Know this is a bit kneejerk after our comeback to the division race but it worries all of us when our prospects come up and can't read pitches and they reach. We had a dry spell last year as well and it cost us the division. Don't want the youngsters like bregman to lose confidence.
Maybe because he's the hitting coach and they are clearly struggling hitting this year? Without Altuve playing out of his mind, this offense would be terrible.
It's terrible even with Altuve I fully expect a new hitting coach before next season starts. Maybe we can talk Bagwell into jumping on the wagon again and helping us out for a month or so.
I'm not sure it is. They need to do something different, but what? These guys are killing it in AAA, then they're up and all of the sudden they forget how to hit. I don't blame anyone too much for White or Tucker, but Bregman and Reed have actual serious talent. Maybe it's just bad luck with Bregman, he does look good at the plate, Reed looks lost most of the time though.
You can change the hitting coach, but that's not going to fix whatever this is I don't think. I would be in favor of the change just in case, but I don't really know who to blame it on. It truly as concerning, however, that so few of our glorious prospects seem to ever actually be worth a **** once they hit the big leagues.
I brought this up a couple of weeks ago. I know Hudgens isn't swinging the bat for these guys, but we have veterans (Gomez, Rasmus, Gattis) as well as rookies (White, Reed, Bregman) who have no clue at the plate. Not just right now, but for an extended period of time. It's kind of odd that a number of vets just forget how to hit the ball all of a sudden. A batting coach has to be able to evaluate hitters and suggest/tweek things that need to be changed. These guys have been futile at the plate for an extended period of time.....something has to give.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros offense last five games:<br>.174/.214/.236<br>6 runs<br>52 strikeouts<br>31 hits</p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/761038627803496449">August 4, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I've said it before, but I doubt there's a coach on the planet who could change those guys. They are who they are.
I could understand holding the hitting coach accountable for some of the young guys not adapting over a solid sample size (50-200 AB). So yes, I think the collective struggles of White, Reed, Tucker, Bregman, Moran, Kemp, and Marisnick do reflect poorly on Hudgens. But it's not his fault guys like Gattis, Castro, Marwin, Gomez, and Rasmus have hit so poorly all season and that the entire team has failed to produce runs the last couple of weeks.
I wonder if it has to do with the way we draft, at least in the early rounds. We tend to take guys with super high ceilings and lower floors over those with somewhat lower ceilings and higher floors. Perhaps these types of players tend to have holes in their game that only become exposed at the major league level. Just a theory.
Bregman, Reed, and Fontana were pretty conservative high floor picks. The only "risky" picks they've made at the top were Correa (jackpot), Tucker (pretty polished for a HS player), Cameron (same), and maybe Fisher and Dawson, although both of those guys were big college bats.
more and more I'm leaning to agree. usually position coaches get unfairly judged for team struggles - more so on pitching coaches, but plate approach and mentality appear to be off with this group. is Gomez uncoachable? it's quite obvious that if he quit trying to guess swing himself out of his helmet and cleats he's be at least marginally better. Rasmus is rasmus - that's not a hitting coach. Reed and Bregman seem ill prepared for the pitchers they are facing and the type of stuff coming there way. while he's been good, I'm not sure why correa hasn't taken a step forward this year with his hit tool. if anything, he's slightly regressed and no one questions his trajectory. this may be a case where the hitters aren't coming to the plate with a solid approach and are digging themselves a hole that talent has to pull them out of.
