Tom
Brennan – A MESSAGE TO METS’ MINOR LEAGUE HITTERS
Giancarlo Stanton is an extremely
gifted athlete physically. But that does
not mean everything comes easy to him.
As can be seen in the following fine NY Post article by George A. King
III, Stanton WORKS REALLY HARD to eliminate weaknesses.
“He
is one of my favorite hitters I have worked with,’’ (hitting coach Jeff) Pentland
said. “His work ethic is unbelievable. He is one driven human being. He was
always the last guy into the cage and if things didn’t go the way he wanted he
would stay there for hours.’’
Not
idly hitting in practice – instead seeing exactly where he needs to improve, and relentlessly working
on those things to fix them.
I wonder how many of the Mets’
minor league hitters could read this and say, “Stanton, workwise, has nothing
over my work ethic.” I would not
postulate a guess other than to say that I would be surprised if many Mets
minor leaguers work as hard as Stanton does.
And not having the same level of an
extreme work ethic could be the difference between Mets minor league players
ultimately succeeding in the bigs – or not.
Hopefully, all Mets minor leaguers
read this article and take it as a gut check to see if they are doing enough to
succeed in their dream of a big league career.
Because speaking for myself as a Macks
Mets contributor, I would say two things:
1) I love to
see Mets minor leaguers succeed.
2) Time
flies, and opportunities with it. Don’t
let it fly by without max effort.
A simple example: a guy who is an
otherwise potential big leaguer has substandard power output. What exactly can the guy do to raise his
power game effectively? Add muscle? Do it.
Alter a swing? Do it.
Is swinging at bad pitches an
issue? Giancarlo worked tirelessly to
tighten his strike zone – shouldn’t you, too?
Give it your all - no regrets. That’s all I have to say about that, folks. Other than, what do I know, anyway?
I have spoken to a fair amount of minor league Mets bats this off-season, in addition to pitchers.
ReplyDeleteAll seem to be working very hard at improving the downside of their game.
We will have to wait until around 90 days into the season to see if their hard work has paid off.
One guy I do expect to take off this next season and clear away the fog whether or not he has a future as a Met at the position he plays...
Peter Alonso
Good points, Tom. I had similar thoughts when I first read the article last month.
ReplyDeleteBut working hard and striving to maximize your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses is only part of becoming better. Remember Gregg Jeffries, whose special workouts included swinging a bat underwater in his HS and MnL days? He won awards in the minors, but his attitude and poor relations with his team mates did him in later.
Last Winter, Thor and Yo worked very hard to build strength, but their efforts led to injuries during the season.
Others worked out with Mike Barwick, with varying degrees of success.
Proper coaching is an essential part of development, and that coaching is becoming more specialized. During Rick Peterson's tenure as PC here, our pitchers had varying degrees of success, but his training methods resulted in a remarkably low rate of injuries.
Besides the coaches who are employees of teams, you see Barwick with his conditioning methods, and you see the "hitting genius" in CA who turned Jose Gonzales' game around and attracted Lag and other Mets to him this Winter.
Attitude and hard work are important, but they are only part of overall success.
I agree on Peter Alonso, Mack, as you well know - he is my # 1 Mets prospect, and I expect him to stay there all season long.
ReplyDeleteAnd I believe these guys are all working very hard - don't let up. I know I tend to let up to some degree myself, no matter how determined over the years I may have been to do better. Maybe over my lifetime I give myself a B for effort, not an A.
It is human nature to slack off to some greater or lesser degree for many, no matter how well-intentioned. Baseball success and slacking off are mutually exclusive, however...it is a very all or nothing profession.
Bill, good points. Good advice that is optimally implemented can be invaluable.
ReplyDeleteYes, there was greater success pre-Warthen. Hopefully post-Warthen will be a similar boon to health.
ReplyDeleteTom -
ReplyDeleteTo show you how hard work can work against you with some of the Mets Twitter retards... Peter posted a video of him squatting like 5 million pounds and the Twitterites commented that he should put the barbell down and pick up his glove and go practice defense.
They did no research here and, if they did, they would realized that it is not Peter's glove that is sub par. It is his God given feet and movement from bse to base, which there is very little he can do about.
My guess is he wants to be eventually be "judged" against a certain Yankees younger that came up recently :)
Mack, probably so on Pete, but I saw a video showing the kind of speed and agility training he is also doing.
ReplyDeleteTom-
ReplyDeleteGreat points. But why limit it to minor leaguers. Our major league players should be working just as hard to tighten their strike zones and hone their points of contact. It is never too late to get better. Conditioning and repetition are keys.
Herb - so true. When an Amed Rosario walks only 3 times in 170 Mets plate appearances, after about 1900 plate appearances in the minors to learn the strike zone, he certainly did inadequate work on strike zone recognition career-to-date.
ReplyDeleteFor him, that s/b Task One this off season.
That 57:1 BB/PA ratio needs to get down to 20:1 this season.
And Tom...
ReplyDeleteyou should see how hard Amed is working this off season.
Good on Rosario, Mack...if he is going to be a big star, no better time to get there than 2018!
ReplyDeleteWhere is he doing this work? I thought he might play Winter ball in the DR or elsewhere, but he's not.
ReplyDeleteTiger Woods, only one of the best two or three golfers in the history of pro golf (prior to his domestic and health issues), was a tireless worker.
ReplyDeleteDespite being dominant, he was always seeking a way to get better. He spent the most time on the things he didn't do well, instead of the things he did better then anyone else (unlike amateurs who hit 1000 drivers in a row at the range to show off).
"If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you"
Bill -
ReplyDeleteBarwis Methods
Good point, Mike, on Tiger Woods.
ReplyDeleteI want to preface my comments here by saying that I actually am a Fred and Jeff Wilpon fan because I still can vividly recall the 1986 NYM Championship season. It was glorious and I will never forget it either. I thank you two!
ReplyDeleteI concur with this board on Peter Alonso. Maybe we get to see him at the 2018 Sept. callups. If not then, ST 2019 for certain. I am excited with this kid's potential, he could be a monster at first. His homerun stroke is to die for. Mets do not have a lot of HR batters in their top two levels of MiLB, yet. I am trying to convince them to get more, but appear to be failing at this.
All five 2018 NYM penciled in starters (Noah, Jake, Steven, Matt, and Zach) are no strangers to the doctor's office. So who are the next five after them maybe? Maybe Lugo, Gsellman, Regnault, maybe a Drew Smith or another young bullpen convert (which I find interesting a concept), maybe Marcos Molina later this on season if he excels in 2018, and then of course Galen Cisco. The Mets would do well to add another kid (or two)lefty starter (with upside) to their 40 man.
I hope the Mets look at the Boston Red Sox as a possible trade partner because they do have like four really good young starters at their AAA Pawtucket team right now if you check. All four throw really hard and have the strikeouts to innings I look for first.
Was never a Tiger Woods fan, sorry. I think being the best at something carries a certain amount of responsibility with it, and I do not feel Tiger Woods has ever shown that part of it. To me, golf is a yard game like Jarts and Bocci. Although be careful playing Bocci against seasoned Italian Bocci players. They are automatic and know it.