Will Middlebrooks struggle

[BigPapi]

Excluding the 3hr game he had the second series of the season, Will Middlebrooks is hitting a miniscule 200 with only 9 rbi's. Although I believe a lot of people blow strike outs out of proportion as being indicative on a players performance, I do believe Will's 44 strikeouts in 38 games is too much because he is not making up for them with timely hits. Basically now, hes a rally killer who can't even advance base runners in crucial spots let alone drive them in.( Not including his very shakey defense this season).Although he was 4 for 12 with a couple doubles in the last toronto series, I think that until he can consistently produce, the sox need to consider bringing up another utility infielder besides carp or ciriaco who can play decent too good defense at third and more consistent hitting, whether through the farm system or other means. Thoughts?

[Rdsxmbnt]

That guy you are describing does not exist in the farm system right now. I think they give Will most of this season to figure things out, hopefully he can build off the TOR series.

[mvp 78]

Garin Cecchini is too far away to be called up. Doubt they bring up Xander. I think they let WMB work it out. It's the right thing to do for his development.

[BigPapi]

O, thanks for pointing that out. What i meant to say was bring in, not bring up. I know snyder, who has some experience at third, is hitting well in pawtucket right now. Plus, will has a double so far this night so maybe he'll finally snap out of it.

[iortiz]

SFF's split coming ... :harhar:

[mvp 78]

Honestly, he needs to learn on the job. He's young and if he can get through this, he'll be a franchise corner infielder here for a long time.

 

It's not always about what's best for the team at this very second.

[jung]

He can make it and he should make it. I am concerned that they are pushing him to become an opposite field hitter and I think that is the wrong way to take him.

 

We often mistake Pedey for a power hitter and he really is not a power hitter. He can hit for some power but he is not a power hitter. I love seeing Pedey take the ball to the opposite field. He knows when he should and how he should.

 

WMB is a dead pull power hitter with the potential to be an absolute monster swinging at anything middle middle, middle in or on the inner third. He needs to learn how to lay off of pitches low and outside and breaking farther off the plate and either take pitches on the outer third with less than two strikes and/or foul them off with two strikes. I do not want to do anything to mess with that hammer he carries for mistake pitches middle to inside. I do not want to trade HR's and extra base hits for opposite field hits as trying to widen his strike zone is always going to mean that he swings and misses more than he should. Even when he makes contact he will often trade away the opportunity to drive extra bases and HR's for singles.

 

I cannot think of a Red Sox player in recent memory with the pull power from the right side that WMB has. Fisk had a great pull swing a long time ago before catching robbed him of some of his power. For all the talk about the short porch in Fenway's LF, most of our power hitters through history have been LH hitters. Most of our great RH hitters have hit to all fields. Manny was outstanding. But he was not a pull hitter. Nomar even ranks high in any list of Red Sox RH pull, power hitters. Dewey Evans was not bad either. None of them had the raw potential pull power of WMB....not even close.

 

WMB hitting in Fenway has the chance to be one of the great mistake pitch hitters, even all time for that matter. If you want to try to understand what kind of company he might be in.....in my time I would probably have to say that Hank Aaron is probably the greatest mistake pitch hitter I have ever seen. His ability to lay off of stuff that he could not drive or foul off stuff with two strikes was uncanny. Then he would take that one pitch per at bat that he would eventually get the pitcher to yield up and out of the ballpark. It is unlikely that WMB is the next coming of Hank Aaron. But he could be damn close to that.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Since his collision with David Ross on May 7th, Middlebrooks is hitting .292 with a .958 OPS. He's got 6 doubles and a HR.

 

Oddly enough, he does not have a single in that span. He's 7 for 24, 0 BB, 6 K's, and 7 XBH.

 

Very strange line.

[iortiz]

Since his collision with David Ross on May 7th, Middlebrooks is hitting .292 with a .958 OPS. He's got 6 doubles and a HR.

 

Oddly enough, he does not have a single in that span. He's 7 for 24, 0 BB, 6 K's, and 7 XBH.

 

Very strange line.

 

Told ya

 

Hopefully he keeps that way.

[MJantomaso]

O, thanks for pointing that out. What i meant to say was bring in, not bring up. I know snyder, who has some experience at third, is hitting well in pawtucket right now. Plus, will has a double so far this night so maybe he'll finally snap out of it.

 

So you want to bring someone in, not up....but you want to call up Snyder from Pawtucket. <_>

 

 

WMB's problem was he was swinging at pitchers pitches early in the count, almost as if he made his mind up before the pitch was thrown that he was going to swing. Its pretty hard to be a successful hitter with a mentality like that. They pounded him outside until the caught him diving in, then they bust him inside. He seems to have built up a little patience these past few games. I think he will come around.

[Standing Room]

I don't mean to be argumentative, but Will Middlebrooks is not a deal pull hitter.

 

yfrog.com/kk52sg:iphone

 

Looking at his hot zone chart, it looks like he's hit near .400 on pitches middle-away over the last two seasons.

 

espn.go.com/mlb/player/hotzones/_/id/31232/will-middlebrooks

[redsoxbeatz]

Do we think he is exiting his slump? He swung at some disgusting (and I don't mean good) pitches WAY outside the zone yesterday. But he also has like 6 doubles in 6 games and a HR last night.

[jung]

Being a pull hitter is not about location of the pitches that you hit. It is about where you hit them.

 

Will has turned himself into a tremendous threat on pitches middle and middle in and while he did not come out of the minors as a pull hitter, he has developed into a hitter that crushes balls middle and middle in and for the most part crushes them to LF. He did not come up as a pull hitter but since he has learned how to turn on the ball he crushes anything middle to middle in and mainly crushes it to LF. Frankly now that he knows how to turn on the ball, making him a hitter that sprays the ball would be a tremendous waste of talent IMO. I have not seen a Sox hitter that turns on the ball like Will does in a long long time again once he learned how to do it.

[redsoxbeatz]

Maybe Will is only good vs Jays & Astros. We will see...

[Standing Room]

Look at the spray chart that was behind the first link I posted. In Fenway last year, Middlebrooks got more outfield hits to right field than he did to left field. No one's trying to make him in to a hitter that sprays the ball all over the field, it's what he's always been.

[MJantomaso]

When most hitters go into slumps they tend to try to pull off the baseball, causing them to roll over outside pitches with weak ground balls to the short stop. You always know Papi is locked in when he starts hitting balls in the left centerfield gap. WMB is hitting the ball with power the other way so I will take it as a good sign.

[redsoxbeatz]

When most hitters go into slumps they tend to try to pull off the baseball, causing them to roll over outside pitches with weak ground balls to the short stop. You always know Papi is locked in when he starts hitting balls in the left centerfield gap. WMB is hitting the ball with power the other way so I will take it as a good sign.

 

Perfect timing with the three-city nine-game road-trip underway. Hopefully this carries over vs Twins, White Sox, e.g.

[SoxSport]

When most hitters go into slumps they tend to try to pull off the baseball, causing them to roll over outside pitches with weak ground balls to the short stop. You always know Papi is locked in when he starts hitting balls in the left centerfield gap. WMB is hitting the ball with power the other way so I will take it as a good sign.

 

Yup. They do it all the time--try to pull outside pitches. Result is ground balls--often double plays. That's probably how they got into a slump in the first place.

 

Many years ago, in 1977, I was talking to Walt Hriniak during a ST game, when Walt was the Red Sox BP coach--and just beginning to coach hitting, after his mentor Charley Lau. He later became a very successful batting coach. Dwight Evans was at bat. I said to Walt--this guy (Evans) tries to pull the ball too much. He should go with the pitch. Walt said, that's what we're trying to get him to do. Evans became a much improved straightaway hitter for the rest of his career.

 

Wish Herniak was around to talk to Middlebrooks. Though it looks like he has gotten the message.