Great response! I can’t disagree with your entire premise. My question is, are we sure that the organizational philosphy is to just sit there and wait? Or, is that an assessment we’ve come up with because that’s what players like Duda are doing?

Bayonne,

As for your “Spoken like a true person that’s never had an AB in a competitive level in their entire life. Yeah I know…wait for your pitch….i know.”

You have no clue who I am or what I do or have done in my life. Please stop with your trying to pretend like you know me. Let me guess you once got the game winning hit during a little league game or you were hit by a pitch with the bases loaded during a High School JV game. Good for you! You’re such a hero! I bet all your DPW co-workers still brag about that with you at the corner bar over cans of Bud. What exactly makes you an “expert”? What round were you drafed in but unfortunately blew out your knee in your first season? Stop trying act like you know everything or everyone. I gave you my address, come visit me I will get you some Bud cans. Until then feel free to comment on anything I write just keep the personal crap out it.

And sloat just to be clear I was not suggesting thats your definition of working the count but it IS the definition of Hudgens and the folks around here who beleieve PATIENCE at the plate and PPPA is something to strive for.

For a batter to be successful he must be prepared for ANYTHING.
If he doesn’t like a certain pitch then fine but that only works for situations BEFORE there are two strikes.

You can get a pitcher to work MORE by fouling off pitches with two strikes than you ever will waiting for him to throw a pitch in your hot zone.

He may never throw a pitch to your wheelhouse and if he knows where it is (most do due to scouting reports) the Pitcher is going to WORK THE BATTER in the other zones you don’t like.

In those cases this philosophy of WAIT will never work.

It’s a passive command and in learning the student will always defer to the verb in the lesson.

Telling a batter to WAIT means his first instinct is to do nothing.

I have no problems with a batter being selective at all. But I do have an issue where they don’t take advantage of situational hitting where the Pitcher is very likely to throw a good strike or that they are not teaching a batter that the best pitch to hit is a 2-0 3-0 count and thats the best free hack your ever going to get to hit.

Nope the WAIT continues because Walks are coveted and hits seem to be not for some dumb reason in the NEW SCHOOL and it just flys in the face of logic.

The focus for the organization should be much more about fighting with 2Ks on you not waiting for a pitch that may never come.
If you learn how to protect the plate (which seems to be what your describing but not the others) then you will get MUCH more pitches in “YOUR ZONE” also work the pitcher much more than just 6 pitches (by fouling off) and do a lot more damage when you DO get your pitch because you will be swinging at strikes instead of just selecting between ones you like and ones you don’t.

If you teach them to protect the plate they will be able to foul off the strikes they don’t like in ANY count.
And that is the way you get the Pitcher t try some other strike location you might like better!

This philosophy they like is all about just swing hard the same way and only swing at pitches that will come in contact with your normal swing….

Let all the other strikes go by until you get one that your bat can touch LOL

Your earlier comment kind of sounds like your saying that there really isn’t a correct approach a hitter is always at the mercy of the pitcher? I don’t exactly disagree with that (of course it need to be a pitcher and hitter of somewhat similar skill.) What I was refering too when I said “work the pitcher” does not mean not swing at pitches that aren’t in your zone. If a pitch is clearly a strike but no in the “zone” a hitter needs to be trying to make contact not swinging from the heels. I think people look at guys like Duda and his lack of aggresiveness or Valdy and his lack of ANY baseball discipline and paint the picture that the coaches are hurting them some how. I think: A. They need to better develop B. Maybe they’re not as good as we thought they were going to be.

I love all these new philosophies and all these fantasy baseball clowns that think it’s easy to do. Yeah it’s real easy trying to make the pitcher come to you. What about if he never comes to you and paints the corner? Then you have to hit to the pitcher’s strength?

Ever think of that? Of course not. That’s too much like regular baseball.

From now on all Pitchers must throw heat and and no PERSONAL instruction would apply?

Cause thats pretty much what an Organizational abatting approach does lobs every player as if they are the same player and GOOD players ill suited to that philosophy get turned to crap!

Imagine Dillion Gee if we had an organizational philosophy of pitchers onlt throwing Fastball Sliders….

Would it work for him?
Is there really a one size fits all philosophy?
Or is it just better to let the batters and pitchers do what got them there and just tweak each to improve on their own god given talents?

What should the batter do if the Pitcher pounds the part of the zone that is NOT YOURS?

Is there a lesson for that situation or does he just take the K and call it an AB?

This is the problem with this philosophy, thinking you can dictate terms to the pitcher when he decides what and where to throw the ball and the best the batter can do is hope he screws up, misses or hangs one in YOUR ZONE…..

You have to play the cards you are dealt not just surrender or wait for something that may never come for the entire game.

There is no YOUR ZONE there is only the zone the Pitcher throws it to.
You can decide to wait for a better pitch for about two strikes worth but after that the philiosophy falls apart and a new approach is needed.

THAT NEW APPROACH is what is sorely lacking on our team.
Only guys who do it regularly are Murphy and Tejada and it shows in their BA doesn’t it?

And the Halladay example was just one pitcher i chose just to make a point. Pick any good pitcher with solid control you want then.

You are exactly right. You should always swing at pitches in YOUR zone regardless of what your zone is but you need to be selective and work the pitcher until he throws a pitch in YOUR zone. I’m sorry to say this but Valdespin has been in the bigs for less than one full season and proven next to noting, he is the poster boy for absolutely noting at this point!

Names I believe were mentioned were DenDekker but in general the entire system has hit a little worse since this got implemented.

As for HoJo’s approach well they are both extremes if you ask me…

HoJo was overly aggressive, Hudgen overly passive….

Somewhere in between where SITUATIONAL hitting, Fighting with Two Strikes being the focus as oposed to waiting for a pitch that may never come would be much more effective and productive.

To your point about Halliday, there is only one Halliday so constantly changing you philosphy is pointless, and I doubt that Halliday just throws the ball right down the middle regardless of who he’s facing.

I also love how you manage to work in a personal insult for anyone who either questions you or may have a differing opinion! How open minded of you.

To your point about Halliday, there is only one Halliday so constantly changing you philosphy is pointless, and I doubt that Halliday just throws the ball right down the middle regardless of who he’s facing.

Not so fast….., the stands might have been filled a bit more with the sabers and money ballers welcoming in their new hero, Sandy!

As the Mets were playing great ball in 2011 many of us weren’t getting our hopes up too high not because we thought the team was playing over it’s head but because we felt the impending doom of losing our top hitter and closer and having the rug pulled out from under us. With those clear signals was it any wonder why more didn’t come to the ball park to cheer on the team. And isn’t it obvious those moves caused fans to then stay away in droves as we stripped our team of its best talent and it went into a complete tailspin?

How much more in revenue do you think the Mets would have received had the front office been wiser in it’s decision making? Even just 2,000 more fans per game – when taking into account the total ticket cost and concessions – a conservative guess is that would bring in an average $125 per person or a quarter of a million more in revenue per game. Limiting that guesstimate to even just 60 games, would result in a net gain of $15 million – and I suspect had there been no talk about dumping contracts and doing in the team and those players stayed on, there would have been a few more than just 2,000 extra fans in the stands – especially in August.

Hi Connor,

Well, it was our general manager during a SNY broadcast who brought up the point of PPA as a “team” concept, the importance of working the count and then emphasized the lower PPA was an indication of why the offense sagged the second half. And it was brought out that later on Gary Cohen explained that the change in PPA Sandy referred to resulted in one less pitch every twenty plate appearances.

Of course, such a stat is really a useless piece of information since each individual has to be treated differently and Bob Ojeda strongly criticized the Mets for telegraphing this team approach to opposing clubs in May and that it was going to catch up with the Mets as the season progressed – which he proved correct in predicting.

So are you sure they aren’t complete idiots?