Posts 5 and 8?
He suggested irritating pitchers over hitting home runs. And made it sound like they were only hitting solo home runs.
Hitting home runs is scoring 100% of the time. Irritating pitchers is a good strategy, but it simply didn’t lead to scoring that often.
I get their home run volume is low and they’d be thorns to pitchers more often. But you look at OBP for that. Not home runs. Is hitting 8-10 home runs really taking down their OBP that much?
And with Duran, he has 23 doubles and 10 triples hitting like he is. But he doesn’t bother the pitcher as much with those extra bases. So are those also a bad thing?
Yes I do know what he meant. He was specific about how the Sox would be better if Duran/Hamilton/Wong hit fewer extra base hits and instead just got to first base and used their speed to get into the pitchers’ heads.
While I get the importance of the runner on first causing problems for the pitcher, how is that more important than the overall vast improvements we have seen in those small speedy guys he says have no business hitting “one run home runs”? (And how did you possibly not attack that?)
Duran is one of the best offensive players in the league. Wong leads all AL catchers in batting average (150 PA min). These are players using the metrics and their lessons to become significant offensive contributors and potential All Stars. But Jung is suggesting they dial it back and instead one third of the lineup fall back into a role where their job is to instead support the remaining hitters.
Stealing bases is easier that it has been in the past. I think some pitchers have become more or less resigned to it and just mainly try to focus on the batter. Makes it very difficult for the catcher to throw out the faster runners.
I think the rule changes do help. Pitch clock can occasionally tell the runner an idea when the windup can start, giving him an extra step or two before the pitcher even starts.
The rule minimizing pickoff attempts helps, too. Once the pitcher has thrown over twice, that runner can go take a much, much larger lead…