3/18: Open Game Thread

“There was a situation that he hit into the double play with nobody out,‘’ he said. "The first thing we did is we went down and had Ronny (Cedeno) talk to him a bit about it. Because Ronny laid down another nice bunt. He’s got to have other weapons, especially if he has a desire to hit in the two-hole, and that’s what we’re talking about.”

"It’s nice when he’s hitting a home run and a triple down the other line but there’s more to this game.’’

"I think it comes down to production,‘’ Wakamatsu said. "And if he doesn’t produce, then we’ll look to go in a different direction.’’

Wakamatsu was asked whether he’s had situations before where guys were free-swingers and the team just allowed them to keep doing it because it was in their nature.

"But you look at those guys and I think the majority of those guys are higher on-base percentage guys,’’ he said.

by ThundaPC on Mar 18, 2009 11:09 PM PDT reply actions

Sounds like Yuni might be gone sooner rather than later

The criticism is getting stronger by the day.

by OlSalty on Mar 18, 2009 11:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Deport Yuni back to Cuba.

by Wilder. on Mar 18, 2009 11:19 PM PDT up reply actions

My favorite part is Wakamatsu sends his potential replacement down to talk to him.

I’m really really warming up to this guy.

by Kermit. on Mar 18, 2009 11:34 PM PDT up reply actions

Agreed.

McLaren surely never would have been so forthright. Not this soon, anyway.

Throw the snacks in the bag and I'm ghost like Swayze!
Preserved In All His Greatness - R.I.P. The Reignman 1989 to 1997

by JLProck on Mar 18, 2009 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions

he did triple and homer

seriously.

by marinerdan on Mar 19, 2009 5:35 AM PDT up reply actions

Who gives a shit?

Its ST, and he has been told specifically to work on his patience at the plate. I dont care if he goes 5 for 5 and all of then are HRs.

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 9:53 AM PDT up reply actions

I need to clarify that by adding if he sees 5 pitches and goes 5 for 5 ...

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 9:54 AM PDT up reply actions

The problem isn’t that he necessarily needs to see more pitches per PA right this second, it’s that he needs to start waiting for a good pitches to hit on a regular basis. The triple and homer were probably pretty good pitches to be swinging at so I don’t fault him for swinging at them.

by OlSalty on Mar 19, 2009 10:05 AM PDT up reply actions

True but..

The fact is, that Wak wants him to work on something and he’s not doing it. Sure those might have been good pitches (sorry for being ignorant but i didnt watch the game), but it doesn’t matter. In ST, you should be working on things to better yourself for the upcoming season.

If i were Wak, i would give him all the chances he deserves, then cut him if i don’t get the results i want. But hey, thats just me, and im a nobody.

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Please capitalize your proper nouns.

by Matthew on Mar 19, 2009 10:31 AM PDT up reply actions

Someone shoot the inventor of inline auto-correction.

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 10:45 AM PDT up reply actions

Swinging at hittable pitches is a good thing.

Waiting for the sake of waiting isn’t going to teach him discipline. He’d probably just ground out on a worse pitch, because he’d be behind in the count, because he’s Yuni. He absolutely needs to work on pitch recognition, but at least in this tiny sample size, he recognized hittable pitches and drove them.

by Teej on Mar 19, 2009 10:53 AM PDT up reply actions

On that note,

How do you teach a player pitch recognition? I always think about that. It seems like you either have it or you don’t.

Stupid example, but in baseball video games, 90% of pitches look hittable to me coming out of the pitcher’s hand. Most of them aren’t, but I just can’t tell, and I can’t stop myself from swinging away. I walked zero times in my Road to the Show season in AA, despite really, really wanting to. I just can’t help myself. They all look so good! Will I get better the more I play? Can Yuni get better just through experience? Probably, but some things just can’t be fixed.

by Teej on Mar 19, 2009 10:59 AM PDT up reply actions

That last line should say

Probably a little bit, but some things just can’t be fixed.

by Teej on Mar 19, 2009 11:01 AM PDT up reply actions

With the leadoff man on and nobody out...

I don’t see why you would ever swing at the first pitch. Granted I don’t know what the score was during this at-bat, but let’s pretend that it was a 0-0 game.

The #2 hitter’s job is to move the runner. Period. Now how do we accomplish that? Well, looking for a pitch to drive through the 3-4 hole would be nice for one. Two, giving the leadoff man some time to steal a base would be nice. Three, a walk does the job.. working the count for a hit-and-run play.. etc

None of which can be accomplished by swinging at the first pitch. I’m not saying that Yuni wasn’t swinging at good pitches. I’m saying that if he wants to hit in the 2 spot, he needs to take a different approach to his ABs.

/rant

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 11:20 AM PDT up reply actions

And again..

I’m sorry for being ignorant, as I didn’t watch the game. I dont even know if he was hitting in the 2 spot (that’s just what the article said in the seattle times), nor do I know if they were good pitches.

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 11:22 AM PDT up reply actions

The #2 hitter's job is to not make an out.

Double period.

by Matthew on Mar 19, 2009 11:31 AM PDT up reply actions

And if you always take the first pitch, people will figure you out and you'll be behind in a lot of counts.

I guess I just don’t subscribe to that definition of the No. 2 hitter’s role. Losing the advantage in an at-bat to give a guy time to (hopefully) grab an extra base with no outs seems like a bad idea. I’d rather have him looking for any way to not make an out, whether that’s working a walk or driving a good pitch. I’m not trading an out for an extra base in the first inning.

Of course, he hit into a double play . . .

I’m fully in agreement that Yuni’s approach at the plate is terrible. But there’s a big difference between taking pitches because they’re bad and taking pitches because you decided beforehand that you were going to.

by Teej on Mar 19, 2009 11:33 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

I wouldn't go as far as say always take the first pitch

Like I had said, I wish I could have seen the at-bats for myself.

But in this situation, the pitcher is going to try to get the batter to hit in front of the runner. My guess is that the first pitch was a nice pitch across the knees on the inner 1/3 of the plate. A pitch that gets hit on the ground in front of the runner. He should have been patiently waiting for something outside to hit behind the runner.

But all this is speculation for me, since I didn’t see the at-bat.

by d0nkey on Mar 19, 2009 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions