Author Topic: Hitting coach plan b? (Read 3314 times)

kimnat · « **on:** August 25, 2008, 04:01:23 pm »

From today's Lodson Mailbag:

It doesn't take rocket science to determine that the Nats just can't hit. Is Lenny Harris the best hitting instructor available? Have the Nationals talked to Paul Molitor? He comes highly recommended -- 3,319 hits.
-- J.W., Springfield, Va.

I understand your frustration. In terms of Harris, I'm sure members of the "think tank" are evaluating him on a daily basis. If they were to let Harris go, I don't think they have to go outside and hire a guy like Molitor. There is a guy named Rick Eckstein, who is highly respected in the organization. He is a hitting coach in Triple-A Columbus.

UMDNats · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2008, 04:16:57 pm »

Ray Night would be a good choice, IMO. His breakdown of Bonifacio's stance/swing was great. I doubt he'd want it, but at this point anyone is better than Lenny Harris.

JMUalumni · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2008, 04:21:23 pm »

I would not be opposed to someone like Rick Eckstein. He got his career started with Harrisburg in 2004 and spent some years with the Cardinal's minor league system. He is currently the hitting coach for Columbus, but also has been the third base coach for Team USA for a couple years now. He also coached for Vermont and New Orleans and is the brother of major leaguer David Eckstein. He also has experience as a strength and conditioning coach (could be useful with this team).

I think he would be an ideal candidate, as he would be a decent selection from in-house and has worked with many of our own minor leaguers that may (or may not) have a future on the major league team. He also has experience as a hitting coach (yet is relatively young), something that can not be said about Lenny Harris (unless you include his tenure with the Nats).

kimnat · « **Reply #3 on:** August 25, 2008, 05:46:18 pm »

I love Ray Knight, but what you said about Eckstein sounds really good too.

d_mc_nabb · « **Reply #4 on:** August 25, 2008, 05:51:33 pm »

The problem with using Eckstein is that then minor leaguers won't have a good hitting coach.

KnorrForYourMoney · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2008, 06:10:17 pm »

I want someone who can instill plate discipline and desirable strike zone recognition in our hitters. If that's Eckstein, Knight, or someone else, I don't care. What we don't need is a guy who made a career out of coming off the bench every once in a while and recording outs two thirds of the time showing everyone else on our team how to get record outs with even greater proficiency.

ronnynat · « **Reply #6 on:** August 25, 2008, 06:24:02 pm »

Quote from: UMDNats on August 25, 2008, 04:16:57 pm

Ray Night would be a good choice, IMO. His breakdown of Bonifacio's stance/swing was great. I doubt he'd want it, but at this point anyone is better than Lenny Harris.

A lot of guys sound like they know what they're talking about when they're in the booth. Doesn't necessarily mean they can teach what they're preaching, though.

Knight would have been a better option if we had fired Harris back in June. Now, down and out and nearing the end of the season, we need to find the best mix of baseball IQ and coaching abilities that we can in the offseason.

kimnat · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2008, 06:26:00 pm »

Knight would be fantastic, but it's not gonna happen. If he wanted to be coaching in any capacity he would be. The best thing for the team to do is to tivo Nats Xtra and watch it!

spidernat · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2008, 06:51:56 pm »

Quote from: ronnynat on August 25, 2008, 06:24:02 pm

A lot of guys sound like they know what they're talking about when they're in the booth. Doesn't necessarily mean they can teach what they're preaching, though.

Knight would have been a better option if we had fired Harris back in June.

It's ridiculous to even entertain the idea of Knight becoming the hitting coach. What's next, Johnny Holliday for bench coach and Debbi Taylor to replace St Claire? Knight is not a good teacher, by his own account, because he doesn't have the patience to do it. And you're right ronnynat, just because he talks about hitting on Nats Xtra does not mean he can actually work with players and teach them plate discipline and pitch recognition. I bet Lenny Harris could go on Nats Xtra and talk about hitting and it would sound impressive.

Someone said Lenny Harris made outs two thirds of the time. Ray Knight wasn't much better. Ray Knight's OPS looks like a convenience store. That's not all that important though. Even so, I'd like to find out who people think are the best hitting coaches in the league.

blue911 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 25, 2008, 06:55:45 pm »

Quote from: ronnynat on August 25, 2008, 06:24:02 pm

A lot of guys sound like they know what they're talking about when they're in the booth. Doesn't necessarily mean they can teach what they're preaching, though.

QFT.

I can look at Kearns swing and tell why it's hosed. I can even tell you what he should do to fix. It has, also, taken me 6 weeks of watching his every at bat to figure it out.

JMUalumni · « **Reply #10 on:** August 25, 2008, 07:02:13 pm »

Quote from: spidernat on August 25, 2008, 06:51:56 pm

Someone said Lenny Harris made outs two thirds of the time. Ray Knight wasn't much better. Ray Knight's OPS looks like a convenience store. That's not all that important though. Even so, I'd like to find out who people think are the best hitting coaches in the league.

Rudy Jaramillo of the Texas Rangers. He has revived some careers recently (Bradley and Hamilton) and may have had a hand in the successes of some of the other great players that have gone through Arlington during his tenure (since 1994 by the way). Here is a good summation of his resume:

Quote

Since Jaramillo took over as the Rangers batting coach for the 1995 season, Rangers hitters have accounted for four of the American League's 11 MVP award winners. They have 16 Silver Slugger awards, three home run titles, two RBI championships and a batting title. In 2005, the Rangers came within four homers of the all-time team record for a season.

Since Jaramillo took over, the Rangers are one of three teams in baseball to rank in the top five in the three major offensive categories: They are first in homers, fifth in runs and fifth in average.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/051207galarudy.html

ronnynat · « **Reply #11 on:** August 25, 2008, 07:10:06 pm »

Quote from: JMUalumni on August 25, 2008, 07:02:13 pm

Rudy Jaramillo of the Texas Rangers. He has revived some careers recently (Bradley and Hamilton) and may have had a hand in the successes of some of the other great players that have gone through Arlington during his tenure (since 1994 by the way).

I wouldn't give him too much credit for Hamilton and Bradley, but he's definitely a good one. He preaches contact over power, but he lets the power hitters do their thing if it works. I like that approach. Teaching how to hit for contact is what hitting coaches should do. That way once the hitter gets contact down, he can do what he wants w/ the ball.

spidernat · « **Reply #12 on:** August 25, 2008, 07:21:59 pm »

My point being that hitting coaches aren't even known. And the overwhelming majority of them didn't even play in the bigs. So people need to stop pretending they know what a good hitting coach looks like. Do any of you think that the likes of Chipper Jones or Albert Pujols or A-Rod would fail to hit in our lineup? We have a mixture of young and awful hitters (some are both). I'm not advocating keeping Lenny Harris but the job of hitting coach is overrated in my opinion.

ronnynat · « **Reply #13 on:** August 25, 2008, 07:25:45 pm »

Quote from: spidernat on August 25, 2008, 07:21:59 pm

My point being that hitting coaches aren't even known. And the overwhelming majority of them didn't even play in the bigs. So people need to stop pretending they know what a good hitting coach looks like. Do any of you think that the likes of Chipper Jones or Albert Pujols or A-Rod would fail to hit in our lineup? We have a mixture of young and awful hitters (some are both). I'm not advocating keeping Lenny Harris but the job of hitting coach is overrated in my opinion.

I'd agree, but only if we were talking about having a bunch of vets on our team. The Yankees don't need a hitting coach. A team of youngsters like the Nats do b/c most of these guys have had very little coaching at the pro level.

UMDNats · « **Reply #14 on:** August 25, 2008, 08:04:41 pm »

A team like this needs a good hitting coach. They come up here and are facing major league pitchers for the first time. And Harris' job is to teach them to adjust and learn to become good hitters.

Obviously, he isn't very good. Our hitters DO NOT adjust during the game whatsoever and you don't see any improvements, other than Milledge's resurgence. Whatever Harris has done isn't working.

spidernat · « **Reply #15 on:** August 25, 2008, 09:01:06 pm »

Quote from: UMDNats on August 25, 2008, 08:04:41 pm

A team like this needs a good hitting coach. They come up here and are facing major league pitchers for the first time. And Harris' job is to teach them to adjust and learn to become good hitters.

Obviously, he isn't very good. Our hitters DO NOT adjust during the game whatsoever and you don't see any improvements, other than Milledge's resurgence. Whatever Harris has done isn't working.

Again, aside from the platitudes, what is a good hitting coach? And how can we be sure that it's not his pupils who can't execute what they are being taught? I guess it's easier to find a scapegoat and try to find a reason to feel better about this team.

JMUalumni · « **Reply #16 on:** August 25, 2008, 09:01:14 pm »

Quote from: ronnynat on August 25, 2008, 07:25:45 pm

I'd agree, but only if we were talking about having a bunch of vets on our team. The Yankees don't need a hitting coach. A team of youngsters like the Nats do b/c most of these guys have had very little coaching at the pro level.

I agree. This become especially important when you look at the probable age of our line up next season (currently second youngest, looking to get younger).

natsdad · « **Reply #17 on:** August 25, 2008, 10:06:43 pm »

Ray Knight has been a MLB Manager. He's not going to be a hitting coach.

kimnat · « **Reply #18 on:** August 25, 2008, 10:36:33 pm »

Quote from: natsdad on August 25, 2008, 10:06:43 pm

Ray Knight has been a MLB Manager. He's not going to be a hitting coach.

That's another reason I know it ain't gonna happen.

BBQ · « **Reply #19 on:** August 25, 2008, 10:37:24 pm »

Lo Duca would be a good one.

kimnat · « **Reply #20 on:** August 25, 2008, 10:44:38 pm »

Quote from: BBQ on August 25, 2008, 10:37:24 pm

Lo Duca would be a good one.

Except he couldn't exactly fix his own problems this year.

HalfSmokes · « **Reply #21 on:** August 25, 2008, 10:52:50 pm »

Quote from: spidernat on August 25, 2008, 09:01:06 pm

Again, aside from the platitudes, what is a good hitting coach? And how can we be sure that it's not his pupils who can't execute what they are being taught? I guess it's easier to find a scapegoat and try to find a reason to feel better about this team.

There are some teams where, no matter who bubbles up through the minor leagues, they seem to take more pitches per at bat . I think that is coaching/managerial philosophy and would be a great improvement. As for actually teaching mechanics, I always thought that the best were at GCL and Florida leagues.

JMUalumni · « **Reply #22 on:** August 27, 2008, 08:28:41 pm »

Quote

WASHINGTON -- Triple-A Columbus coach Rick Eckstein arrived at Nationals Park on Wednesday to become an extra hitting coach and do anything else manager Manny Acta wants him to do.
It's the third time in five years the organization has added an extra coach toward the end of the season.

Eckstein is considered by many to be a great Minor League hitting instructor who taught Ryan Langerhans how to hit again and put Kory Casto back on the radar screen in terms of getting another chance in the big leagues. General manager Jim Bowden believes Eckstein will become a big league coach some day.

Eckstein came back from China two days ago after being the bench coach for the Team USA baseball club in the Summer Olympics. The team ended up winning the bronze medal.

The Nationals felt it didn't make any sense for Eckstein to go back to Columbus for the last couple of games of the season, so they decided he should start working for the big league club earlier than normal.

"Rick brings a lot to the table. There a reason why Davey Johnson picked him to be one of his coaches on the Olympic team, because he is that good," Bowden said. "We have been very impressed in all aspects of his work ethic -- whether he is teaching hitting or whether he is doing infield. He is just a baseball rat, who loves the game. He is highly intelligent and well-respected by the players."

Eckstein, who is the brother of Blue Jays shortstop David Eckstein, enjoyed his time in the Olympics, but wished Team USA won the gold medal.

"China put a lot into it. They wanted to show the world what they were about," Eckstein said. "I tell you, it was nice -- where we lived in the village, the baseball facilities. You felt like you were somewhat at home with the way the facilities were."

http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080827&content_id=3377166&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was

ronnynat · « **Reply #23 on:** August 27, 2008, 08:39:29 pm »

^ That's pretty cool. It looks like he probably will be our hitting coach next year.

spidernat · « **Reply #24 on:** August 27, 2008, 08:58:22 pm »

Quote from: ronnynat on August 27, 2008, 08:39:29 pm

^ That's pretty cool. It looks like he probably will be our hitting coach next year.

The writing is on the wall for Lenny Harris.