about how his perspective is different because of what he went thru and that struggles as trivial as this will not affect him, it has and he's having a hard time dealing with it. 

6. He's been figured out - I think the least likely possibility.  He's been around too long for this to happen so suddenly. 

7. His swing mechanics are off and the halos have been pretty poor at figuring out how to fix it. 

 

One thing for sure, is that his contact rate has dropped dramatically from 2010.  In particular on balls out of the zone. 

 

If I were to try and pick the most likely, I would bet on something related to his vision. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Of the above list, #4 seems feasible, and #7 is pretty much a dead certainty. Looking at how he is flailing at the ball and seeing that many of his swings aren't hard, I don't buy the pressing theory. He looks completely fooled at the plate. The scout pretty much nailed it. If it is vision, it would flabbergast me that the Angels have let this much of the season pass without at least checking that out.

[Brian Ilten]

Isn't it amazing that its always the Angels who acquire the big free agent that, once in the Angels uniform, goes out and sucks.

[sneaky_flute]

Maybe he's one of those guys who would benefit from playing on a former team.

[shellback]

the way he flails at breaking pitches looks to me like he's not seeing the spin on the ball.

the grin after some of these at bats has me wondering as well.

[YouthofToday]

He caught whatever Tony Reagins gave the entire organization? This makes Trout even more remarkable as he is the antidote!