A team may flounder for a myriad of reasons, but the absence of fundamentals should not be one on them.
I had questioned a while back my bewilderment as to how Amed Rosario in his minor league days could have walked so little, and how a guy with such speed does not steal much at all, a seemingly easily acquired skill with focus and training.
I had questioned how a team could have one of its top prospects, Dominic Smith, be 260 pounds when he made his major league debut.
Those things for those two players seem fundamental.
Someone in the organization should have been making sure Smith was not semi-obese when called up, and knowing major league pitchers can truly find and exploit weaknesses, not forcing Rosario to learn to master the strike zone prior to his major league call up is truly puzzling.
Now I read that Smith was never taught to sacrifice bunt, and is now learning it.
That Flores is being drilled at first base to improve his fielding skills there, rather than seeing he'd potentially play there a lot and have him fully ready for that far sooner.
That the team is currently drilling base running skills to improve real deficiencies there; etc.
Smith is now playing the outfield at times - why not have played him out there for more than a few games during his time in the minors?
On and on.
There is something fundamentally wrong with this organization.
To Mickey Callaway's credit, he is addressing it on the major league level.
8 comments:
As I have often asked, tell me one thing the Mets do well as an organization besides s***wing up everything.
No clear plan as to which way the organization is going.
No fundamentals / development in the minors.
Virtually no ML ready prospects.
Don't draft well.
Virtually no good international signings.
Want more? okay then
Sandy retires and leaves 3 guys in charge. No clear front man, 3 different ways of thinking. IDIOTS.
Hint: It's spelled W-I-L-P-O-N
There is a very good reason that the organization tends to struggle and consistently ignoring fundamentals is likely it (along with the Wilpons' poor ownership).
Even if you screw up EVERYTHING else, don't screw up fundamentals.
And don't fail to diversify skills. Jeff McNeil was a good outfielder in college - but has not played the outfield as a pro. Would it hurt to give him 5-10 games a year out there? Pickoff moves...when Thor came up his was very substandard. Why not worked on more?
Bad fundamentals = more losses.
Viper, very true on your points.
Even having ended up in Las Vegas for several years - what a short-sighted decision.
It is funny.
When I started covering the Mets and being allowed to roam the fields in St. Lucie during pitchers and catchers reporting days, and spring training games, there was one guy that was in charge of fundamentals.
He seemed to do a great job at it, assigning different tasks like sliding, turning a double play, hitting the cutoff man, etc.
It worked.
His name was Terry Collins.
OHHH that's funny Mack.
I still get sick to my stomach when I see either Bruce or Conforto hitting and the 3B is playing 2B and they can't drop a bunt on the 3B side. They instead insist on pulling the ball and hitting into a DP.
Wow. Terry Collins. Lots of guys (myself included) can lose career drive in their 60s. Maybe Collins just didn't push fundamentals as manager out of lack of the same energy as when he was younger. What the excuses might be for minor league instructors, I do not know.
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