Mack;
Greetings, Mack! I know it has been a long time.......work and life always seem to get in the way.
Living in west-central Florida, I don't get to see the Mets play on TV that often. However, between games with Atlanta and the Yankees, I have been able to see several games over the past few days. The smart ass would say that isn't necessarily a good thing this year, but I consider myself a fan, regardless of how they are playing.
I was extremely interested to watch Ike Davis hit, since he has been historically bad this year and I wanted to see what he was doing as in his at bats. Despite his "seeing eye" single against the Braves on Sunday, he looks completely LOST at the plate! (actually, he just struck out looking in the bottom of the 8th against the Yankees, for his third "K" of the night). So, whose fault is this? As anemic as the Mets offense has been (outside of Wright and Murphy), why has the hitting coach not gotten more heat? How can a professional coach watch Ike and not recommend some changes?
I want to clarify my impending analysis by saying that I am an arm chair fan and I do not have any professional experience. With that said, I immediately noticed several OBVIOUS things that have me confused;
Davis is standing straight up, in some weird looking crouched stance, extremely far from the plate and he is as twitchy as a heroin addict going through "withdrawl syndrome".
My old baseball coach used to emphasize being "quiet" at the plate, taking a short path to the ball and always maintaining balance.......power comes from your base/legs and rotation of your hips and torso.
Davis is too upright and off balance in his initial stance, which is making him uncomfortable (twitchy), plain and simple (if you don't believe me, pick up a bat and mimic his batting stance).
The trigger, or loading phase of his swing (weight moves forward, hands move back and in) causes all of his momentum to move towards the plate in a disorganized and out of control fashion. As a result, he cannot handle the inside pitch and he cannot reach the outside pitch with any control (hell, he can't reach the outer half of the plate where he is set up). Even if he does hit the ball this way, he is losing a ton of power by eliminating his core. The prolonged slump/loss of confidence has also affected his ability to recognize pitches (he watched two fastballs right down the middle in his last at bat) and it has also extended to his defense. I simply do not see him fixing this issue at the major league level.
I would move him to Las Vegas for an an extended period of time so he can clear his head, for starters. Then, I would tell him to scrap his current approach in favor of a simple change. Stand up out of that stupid crouch, get about six inches closer to the plate and regain your balance! After doing so, quiet your spastic movements and simplify your trigger mechanism (set your hands higher). I don't think Ike will ever be the player we thought he was early in the 2011 season (before the ankle injury), but he is better then what we are currently seeing.
What do you think?
The site is looking as good as ever, by the way.
Take care......Mike
Greetings, Mack! I know it has been a long time.......work and life always seem to get in the way.
Living in west-central Florida, I don't get to see the Mets play on TV that often. However, between games with Atlanta and the Yankees, I have been able to see several games over the past few days. The smart ass would say that isn't necessarily a good thing this year, but I consider myself a fan, regardless of how they are playing.
I was extremely interested to watch Ike Davis hit, since he has been historically bad this year and I wanted to see what he was doing as in his at bats. Despite his "seeing eye" single against the Braves on Sunday, he looks completely LOST at the plate! (actually, he just struck out looking in the bottom of the 8th against the Yankees, for his third "K" of the night). So, whose fault is this? As anemic as the Mets offense has been (outside of Wright and Murphy), why has the hitting coach not gotten more heat? How can a professional coach watch Ike and not recommend some changes?
I want to clarify my impending analysis by saying that I am an arm chair fan and I do not have any professional experience. With that said, I immediately noticed several OBVIOUS things that have me confused;
Davis is standing straight up, in some weird looking crouched stance, extremely far from the plate and he is as twitchy as a heroin addict going through "withdrawl syndrome".
My old baseball coach used to emphasize being "quiet" at the plate, taking a short path to the ball and always maintaining balance.......power comes from your base/legs and rotation of your hips and torso.
Davis is too upright and off balance in his initial stance, which is making him uncomfortable (twitchy), plain and simple (if you don't believe me, pick up a bat and mimic his batting stance).
The trigger, or loading phase of his swing (weight moves forward, hands move back and in) causes all of his momentum to move towards the plate in a disorganized and out of control fashion. As a result, he cannot handle the inside pitch and he cannot reach the outside pitch with any control (hell, he can't reach the outer half of the plate where he is set up). Even if he does hit the ball this way, he is losing a ton of power by eliminating his core. The prolonged slump/loss of confidence has also affected his ability to recognize pitches (he watched two fastballs right down the middle in his last at bat) and it has also extended to his defense. I simply do not see him fixing this issue at the major league level.
I would move him to Las Vegas for an an extended period of time so he can clear his head, for starters. Then, I would tell him to scrap his current approach in favor of a simple change. Stand up out of that stupid crouch, get about six inches closer to the plate and regain your balance! After doing so, quiet your spastic movements and simplify your trigger mechanism (set your hands higher). I don't think Ike will ever be the player we thought he was early in the 2011 season (before the ankle injury), but he is better then what we are currently seeing.
What do you think?
The site is looking as good as ever, by the way.
Take care......Mike
1 comment:
Mike, first, it's great to have you back. I hope you write and visit more often.
What you point out about Davis' swing is the same as all the other Mets that always seem to come to camp out of shape.
Are the Mets managers/coaches/trainers simply afraid to tell any of these guys to do anything different?
It's hard to watch Davis every night. The swing has reached bizzaro levels.
If the coaches in Queens can't get Ike and Tejada out of their slump, send them to extended camp and replace them with Omar Quintanilla and Andrew Brown. Put Duda on first and play Brown in the oF until the all-star break.
JUST DO SOMETHING
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