9
2009
Interview With Jerry Manuel: Fundamentals & Baserunning
An article by 
This weekend, Jerry Manuel was kind enough to answer a couple of questions that were submitted to Mets Merized Online by one of our readers. Dave Ponte spoke with Jerry and asked him:
MMO - Do you address each and every fundamental mistake you see with each player after/during each game to ensure that it does not happen again, or is it just part of the game learning experience?
JM - They are addressed at some point that we would consider an appropriate time. Sometimes the appropriate time is not right away, sometimes it is right away, but we have to determine what is that right time. But those fundamental mistakes are addressed, no doubt.
MMO - Why do so many base runners rounding 2nd and 3rd turn their head to look at the ball when they should be picking up their coaches?
JM – What you’re really witnessing is the player maybe being at this level and exposed a lot earlier than what you would have seen in the past. Therefore, you will see a lot of fundamental mistakes unfortunately. But that’s because people are coming to this level at a much quicker rate without the experience of the development systems.
You can also listen to the audio of the interview on our media player below.
I was just discussing this with someone the other day. Jerry Manuel is right. Many of the Mets’ top prospects have either been rushed to the majors, or promoted within the farm system at a much quickened rate.
Because of this, many of these players come up without the benefit of a full learning experience in the minors. The talent and the skills may be Major League ready, but they lack the fundamentals and approach to the game that they could only get by making full use of the minor league developmental system.
Most players first learn basic baseball fundamentals in high school or college, but it’s at the lower levels that these fundamentals become more refined, much of them through mistakes they make that are addressed early on, long before they arrive to the Major Leagues. The coaches and instructors constantly work with these players and teach them about a variety of things including situational hitting, when or when not to steal, who to throw the ball to, how to slide, etc.
Unfortunately, the Mets have been forced to push some of these players quicker than they may have liked due to some unforeseen injuries and circumstances. And while it’s always exciting to see a young player promoted from the minors, the one drawback is how raw and inexperienced they look and act. It goes without saying that you should expect to see more than the usual number of fundamental mistakes, as we have seen from Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans, Fernando Martinez, and Angel Pagan this season.
This past weekend, Nick Evans told Mets Merized Online that he was going to Winter Ball this off season. I would suspect that Murphy, F-Mart (if healthy), and Angel Pagan may join Evans as well. At this point the best thing to do is to continue playing them so that they can further develop their skills, as well as their baseball IQ.
Thanks to Dave and Jerry Manuel, and also Randy aka Bayonne, who submitted both questions.
Finally, to read about Dave’s amazing experience at Citi Field, go to NYsportSpace and read about his excellent adventure. He also took a bunch of great photo’s which you can see there too.
About the Author: David Ponte
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As you can tell by my stuttering and awkwardness, this was the first interview that I conducted. Just so happens that it was the manager of the Mets. D’oh! I did eventually got my questions out though
. Thanks to all who sent in questions for me to ask.
I thought you did great, it sounded to me like Jerry Manuel was the one who sounded like he was stuttering and awkward. lol
You did a great job nysportsguy!
I have no problem with your stuttering, just with your question. Anyone who was priveleged enough to be around when Willie Mays was playing remembers that Mays was his own third base coach. He always knew where the ball was and what positive move he could make. I saw a good example of that the other night in a Yankees game (sorry, I’ve been laid up) tie score in the eighth Swisher on first and a base hit to right field (WHAT- NO BUNT?)As he got to second Swisher was watching as the right fielder made a slight bobble, and he took off for third and made it, which turned out eventually to be the ball game.
Pops
Jerry Manuel gets a lot of the blame for the mets woes when in all actuality he should be commended for the fine job he’s done of keeping this team fighting and playing to win even with all the adversity. This thing with the fundamentals must be addressed in the off season. I’m sure it will be because I’m sure it pisses the manager off as much as the fans. Sometimes it has been too embarassing to watch. Hopefull wewont need to bring up the kiddy corps next season until they are actually ready for a promotion. Great gob with this to everybody involved.
I have to say I disagree with you on this one. I think it is clear Jerry has screwed up time after time this year. The mishandling of injuries rests solely on his shoulders as it is HIS responsibility to take care of HIS players, particularly Santana. I think HE was given this role too early as well. I also think he has let Omar and the Wilpons run over him. He probably could make a decent manager one day, but he needs mentoring from a real team manager.
I agree completely. It is Jerry who is unprepared for this job. He is taking the hook line and sinker on the Wilpon crap that comes down through Omar. The strategy is botched and Jerry can’t manage to save his life. Why hit homers when we can play Small Ball? We have a pitcher’s park, let the visiting teams hit the homers.
Great questions! I’m actually shocked you put him on the spot like that, and Manuel seemed to stumble for the right words to answer. he’s a good guy though. I have no problems with Jerry Manuel.
Jerry Manuel is a terrible manager and has now presided over two straight disapointing seasons. Both he and Minaya should get the boot, but the Wilpons dont want to eat either of their contracts. As long as these guys run the show, we’ll never win a division. Why didnt you ask Manual about his own mistakes which he makes time and time again?
Great job on the interview, but I have mixed feelings. I agree with some of those who already commented and I’m not sure jerry Manuel is right for this team. He’s a great personality, but as a manager I’ve seen him make way too many bad calls. For a team that has so much speed, we rarely hit and run, and a squeeze is as rare as a perfect game. Also, I hate when he keeps bunting with a man on second and no outs. Swing away man! We have so much trouble scoring runs, why give away outs? I also hate that we dont defensively align our outfielders like other teams do. No matter who is at the plate, you can be sure to see our outfielders standing at the same spot and playing to deep.
How can you possibly judge Manuel when he never had his whole team to manage? That clip said it all!! He’s been handed a bunch of players who shouldn’t even be in the majors right now and some of you want to cast aspersions on a manager who has done everything he could to keep this team together. How would you like it if your boss judged you under the same circumstances? I bet you’ll be the first ones filing a law suit for illegal termination. Geez.
I disagree that all these guys came here without preparation. Pagan has 3 yrs in the Majors with nearly 250 games under his belt. Why is he continually looking over his shoulder when running the bases? He is always looking panicked and looking everywhere except being focused on what he should be doing. He appears to never having been taught to play baseall. After 250 games, he should know what the hell he is doing on the field, but he doesn’t give that impression at all.
Are you saying we should cut him because he looks all over the place when he runs? He’s been carrying this team since June and he makes less than 1 million bucks. What are you suggesting??
I can’t speak for Mask, but Personally I do not think he means they should “cut” him as that would obviously be very extreme for poor base running. My suggestion is that Manuel should notice the players do this, the fact he admits he notices makes it a fact. In other words if he notices it why do thy not correct it? If a player, ANY player has played 250 games and still does this is indicative of a management problem down to the AA level. Watching the base coaches and not the ball is very,very basic and should be second nature to any player. the fact that Jerry still allows this shows his maturation level as a manager. Those were also very good points Devin has made. His play calls make very little sense, and with some mentoring behind a real manager with experience at this level he might improve and grow into a team manager.
Exactly, I am not suggesting to cut him. He has raw speed and some power and a timely hit at times. What I am suggesting is just what Ace says: he needs to be coached effectively to eliminate these deficiencies. He’s been a Major Leaguer for 3 years. He did not just come up from the Minors yesterday. So why the bad habits or inexperience play? Obviously the reflection is more on mgmt than the player. If this continues indefinitely he will only be a 4th OF’er and not a starter and certainly not a star. But the criticism here is of Jerry and the poor player development in the Mets organization. That was the point of the article and I was taking exception to the statement in it that Pagan is a newbie and can be excused. He’s been around long enough to expect better performance.
What does money have to do with good instincts?
Pops
Good point! I make less than 1M too…LOL
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
MASK, YOU MAKE AN EXCELLENT POINT RE. PAGAN THOUGH YOU ARE MAKING THE MISTAKE MANY USED CAR BUYERS MAKE BY JUDGING THE VEHICLE’S AGE BY THE MODEL YEAR INSTEAD OF THE MILEAGE DRIVEN. FOR EXAMPLE, MY WIFE LOVES HER ’93 CIVIC SEDAN, SOME MIGHT SAY IT’S 17 YRS OLD; BUT WITH LESS THAN 70,000 ORIG MILES. IT’S MUCH,MUCH NEWER. SIMILARLY THOUGH PAGAN HAS BEEN A MAJOR LEAGUERER FOR 4 YRS HIS PLAYING TIME IS SEVERLY LIMITED, ESP FOR A LEADOFF TYPE. HERE’S A COMPARISON BET PAGAN’S ENTIRE CAREER & REYES’ 2007 SEASON.
PAGAN REYES
GAMES 245 160
AB 667 681
H 185 181
MY POINT IS NOT TO HIGHLIGHT THE TALENT DIFFERENTIAL; BUT STICTLY TO FOCUS ON EXPERIENCES TO DRAW UPON & LEARN FROM. IN HIS 4 YRS OF MLB PAGAN HAD FEWER ABs THAN 1 YR FOR JOSE RE. BASERUNNING EXPERIENCE WITH ONLY 185 CAREER HITS HIS EXPERIENCE ISN’T MUCH MORE THAN JOSE GOT IN ’07 ALONE.
ANOTHER MET PLAYER THIS OFF SCENERIO IS EFFECTING IS F-MART, WHO’S ALSO LOST SIMILAR IN-GAME EXPERIENCE DUE TO INJURY. HE’LL LIKELY BE 25 BEFORE WE CAN EXPECT HIM TO PRODUCE LIKE A 21 YR OLD. IN USED CARS LACK OF USE IS A GOOD THING; NOT SO MUCH IN BALLPLAYERS.
IT’S ONE THING TO FAST-TRACK FIRST ROUND TALENTS; BUT LOWER START POINT USUALLY NEEDS LONGER FIRMENTATION IN MINORS.