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... You are forcing me to do a "Hitting Evolution" on Mike Carp, and I really don't want to :)
Lonnie
Player Development - Carp and Zduriencik
Q. What's the story on Mike Carp? Is this better coaching, or SSI now has the ability to notice this stuff, or what? :- )
A. We read a suggestion -- actually a speculation -- that the Mariners had Earl Weavered this player. Told him to be more aggressive on 2-0, 3-1 counts, told him that he needed to hit the ball out of the ballpark. And that they allocated AAA time for him to assimilate this.
I hope that we've demonstrated to San-Man's satisfaction that this constitutes --- > an unusually sophisticated quote in the papers as to what the Mariners are doing with a prospect.
SSI was on it like white on rice, precisely because it was a step out of the ordinary, because it wasn't the usual "he needs a third pitch" FKey7 stuff that we get, at any rate, for public consumption.
And, as it happens, this particular adjustment synch's nicely with Dr. D's own read on Mike Carp. That's quite pleasant for at least one person in the blog-o-sphere.
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You know the funny thing? On the Carp situation: I didn't see a quote from the Mariners about the Earl Weaver 2-0, 3-1 philosophy. I read a poster suggest that the M's had done this.
And replied on that basis.
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Q. Is the MLB-Adjustment process changing under Zduriencik?
A. Absolutely. It seems that way to me, at any rate.
The vibe that we are getting, is that the last two years the AAA and ML adjustments have been carefully researched, carefully considered and specifically targeted. With flexibility as opposed to with Hargrove-style MLB(TM) dogma.
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It used to be that I knew that Miguel Olivo was simply playing panicked and hysterically, lunging at pitches because of his inner shrillness, and as soon as I'd recommend some acceptance for Olivo, they'd do the opposite.
I'd recommend that Bibens-Dirkx get lower, and they'd get him higher. I'd recommend Thornton lengthen his stride to take the wobble and deceleration out, and they'd tell him to stand taller on the mound. I'd point out that Aumont had a horrible hyperextending left knee, and I'd see a quote that they're working on his upper-body, not his lower body...
Believe me, a 'net rat coach wannabe notices how the club "responds" (sic) to his shtick, and for a long time it seemed to me that the adjustments were guaranteed to invert my own R/X ;- )
It's like one senator said about the other party: if they weren't Anti-American, you'd expect them to like some of America's allies by the law of probability. :- )
No. I don't actually think that any of them care, much less resist, what the 'net says. But we're talking about how consistently weird the public coaching has been, from where I sit.
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Anyway. The very fact that Dustin Ackley is playing second base, that is a metaphor for the entire regime's personality. And I blinkin' love it.
The vibe we get is entirely different these days. The Mariners sought to bring in a dyed-in-the-wool baseball guy, a man with both talent and feel for the game, and they are reaping the benefits.
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Cheerio,
Dr D