...everybody has those days. * winces at own pop culture reference* You know, the days when you have to go throw pitches to Robinson freaking Cano, and he doesn't let you get away with your mistakes.
You know, the more I watch baseball, the more I realize how much of good hitting is just being able to capitalize on those ~30% mistake pitches more often than your peers. Some guys only go back-leg-special on like one in ten tasty pitches. Others can only hit rocket singles when the get them. A whole ton of being a superstar is just hitting the crap out of a good portion of the middle-middle pitches you get, and defending yourself adequately the rest of the time. Just ask Nelson Cruz. I love, love, love that his game is largely built on back-leg-specials and blooped singles to right. He plays both offense and defense at the plate, and in such a pleasantly intuitive way.
Moreover, I think the idea that almost all hitters make their hay by exploiting frequent mistakes is particularly illuminating to why bad-ball hitters are so unspeakably fun to watch. Hardly anyone is really out there doing consistent damage on pitcher's pitches. That's why guys like Ichiro, Vlad Guerrero, Beltre, and… Jean Segura, are so breathtaking. We're used to seeing guys tee off on meatballs. We're used to watching them defend themselves from pitcher's pitches, like when Robbie cuts his swing down half way through and plays tennis with the left fielder. But to see guys go up there and play offense with stuff on the corners or off the plate? And to do so consistently, and with great success? That's one of the true joys of the game, I think.
Five more years of Sudden Jean. We're lucky.