Hitting Coach

[bulldogcountry1]

Realistically, what can we do here?

I'm not close to the inner workings of the program, so I don't know who really is the primary hitting coach. I assume it's Cohen, since that's what he said when he started, and he was known as a good hitting coach. Whatever it is, there's obviously room for improvement. It's the one glaring aspect of the program that isn't up to par with a top team.

When I see smaller school like ULL, Mercer, and UCA put up big offensive numbers with these bats, I can't help but wonder why we are so far away from that. Is it recruiting? Hitting approach? Cheating? Sacrificing defense for offense?

Also, we aren't seeing the offensive growth with players like you normally see as they get experience. Outside of Frazier and Renfroe, how many guys has Cohen had that finished out their offensive careers at their best? We see progression with defense and definitely with pitching, but it's not as evident with offense.

Watching us hit and watching our approach this year was beyond frustrating. If it wasn't frustrating, it was just completely boring. I know pitching and defense wins championships, but with the new balls, we are going to have to step it up at the plate. We can't just say it's going to be better because of the ball. That will be across the board.


A new hitting coach is the most obvious answer, but it just won't happen unless Mingione leaves.

[Bark]

As long as Cohen is at state he will be the hitting coach. Period. He had some sluggers at UK but he's been horrible here and I think it's because he switched into the slap hit mode when he got here bc we have a 'big ballpark'. It is a big park but ULL's was just as big and you saw what they can do. He needs to change his ways definitely bc 1-3 runs a game is just not cutting it.

[smootness]

As long as Cohen is at state he will be the hitting coach. Period. He had some sluggers at UK but he's been horrible here and I think it's because he switched into the slap hit mode when he got here bc we have a 'big ballpark'. It is a big park but ULL's was just as big and you saw what they can do. He needs to change his ways definitely bc 1-3 runs a game is just not cutting it.

It sure did cut it last year.

We have already changed our recruiting philosophy, I don't know how many times it has to be said.

[Pioneer Dawg]

Glad others see the problem too.

"Big ball-park means slap hitting" is dumb. Development of hitters is lacking to say the least.

[smootness]

Glad others see the problem too.

"Big ball-park means slap hitting" is dumb. Development of hitters is lacking to say the least.

It's not about the big ballpark. It's about the fact that college baseball's current state means it's more difficult to find and develop guys who can hit the ball out of the park. Because of this, your best bet is to build your team around pitching and defense and speed on the basepaths. If we had pitched the way we did last year in the ULL regional, we would have won it and would stand a good chance of beating Ole Miss.

Give me Girodo and Mitchell both coming out of the pen looking like they did last year, and I would feel really good about our chances.

We ended up in kind of an in-between year without anyone to carry the lineup like Frazier and Renfroe did last year, and we weren't as sharp on the mound in the regional.

We have begun to recruit more power, and we will see the benefits when they change the ball.

[msstate7]

I don't care about hr's as much as doubles. We've got to develop gap power at least imo

[PMDawg]

geez. losing Renfroe, Frazier, and Graveman hurt more than we thought. Ammo too. I don't think any of us expected that to hurt as much as it did. We'll be fine.

[PMDawg]

Oh yeah, and Rea stunk this year. Not expected.

[smootness]

geez. losing Renfroe, Frazier, and Graveman hurt more than we thought. Ammo too. I don't think any of us expected that to hurt as much as it did. We'll be fine.

Agreed. Collins and Heck will hit. Humphreys should improve enough to at least hit around .280 with pop. Rea, if he comes back, can't be this bad again.

We just need a few guys to step up and be solid hitters. Holland should be able to do that, so it comes down to Cody Brown, Vickerson, and Britton. Just don't be empty outs and our offense will be good enough.

If Garner, Rooker, Ingram, Robson, Hann, or any of the freshmen play to their potential and become good hitters, then we may have something.

[Pioneer Dawg]

Henderson
Bradford
Detz
Rea
Armstrong
Britton
Norris
Slauter
Hann
Robson
Garner (has been on campus for two years)
Humphreys (supposed to be a STUD)

Little to no improvement or major regression for the VAST MAJORITY of our recent contributors. Frazier was good. Pirtle was a great find. Renfroe took 3 years and then only gave us one solid month.

Not a good offensive track record for the hitting coach JC.

[yjnkdawg]

[QUOTE=PMDawg;191324]geez. losing Renfroe, Frazier, and Graveman hurt more than we thought. Ammo too.


Maybe add Pollo, Girodo and Slauter.

[CadaverDawg]

Well, to be fair, our team is built on pitching and defense, and it has worked well lately. Do we need more offense? Yes. But would any of you trade a Lindgren for a possibility of a good doubles hitter right now?

Our coaches have to be able to give us the best chance to win with limited schollys. That being said, I'd rather be winning regional games 2-1 and 3-1, than getting out scored 11-8 all season and watching Regionals from the house. Cohen is a great enough recruiter to where he could load us with great hitters AND good pitchers if he had the schollys to give.

And now that he sees what Butch can do with a Holder, Mitchell, Laster, etc...he has begun to focus on a couple of stud pitchers, stud hitters, and then some project arms for Butch to work with. In other words, it took him a few years to find that balance, but I feel like we're getting there.

Big arms like Hudson, Tatum, Sexton....and big bats like Collins, Hump, Garner, Vallot. I seriously don't see a bunch of midgets in our future either. 2 years from now (or even next year maybe) we may have a lineup with Swinarski, Brown, and Hump in the outfield. That's quite different and a good bit more pop than Vick, CT, and Demarcus.

[slickdawg]

I am tiring of the feeling I get when we are down 3+ runs that it is a deficit we stand little to no chance to overcome. We cannot put all our eggs in the pitching basket, no pitching staff in the history of the game has a perfect season, and our setup today demands it. If a pitcher has a bad game, we're screwed. If a pitcher just makes a couple of mistakes, we're screwed. Ross and Lindgren this past weekend, for example.

We lost Frazier and Renfroe, and effectively lost Rea too, our best three hitters in 2013, and that killed us. Detz wasn't close to the Detz of last year either.

[smootness]

Yep, the scholarship situation gets overlooked in discussions like this, but it's real. You could ask, 'Do we have to just have pitchers or hitters? Can we not have both?' Well, it's certainly not easy to do it. I don't envy college baseball coaches.

In regard to Pioneer, yes, several of those guys got better. Bradford had a very good freshman year but then got hurt, pitchers adjusted, etc., and he dropped off. Then this year he was back to being Bradford. He improved over his sophomore and junior years.

Henderson definitely improved while at State. Detz was far better as a junior than his JUCO numbers would indicate he would be. He regressed some this year, probably due to pitchers figuring him out a little, not getting the same consistent ABs, and probably facing more lefties this year. Garner and Humphreys, please, the jury just left. They've each played one year of college baseball, we haven't had time for them to even progress yet.

Slauter, Armstrong, Britton, seriously? These guys were expected to hit?

[Pioneer Dawg]

1.Then this year he was back to being Bradford.

2. Henderson definitely improved while at State.

3. Slauter, Armstrong, Britton, seriously? These guys were expected to hit?

1. Which was good enough for only the 26th best BA. His 12 walks means he was 61st in OBP.... 61st. Nearly 7 entire starting lineups had a higher on-base percentage than CT. His freshman year = senior year.....

2. Henderson regressed this year bud.

3. They didn't IMPROVE

The key here is we don't see improvement from the vast majority of our hitters... and that is coaching.

[Homedawg]

1. Which was good enough for only the 26th best BA. His 12 walks means he was 61st in OBP.... 61st. Nearly 7 entire starting lineups had a higher on-base percentage than CT. His freshman year = senior year.....

2. Henderson regressed this year bud.

3. They didn't IMPROVE

The key here is we don't see improvement from the vast majority of our hitters... and that is coaching.

He said Henderson improved while here- true. Armstrong and Britton didn't improve as hitters? Really?

[Pioneer Dawg]

He said Henderson improved while here- true. Armstrong and Britton didn't improve as hitters? Really?

Henderson
'13 - .274
'14 - .265

But let's just say Hendu improved.

Britton
In his 3rd year here, the year he is draft eligeable, we are sitting at .233 with just 4 XBH.

Armstrong
'13 - .266
After a year with Cohen
'14 - .267

[smootness]

Henderson
'13 - .274
'14 - .265

But let's just say Hendu improved.

Britton
In his 3rd year here, the year he is draft eligeable, we are sitting at .233 with just 4 XBH.

Armstrong
'13 - .266
After a year with Cohen
'14 - .267

You're turning into the Dawg61 of baseball. Congrats.

[Homedawg]

Rafael palmeiro went from 406 to 415 to 300 as a jr. Do you think he digressed? Had a bad year? Had draft-itis? Or Polk screwed him up. And I'm not starting a bash rp thread, bc he never told palmeiro to do anything different from the time he got here.

[Homedawg]

Henderson
'13 - .274
'14 - .265

But let's just say Hendu improved.

Britton
In his 3rd year here, the year he is draft eligeable, we are sitting at .233 with just 4 XBH.

Armstrong
'13 - .266
After a year with Cohen
'14 - .267

Hendu is a way better hitter than when he got here. Britton was a .100 hitter as a fr. And armstong was clearly better this year than last. Although I see his ba barely went up. But he had more at bats this year too.

[Political Hack]

Geoff Collins is a good hitting coach.

[Pioneer Dawg]

And armstong was clearly better this year than last.

How so

[Political Hack]

Chipper Jones was rumored to be considering taking a hitting coach job. Go get him.

[msstate7]

Chipper Jones was rumored to be considering taking a hitting coach job. Go get him.

Not sure this is the place chipper wants to coach. I wish he did though.

[CadaverDawg]

We need to get Palmeiro. (And his roids)

[Political Hack]

Not sure this is the place chipper wants to coach. I wish he did though.

yeah. have a feeling he may have something a little closer to home in mind.

[State82]

yeah. have a feeling he may have something a little closer to home in mind.

Hope it's not at Kennesaw St. They are tough enough as it is.

[Todd4State]

1. Which was good enough for only the 26th best BA. His 12 walks means he was 61st in OBP.... 61st. Nearly 7 entire starting lineups had a higher on-base percentage than CT. His freshman year = senior year.....

2. Henderson regressed this year bud.

3. They didn't IMPROVE

The key here is we don't see improvement from the vast majority of our hitters... and that is coaching.

1. CT has had well documented injuries that stunted his development as a player. I thought he redeemed himself as a senior quite nicely. Cohen's fault.**

2. Henderson's average dropped, but his OBP increased about 50 points from .358 to .407 last year and his stolen base totals went from 3 in 7 attempts to 10 in 12 attempts. Since sabermaticians place more emphasis on OBP and all, I thought I would throw that in there.

3. Slauter got hurt his senior year and missed the second half of the year basically. Armstrong statistically stayed about the same, which means that while he didn't get better, he also didn't get worse. Britton was hitting around .176 after the Ole Miss series. He finished at .233. That is improvement. Want to bet he doesn't get better next year?

[Todd4State]

Chipper Jones was rumored to be considering taking a hitting coach job. Go get him.

That would be a huge PR move for us. Not sure how if Chipper can coach or not- but we would definitely get a lot of attention.

[smootness]

That would be a huge PR move for us. Not sure how if Chipper can coach or not- but we would definitely get a lot of attention.

Guys, I'm not sure if these are jokes or not, but we're not getting Chipper Jones.

He will be the Braves hitting coach as soon as he decides he wants it; he may spend a year or so in the minors getting his feet wet, but he could do the job now. He will be a MLB hitting coach, he's not coming to college.w