Looking Forward

[Ghostbear]

Coaching:

Assume Counsel leaves. Then the choice should be Atlanta Braves hitting coach Seitzer.  It's obvious his methods are not only effective, but acceptable to the players.  When you watch the Braves hitters, everyone of them has a squared up, hands position, feet position and head position, all in sync.  This approach reminds me of the Ryan Braun approach.  As far as other coaches, it is obvious that the following need to be kept: Hook, first base coach, and maybe third base coach.  The following need to go: hitting coaches, bull pen coach,  and up in the air, bench coach.  If Counsel returns, the hitting coaches still need to go. My suggestion is that the Brewers have a pitching lab in AZ. Why not a hitting lab? They could use the input from Ryan Braun to build and develop this hitting lab, Yount might have some great input as well.   

Players:  Players they definitely need to do what they can to keep: Burnes ( I would extend his contract with built in weight, and off season regimen, as well as achievement incentives) He obviously put on far too much weight which affected his motion in terms of turning his hips and thus getting his slider and change up to break like he wanted them to. No doubt, he's proved he's a work horse, and a gifted pitcher. However, he should be required, like all pitchers, to pitch 15-20 pitches in the bull pen prior to the game to determine which of his pitches is working for him and which are not.  Experimenting what pitches work and which do not during the game is really, really, poor methodology.   Woodruff. No doubt Brandon needs surgical repair, but when you check it out, it is not that serious of a repair.  It just takes a while to rehab.  He has time now. He's another work horse of a pitcher, and he pays attention to his pre-game, post game, and off season regimen. He's also an important piece in the club house-his dedication to the team is an inspiration.   Peralta-They have him for a few more years. But he needs a little more work in terms his ability mentally to keep on focus and not fall into that urgent mode he does from time to time.  Also,, he needs to focus on an off season regimen to build strength and durability.  Adames: A great, great short stop, who needs help at the plate. He still has some bad habits at the plate and has tendency to swing at the slider off the plate.  Santana: Even though Carlos is 37, he's still in tremendous shape, a great defensive first baseman, and a switch hitter with power.  I'd see if I could sign him to a two year contract with performance incentives, like lower strike out number, and an incentive to hit .250 with 25+ home runs.  I'd also have a weight incentive with an off season work out regimen to keep his strength, flexibility and durability up.  Montasterio: An unlikely candidate for a 3rd baseman but he's proved himself as a very good one, and he's developed a good hitting approach, although at the end of the year, he struck out way too much because he detracted from the line drive base hit approach, to hitting for the fences which changed his level swing to more of an upper cut swing.  He doesn't have to be a home run hitter simply because he's a third baseman. His goal should be to be a .300 hitter and a get on base guy. Tyrone Taylor: Tyrone has proved himself as a very good outfielder and an excellent hitter.  The more he plays, the better he performs.   I think he's an underestimated player.  Right fielder all the way.  Both Catchers:  Victor and William make a great, great, catching team.  Both proved as very good hitters, and William is still improving.  Victor's value as a mentor is unquestioned.  He's changed his hitting approach over this year, and it's proved very positive, plus he's another switch hitter.   Yelich is there for a few more years. He's made significant improvement as a hitter and an outfielder.  He still has a tendency to swing at the down and inside slider.  The pattern the league is pitching to him is very obvious: outside, outside, outside, fastball or breaking pitch, then when they get two strikes on him, they throw him a down and inside slider. He strikes out and his frustration at that is obvious.  What to do: Stand closer to the plate. Look for fastballs on the outside of the plate, even close and off the plate. Change the swing to a more flat, level, fast hands swing, that drives the line drive for extra base hits and home runs to left and center field.  Once he proves he can be dangerous hitting like this, the league will have to adapt again.  

Rookies:  The set of rookies the brewers brought forward this year are game changers. What do they all have in common: Speed, speed, speed, and excellence as defensive players. Just think if you had Mitchell, Perkins, Turang, and Wiemer all on line to hit .250 to .300.  They're all burners and playing with more of an emphasis on some small ball would take advantage of their skills and abilities.  What to do to get each to be a max performer:  Turang:  He's a great, great second baseman. Combined with Adames I don't know of a better double play combination in baseball. Turang lost confidence in his swing during the last month of the season. He was frustrated and a little depressed at that. You could see.  What to do:  Put him in the hitting lab under the tutelage of a Braun or a Yount. He needs to quit the big, home run swing. He has to convinced he's not a home run hitter, but I would build in incentives for him to be a .275-.300 hitter.  Spread his stance, get closer to the plate, and learn to stroke the ball to all fields as well as bunt for hits at least 20% of the time or more.  He needs to be put up in the line up where that approach puts pressure on the pitcher and the defense. Building his confidence and helping him with a line drive stroke swing is first.  Then learning 2 different ways to bunt, particularly the slap bunt down the first and third base line are key for him.  Perkins: He's up and coming. He just needs some coaching to build his confidence. He's not only a line drive, base hit guy, he's also a power hitter.  He needs to focus on looking for that first pitch fastball which he can crush.  Also, he needs to practice those two kinds of bunting with his speed.   I like him and would build in incentives that include hitting .250 and hitting 15-20 home runs.   Okay, now the guy with the greatest potential of all, Joey Wiemer: There is no doubt that he is a special athlete. Size, speed, strength, a tremendous outfielder. What's his problem? I have no idea how he got to the major leagues with his batting approach. Yet, he stilled crushed the ball a few times and showed us his power ability. I'd love to work with him in the off season in a hitting lab. 1-shorten up the spread of his feet. 2-get up to the damn plate. 3-point that front foot at the pitching mound not down toward the left side of the infield. 4-keep the bat on his shoulder until the pitcher begins his delivery. 5-when the pitcher begins his delivery, put the bat up and back with a more open top hand. 6- swing in a level swing from the position with the bat up and back. Stroke the ball to the field from which the pitch comes. 7-STOP dropping the bat and trying to crush the ball like he's playing softball or wiffle ball.  Patience, patience, patience. I'd put him in the cage and get him to change his approach by hitting 100 balls a day with a focus on hitting line drives first and then stroking the line drives with power.  Getting someone like Ryan Braun to to tutor him off season would pay off in big benefits.  I'd build in incentives for him to make big money if he hits .250 and hits 25+ home runs.  Personally, I think he could be a guy, if you can get him to change his approach to be a line drive power hitter, to hit 40 home runs as well as a number of extra base hits.  He's got too much great athletic potential to waste.  

Now, imagine, a lineup of Turang with his goal to just get on base. Then Mitchell who can not only bunt but also hit with power up next. Next, hitting 3rd, Yelich, (DH) they'd have to pitch to him and throw him decent fastballs to hit. His extra base hits and home runs would  go up. Plus what do you have up front in your line up-speed, speed, speed-also with power.  Then, your clean up hitter would be Contreras, or Santana. After that, you begin with speed again, 5th-Wiemer a guy who can beat you with bunting, or hitting the ball out of the park. 6th-Perkins of Taylor-very much the same type player, fast, and with some power. 7th-Montasterio or even Donaldson if you can sign him to a one or two year contract. Monasterio once again has some speed.  Contreras or Santana 8th and 9th, Perkins or Taylor.  That line-up is filled with speed, speed, speed as well as power hitters. You could even have Donaldson as a number 9 hitter.  He needs a little help with his batting approach, especially laying off the inside and down fastball as well as the high fastball. He can't catch up to them anymore. He has to have patience and force the pitcher to throw him fastballs and breaking pitches across the plate.  He needs to focus on swinging at only pitches in the strike zone.   

Okay, what do you do with Rowdy Telez, I fear he may be  gone.  But, I'd keep him as an alternative to Santana as well as a left handed DH.  I'd certainly have him on an incentive contract which includes weight control, dropping at least 15 pounds, and increasing his speed level. He's a very good defensive first baseman, but he's put on far too much weight, losing 20lbs would help him alot.  He also has to make some adjustments to his approach at the plate and quit thinking he has to be home run hitter all the time.  Once again, the pattern they pitch to him is alot like what they do to Yelich: outside, outside, outside, then they strike him out with the down and in slider. Due to his weight gain, he has a hard time getting around on anything down and inside.  He needs to focus, once again, on keeping his hands up and back, and then developing a line drive power stroke. He also needs to get up to the plate, and hit a few of those outside fastballs out of the park, or for extra base hits (which he'll be able to do if he loses weight and increases is speed).  Then, he can focus on getting the pitcher to throw pitches he can hit hard, rather than them controlling him and getting him to swing at pitches he can't hit hard.  

Overall: Given everything I've said above, a new approach to the offense is in order.  You have a team built on speed, speed, speed. You need to focus on improving hitting approaches as stated above, but integrating bunting and stealing bases ( like the AZ snakes). You can't depend on a line up like the Braves that you don't have. You must, must, must, cut down on the double plays. You can do that by integrating and practicing during spring training the different ways to bunt, to hit and run, and to steal bases as well as develop a hitting lab with mentors like Braun, Yount, or coaches like Seitzer who know how to get players to adjust their mechanics and becoming the hitters they really want to be.