.
As y'know, we live to serve.
.
AIKI MECHANICS - RELAX, RELAX, RELAX
Aiki-Doc thinks that there are times when we simply must go outside the beaten path to understand an unusual situation. The beaten path helps us recognize and step around / through the 80%, 90% most common situations we run into. The beaten path is a sine qua non, whether in chess or in baseball or in anything else. You ain't going to assess a chess position properly if you can't point at an average position and say "This is a Maroczy Bind minus the light square Bishops." 80% or 90% isn't everything, but it's more important than the 10%. That 80%, 90% takes you up the chess ladder into near-mastery.
But chess masters beat amateurs precisely because they know when they're in a 10% situation, while the club player is trying to apply the 90% cliches. The amateur knows the rules; the master knows the rules, and knows their exceptions. Those exceptions are my favorite way of beating club players.
.
.
The above position is a joke, of course. But I bet some of youse didn't know you can win in 2 moves...
Mike Zunino is a weird ballplayer. If you try to use his numbers to date to project him forward, you'll be immersing yourself in gasoline and lighting a match. I mean that in a good way.
....
In early aikido, O'Sensei had a couple of students who could literally deflect arrows at a distance of 25 yards. (Nowadays there is a samurai who can use his katana, from a sheathed position! to bisect ping-pong balls, air-fired at a much faster pace than a 100 MPH fastball. He uses Nori Aoki's front triceps mechanics. But the arrow would have been just as tough.)
Take yourself a camera, and try to dissect the mechanics? involved with these supernatural feats. You will learn very little. You don't get belts in aikido for improving your mechanics; the blue belts have great mechanics. You get them for applying the golden rules in the middle of chaos. The mechanics themsleves "are not difficult and can be learned in a few days" - Koichi Tohei, aiki shihan.
What IS difficult is applying the 4 golden principles of aikido in the middle of a bloody fistfight.
:- )
.
ZUUMBALL
The first principle, worth as much as the other 3 principles by itself, is to RELAX. This sounds simple, but it isn't. We could (and others have) go on for 1000's of pages on the concept of relaxing while in mortal danger.
Mike Blowers pointed out that Zunino's front foot is falling like a maple leaf in October. As a result, his entire front side is --- > not going anywhere as the pitch approaches. His left deltoid and left tricep are falling softly into the hitting zone also.
That insight on Mike's part is important in terms of physical checkpoints, but ... now can you splice it with the idea of relaxation? It's the attitude that matters even more than the physical movements, the brain that matters more than the body.
Relaxation gives you "soft vision" and slows time down. Can YOU relax when a drunk's face goes grotesque and he winds up to throw a punch that will put you in the hospital? of course you can't. Only the masters can.
....
Lookout Landing pointed out that Zunino is seeing low-away pitches much better now. Absolutely.
What comes first, the chicken or the egg? :- ) Is Zunino relaxing because he's confident, and is he confident because he learned to organize his thoughts around the low-away pitch? Or did his relaxation remove the "greed for success" that had him lunging for sliders? Or do both insights blend softly casual into the other?
You never teach a student One Great Thing and have him go "Oh! That's how you checkmate Bobby Fischer!" You teach him the great thing along with several practical tools, and they jell. Dr. D has never played baseball, and it doesn't look simple to do.
....
For the reader, Dr. D would recommend watching Zunino with emphasis on his "lack of greed" and his relaxation.
.
BEST AB OF THE YEAR
Zuumball's 3-run homer on Monday started from a 1-1 count ... and then the umpire, MADDENINGLY, blew a bad call to put Zunino in a 1-2 hole. Forget mechanics.
.
.
.
.
.
How would you FEEL, if that were you? Picture the three decks of fans, and all that. Picture the 1-1 count. Picture the ball missing to put you 2-1. Then picture the ump's bellow, and the pitcher smirking, and winding up for 1-2.
.
.
.
.
.
How Mike Zunino felt, was relaxed. And ready to deal with the incoming energy. (Scott Servais talks often, if you listen to him, marvelling "all the panic is gone out of Mike's game. Especially with two strikes." What is the sabermetric definition of "panic"?
.
.
.
He worked the count to 3-2, and then let the 3-2 pitch travel very deep, and then he "FIRED" that bat (as Blowers would say) and he gave us the ballgame.
.
DR'S PROGNOSIS
I dunno how to project Mike Zunino from here. I do know that whatever his 90th, 95th percentile was on draft day, he's got a great chance to fulfill it Now. You literally coudn't ask for more in his solid plate coverage, or his quickfire path to the ball, or his natural talent. If he were re-drafted from right now he'd be a 1-1 for sure, which you could say about any Golden Boy who was looking great in the majors.
Common sense tells us to just enjoy the ride and see where he goes from here. AL All-Star catcher is a very real possibility. This is a glove-first player.
Enjoy,
Dr D
