We have too many good hitters that look lost and unprepared. Too many extended cold streaks that the entire team goes on.
Abreu has been good for about only 15% of the season so far and terrible the other 85%. Let’s not say fixed yet.
That Athletic article credits Cintrón some, but has a mention of Abreu coming in one day and saying, "hey, I got it." So did he or didn't he? Either way, the players love him, not sure they'll make a move there in-season.
Who are these good hitters you speak of? Who's underperforming other than Bregman who has had a history of going through year long slumps. He's been our hitting coach since 2019. Tucker is hitting around his career averages. Altuve has been injured and has always been a little streaky. Bregman is doing the same thing he's been doing since the fixed the balls Alvarez is having a great year but injured Meyers is having a career year Dubon is having a career year Chas is having a career year Abreu has been dogshit but has turned it around. Julks shouldn't be playing Pena is the same guy as last year.
Yeah this team just doesn't have much hitting talent currently outside of Yordan. The pitching has been carrying this team the last couple of years.
As I've said from the beginning of the season, we need Brantley to come back, everyone healthy, and Bregman and Abreu to stop stinking up the joint and we will be cooking with gas. Altuve, Brantley, Tucker, Alvarez, Bregman, and Abreu playing at their normal level is enough assuming the other guys are average hitters and Baker doesn't do anything especially stupid.
Yes health has been the biggest problem this year no doubt but it's not good that the team is having to depend on injury prone players (Yordan, Brantley, LMJ for pitching, etc.) The team was very fortunate last year with health but the team is not very deep with talent offensively as we are witnessing this year. As people have expressed, the 2 years of missed high draft picks is really starting to hurt talent wise.
One thing I think is underdiscussed is the idea that the whole of a deep lineup is more than the sum of its parts. When you have 4-5 guys who post 130+ wRC+, the other 4-5 guys benefit from more ducks on the pond, more worn out pitchers, more shallow bullpens, etc. I think having peak Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman, Tucker, Brantley, and Abreu turns Meyers and Pena from slightly below average hitters into above average hitters. And when Bregman and Abreu are worthless, it turns Tucker from an amazing hitter into just a good hitter. I think Altuve (partially because he hits leadoff), Alvarez (because he is simply one of the most gifted hitters in human history), and Brantley (because he is so steady) are going to be fine no matter who else is in the lineup, but the other 6 guys are symbiotic. Bregman and Abreu have proven streaky in their careers; luckily they both tend to struggle more at the beginning of the season. So I’m hopeful this lineup will kick into high gear, especially if/when Brantley and Alvarez return. But they are putting themselves in a bit of a hole in the division waiting for that.
Unless you have a bunch of power hitters, everyone needs to hit to move batters around the bases. It doesn't help when our manager continue to put struggling batters in the heart of the lineup to kill opportunities. Our batters haven't been great but Baker's goofy lineups have contributed to at least 3-5 losses. That the difference between where we are now and leading our division.
Not a single one of you around here can say what the Hitting Coach actually does, as far as his interactions with the players or anything else. If the management/FO wants a change, there will be a change. It happens pretty regularly, but not in the middle of a season.
There was a tweet yesterday. Chandler Rome maybe? It said that Alex told him Brian McCann called him and told him to move his front elbow forward before yesterday's game. The responses also stated that Cintron does not work with Bregman at all So that tells me that the hitting coaches must each have assigned players and Snitker is Bregman's assigned coach or maybe Alex pays an independent one and does not use Astros coaches at all
