If Furcal keeps this up, he’s going to join Vinny on my List. First inning, three pitches, popup. Then Fick works the pitcher, gets a hit on the sixth pitch. Leading off the third, Furcal pops up again on the first pitch. Then Fick gets a five-pitch walk. Is this so difficult to figure out?
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10:06pm Thursday night.
Vinny Castilla just got his 4th hit of the night.
We are doomed.
Is it time for upper management to take a closer look at Terry Pendleton? With the exception of Chipper and maybe Gary, the hitters are very undisciplined at the plate. I realize it’s only the 3rd game of the season, but the hitters are still displaying the same bad habits from last year. I like Terry, but if the Braves don’t start showing some patients and discipline at the plate within the next couple of months, a change may be in order.
I’m not sure there’s much Terry can do; you’ve got a bunch of creaky veterans like Javy and Vinny who simply don’t seem to be able to recognize what is and is not hittable. A hitting coach can only do so much; the rest is eyesight and reaction. There might be some lessons he could impart that he is not doing now, but in the end, it’s up to the player.
Also: haven’t all of Vinny’s hits this season been singles (including three infield singles)? Have the Braves as a team had an extra-base hit so far? I can’t remember any.
One triple by Furcal and a double by Chipper, but that’s it.
This has been discussed a lot in the Braves newsgroup, and I tend to agree with the sentiment there, which is that it’s time to quit blaming the hitting coaches for the lack of plate discipline within this organization. For the team, year in and year out, to always emphasize the ‘be aggressive!’ approach, the whole thing has to be coming from the top, via Cox most likely. It doesn’t matter if you fire TP, you’ll just get another aggressophile in his place.
That said, I wouldn’t fire TP anyway. Last year chipper and Sheffield turned things around strongly after slow (for them) starts. Andruw rebounded very well from his weak 2001, and first base was actually somewhat respectable.
Beyond them, should we hold any hitting coach responsible when Vinny and Lockhart fail to hit? Or when Lopez simply continues a downward pattern that predated Pendleton? furcal seems to me the most consistent failure of our hitting coaches by now, but that’s one guy.
It’s definately an organizational problem. There’s a reason that the Braves system hasn’t turned out a decent corner infielder or outfielder in a long time. It’s just odd that the orginization totally gets that walks and deep counts are bad when your pitching, but seems totally clueless that walks and deep counts are good when your hitting. As a result, the system keeps spurting out major league quality arms and marginal hitters with OBP issues.