Fire Rick Eckstein

[HalfSmokes]

We have a lead off hitter who refuses to walk- someoone on the coaching staff should be responsible for that

[cmdterps44]

We have a lead off hitter who refuses to walk- someoone on the coaching staff should be responsible for that

Yeah. I don't know where the mentality of "swing at the first pitch" comes from.

[GburgNatsFan]

It comes from inside Desmond. He's an aggressive hitter.

And we don't have a leadoff guy.

Yeah. I don't know where the mentality of "swing at the first pitch" comes from.

[HalfSmokes]

And we don't have a leadoff guy.

I hate this justification - we don't have a leadoff hitter, so it has to be one of the most ill suited players on the team

[GburgNatsFan]

It's not a justification. It's just a fact. Who on this team would be better? Lombo, maybe.

I hate this justification - we don't have a leadoff hitter, so it has to be one of the most ill suited players on the team

[HalfSmokes]

It's not a justification. It's just a fact. Who on this team would be better? Lombo, maybe.

Werth had a higher career OBP, Espinosa can walk as can Ramos, even Harper can walk

[Kevrock]

It's not a justification. It's just a fact. Who on this team would be better? Lombo, maybe.

Every other starter has a plate approach more suitable to leading off. His one pitch outs are killer, and puts unnecessary strain on the 2 and 3 batters.

[PC]

Eckstein speaks! (from Kilgore):

“We’re missing our pitch,” hitting coach Rick Eckstein said. “We’ve got runners at third base, less than two outs, and we’re striking out. We need to put the ball in play. The bottom line goes down to that. We can’t keep missing our pitch. It’s that simple.”

Espinosa’s strikeout continued two of the trends currently dooming the Nationals offense. Espinosa has 27 strikeouts in 21 games. As a team, the Nationals have given themselves 45 chances with a runner on third and less than two outs. They’ve scored the run 19 times.

“Situation or non-situation, we’ve got to put the ball in play,” Eckstein said.

[comish4lif]

If I'm coaching this team, when Desmond leads off, he looks down to Porter in the 3B Coach's box and sees a big ol' take sign, every time until he learns some plate discipline.

I have no problem with a player swinging at the first pitch, but ONLY IF that player has some discipline. Go up there, sit dead red, and look for the fastball in about a 8"x8" area. If it's not right there, or spinning, let it go.

[Lintyfresh85]

Last seven days the Nats as a team are hitting...

.179/.260/.270/.531

[Kevrock]

We're due.

[Lintyfresh85]

We're due.

That's one way to look at it!

[Ray D]

If I'm coaching this team, when Desmond leads off, he looks down to Porter in the 3B Coach's box and sees a big ol' take sign,

Do that and you'll soon see his OBP cut in half.   You can't handcuff a first-pitch hitter like that.   If you don't want your leadoff batter swinging at the first pitch, don't leadoff with Desmond.

[GburgNatsFan]

Well then, there you go. It's managing what you've got, not managing an aggressive hitter into a crappy "patient" hitter.

Werth had a higher career OBP, Espinosa can walk as can Ramos, even Harper can walk

Every other starter has a plate approach more suitable to leading off. His one pitch outs are killer, and puts unnecessary strain on the 2 and 3 batters.

[Slateman]

Well then, there you go. It's managing what you've got, not managing an aggressive hitter into a crappy "patient" hitter.

But someone should have explained to Desmond that if he likes hitting leadoff, he has to act like a leadoff hitter. Which means taking more than two pitches.

Desmond should be hitting 7th. Lombo can hit leadoff, Espinosa can hit second (or Werth)

[Ray D]

But someone should have explained to Desmond that if he likes hitting leadoff, he has to act like a leadoff hitter. Which means taking more than two pitches.

To me it means getting on base.   Personally, I feel that getting on base trumps all of the other attributes of a leadoff batter - taking pitches, stealing bases, whatever.   So someone should have explained to Desmond that if he likes hitting leadoff, he has get on base more often.

[NJ Ave]

It doesn't matter. Desmond's not a very good hitter. I don't know why people waste time wondering what it would be like if he changed his approach or something - let me cut to the chase...he would not be a very good hitter then either.

He doesn't have one above average hitting skill. He bats like he's terrified of going past one pitch, and based on his record, I would be terrified too. He has a first pitch strike percentage of over 75% (compared to a league average of less than 60%) and he slashes .204/.214/.259 after a 0-1 count. So if he studies numbers at all (and I HIGHLY doubt he does) then he has good reason to think that if he doesn't get the first ball in play he's likely going to have a bad outcome.

If he goes 1-0, he's actually very good after that (.400/.417/.700) but that only happens once a game on average so it's more of an unexpected bonus than anything he does consciously. You would think that knowledge would make him more likely to lay off pitches out of the zone in an attempt to get ahead of the count, but he's actually swinging at more balls out of the zone this year than he ever has before.

[Ray D]

It doesn't matter. Desmond's not a very good hitter.

.....

If he goes 1-0, he's actually very good after that (.400/.417/.700) but that only happens once a game on average so it's more of an unexpected bonus than anything he does consciously. You would think that knowledge would make him more likely to lay off pitches out of the zone in an attempt to get ahead of the count, but he's actually swinging at more balls out of the zone this year than he ever has before.

Likely because he doesn't have good strikezone recognition.    He swings at the first pitch because statistically it is going to be the best pitch he'll see in a given at bat.  I'm sure that if he recognizes a pitch to be a ball on the first pitch he'll take it but he doesn't have that recognition ability.   And he doesn't want to go 0-1 because that dramatically decreases his likelihood of getting on base.   And the reason he likes to leadoff is that probably 90% of the time the first pitch in a ballgame is a hittable strike.

But as to your basic premise... you're right, none of this matters, he's just not a good hitter, period.

[GburgNatsFan]

Which means making him a crappy patient hitter. He shouldn't be leading off.

But someone should have explained to Desmond that if he likes hitting leadoff, he has to act like a leadoff hitter. Which means taking more than two pitches.

Desmond should be hitting 7th. Lombo can hit leadoff, Espinosa can hit second (or Werth)

[welch]

- Put Lombo at lead-off at least long enough to see if he can do the job

- Bat Desmond second. Maybe he'll see better pitches. Or put Desmond at 7th spot, with Werth batting second.

- Put espinosa at 8th, since that's how he's hitting.

- Bat Harper 3rd. There is life in his bat.

- Keep playing Tyler Moore. The kid will hit better with more chances. Platoon him with Ankiel, roughly

[HalfSmokes]

at this point, I'd go

Lombo (playing 3rd)
Werth
Laroche
Harper
Ramos
Moore
Espinosa
Desmond

[natsfan4evr]

Maybe Espinosa should get his eyes checked...it did wonders for Guzman.

[Tokeydog]

at this point, I'd go

Lombo (playing 3rd)
Werth
Laroche
Harper
Ramos
Moore
Espinosa
Desmond

I would agree with Lombo leading off just to see if the kid can do it.  Not sure I would put a 19 year old in the clean up spot though.  I love me some Bryce, but that might be too much.

[imref]

I would agree with Lombo leading off just to see if the kid can do it.  Not sure I would put a 19 year old in the clean up spot though.  I love me some Bryce, but that might be too much.

yeah, no bryce at 4.

I'd go with:
Lombo - 5
Desmond - 6
Werth - 9
LaRoche - 3
Harper - 7
Ankiel - 8
Espinosa - 4
Ramos/Flores - 2

[HalfSmokes]

yeah, no bryce at 4.

I'd go with:
Lombo - 5
Desmond - 6
Werth - 9
LaRoche - 3
Harper - 7
Ankiel - 8
Espinosa - 4
Ramos/Flores - 2

I'd rather see harper 2 than desmond- desmond sucks as a 1 because he won't take pitches- he'd suck as a two for the same reason