I know he's a FORMER Astro, but I know a lot of people still have interest in him. Anyway, he's excelling in ST with the Yankees and apparently it's not just a fluke. The man who was known to change batting stances daily, heck, in the middle of an at bat, has apparently been cured: Long is considered one of the best hitting coaches in all of professional baseball. Kudos to him. I really hope Ensberg puts it all back together, makes the team with the Yankees, and thrives.
Saw Ensberg speak at an Astros dinner once. He was funny and engaging. He always came off well, and I was sorry that he didn't work out here. I wish him well, even if it's in a Yankee uniform!
I hope he isn't cured. That would mean we let him get away because our hitting coaches sucked and couldn't figure out how to fix him. Then, some other hitting coach cures him in fifteen minutes? Yea...that feels real good to be on the losing end of that.
I agree that it's a small sample size, but this isn't like he's working with some no name coach and just having a streak of luck. He's working with someone who has been universally praised. Someone who solved Alex Rodriguez's problems in one year, has made huge strides with Jason Giambi, developed Robinson Cano into one of the league's most lethal hitters when he wasn't considered a good prospect in the low minors, and helped get Bobby Abreu out of the worst slump of his career. The fact that he hasn't changed his batting stance all spring when for years he couldn't go 10 pitches without changing it is something that deserves more to be said than "32 at-bats."
32 at-bats is the span of about a week... yes, Ensberg has gone a week without changing his stance. As for solving Rodriguez's "problems," say what? A-Rod's average OPS was higher his four years prior to New York than it has been in his four years with the Yankees. Giambi isn't as good of a hitter as he was earlier in his career. Abreu is one of the most talented players in the game, and like Rodriguez, has actually been a worse hitter since coming to New York than before. I'm sure Long has helped hitters when they've been in slumps, but every hitting coach in the league does that. That doesn't make him one of the best coaches in the league. The difference is how media-saturated New York is, and there are far more people reporting on the Yankees' hitting coach than hitting coaches in any other organization. When you look at the broader context of guys like Rodriguez and Abreu, Long's work doesn't particularly stand out. I'm with DD on this... this seems like Richard Hidalgo and the Mets all over again.
Wrong. Last year was Long's first year as hitting coach after replacing Don Mattingly who became the bench coach. A-Rod, like Ensberg, was suffering from a lot of over complication at the plate and had struggle the previous year. Last year, he had the highest OPS+ of his career and attributed it entirely to Long in his own statements. Giambi has hit more balls the other way this ST than he has in 6 years of ST and ML at bats combined. He attributes it entirely to working with Long. Bobby Abreu was woeful last year, WOEFUL to start the season. By his own admission, he got with Kevin Long and fixed his mechanical kinks that he developed by missing ST time and then went on to have an awesome second half. And again, Robinson Cano attributes his dramatic offensive production increase to Kevin Long working with him in the minors and then again last year in the majors. And ST is more than 32 at bats. It's intra squad games, batting practice etc. I won't debate this further because I have a client coming in 10 minutes, but Kevin Long is universally praised by players, coaches, media talking heads, and minor league gurus throughout baseball.
As a media person, I can promise you that every player I've ever talked to who has broken out of a slump has credited it to their hitting coach. Of course it's normal fluctuation -- if you look at A-Rod's career, he's had semi-down years before and rebounded to go above the 1.000 mark. Same with Abreu and Giambi. But sports players are raised in a culture where they're taught, from youth leagues on forward, to credit coaches and be unselfish in interviews. It's cliched lip service. The difference is, the Yankees have about 15x the reporters of a normal team, and such stories are brought into the mainstream eye more than they are in normal situations. I'm sure Long is good at what he does, but most other hitting coaches in this league are as well. The difference is that they don't have the New York media contingent ready to write the underdog story for them.
I guarantee you that the Astro hitting coaches made significant attempts during Ensberg's tenure here to simplify his swing and reduce the amount of motion. And I imagine Morgan might have even done it for as long as a week. Hell, the guy had a monstrous half-season with us one year and was an all-star another. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with our hitting coaches. If Morgan has a great year, then I'd be willing to believe it was mostly because of this Long guy. But my guess is he falls right back into his old habits and has another crappy year.
Let's wait to see what happens when the glare of Yankee Stadium gets in his eyes and he starts taking pitch after pitch down the middle. Will the stance stay the same when they start booing? I like Ensberg and I hope for the best. I'll take a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to him. He's clearly got the talent as we all learned in 2005. He wilted in Houston. Can he stand the pressure of New York?
I hope the Yankees hitting coach has also taught him to stop looking at strike two and three. Doubtful. I wish Morgan the best, but I seriously doubt he is cured of all his batting problems. A better stance/swing is useless if you can't see perfect strikes coming
Winner, most annoying marketing jingle in history. Thanks ever so much for causing that to blaze in my head for the next three days. Happy clapping Easter.
