Enough with the pop-up foul outs!

[tristarscoop]

Is it just me, or has this been more of a problem this year than last? I was at the games on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday (where I stopped keeping score after 6 innings) and I believe I counted 7 or 8 foul outs. This seems ridiculous to me, but I guess I don't know for sure. Should we be concerned about this? It seems like such an incredible waste of an AB.

[southpaw121505]

Our pitch selection sucks. We watch ALOT of MEAT and swing at a lot of crap. Results in a lot of crappy outs like this, or weak ground outs.

[Crew2323]

Our pitch selection sucks. We watch ALOT of MEAT and swing at a lot of crap. Results in a lot of crappy outs like this, or weak ground outs.

Case in point: Counsell in the 8th let two straight meat fastballs go only to swing and weakly ground out. In the 9th, Braun let a meat fastball go (maybe 2), only to swing at a garbage slider. Maybe this is the curse of Johnny Estrada.

 

[GoudaBrew]

It seems to me that we are watching strike 1 go by and then whiffing at ball 1 way too much.

[RyDogg66]

Weeks is usually good for 1-2 foul outs/pop outs a game. His line is usually something like 1-4, 2ks, a foul pop out and a laser beam basehit.

EDIT - Oh, and a walk.

[Ennder]

It is completely normal for April, lots of popouts, lots of foulballs and a lot of hard hit balls that don't leave the yard that probably would have mid season. Players take a couple weeks to get their timing down.

 

Right now there are 30 players who have 30% or higher of their flyballs being in the infield, including guys like Mauer who are legit high average hitters. Last year the highest qualified player was Eric Byrnes at 26.7%. Second highest was Wells at 19.1, third was Weeks at 17.4.

[OOOverbay]

It seems to me that we are watching strike 1 go by and then whiffing at ball 1 way too much.

This has been obvious to me as well. It's like their new master strategy for seeing more pitches is to watch a fastball strike go through the heart of the zone, and then and then swing at the next pitch which half the time, as long as the pitcher isn't a complete idiot, is just some unhittable breaking ball low and away.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

It's like their new master strategy for seeing more pitches is to watch a fastball strike go through the heart of the zone

 

No, it's to not make outs on first pitches. The odds leap largely in the batters' favor if the first pitch is a ball, so taking pitch #1 is just fine by me. Yes, the pitcher gains a nice advantage with p#1 being a strike, but it still makes him work. Even if you start 0-1, the number of times an 0-1 count goes right to 0-2 is pretty small, I'd guess... especially considering that a pitcher will be less inclined to throw a strike at 0-1.

[OOOverbay]

I don't have a problem with them taking the first pitch. My problem is that Braun seems to have been taking lessons from Johnny Estrada where he watches the first pitch and then swings at garbage the next pitch. I never thought I'd say this, but maybe Braun should take a few pointers from Kendall on how to work a pitch count.

[TooLiveBrew]

The first few weeks of a season are a really poor way to judge a guy's approach, imo. As Ennder mentioned, guys take a while to settle in on timing, etc... things that you can't practice & only come with repetition. I think it's way too early to start critiquing anyone's approach -- regardless of good or bad results thus far.

[trwi7]

The first few weeks of a season are a really poor way to judge a guy's approach, imo.

But Braun was horrible last year too. The guy only drew 29 walks. His approach now and going forward is very concerning.

[Patrick425]

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but Braun seems to have popped out a lot this year so far.

[TooLiveBrew]

But Braun was horrible last year too. The guy only drew 29 walks. His approach now and going forward is very concerning.

This is true, but I'd argue that using a player's rookie performance as being predictive of future success isn't reliable, either (Fielder's rookie season is a perfect example). On the whole, through college & the minors, he's been right around the 1 BB / 10 AB ratio that's sort of the target range for MLB guys. I don't think he'll necessarily ever be a 80-100 BB/season player, but I just don't think we have a good idea yet, and don't believe that either his rookie season or the first 10-ish games of this season provide much on which to base anything.

[tristarscoop]

Yost addressed this in an article that showed up on the Brewers' website today.

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080411&content_id=2516349&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

He basically says he's aware that Ryan hasn't had any walks, but not yet concerned. But if Ryan doesn't become more patient, they'll take him out of the 4 spot.

[rluzinski]

People don't like when a batter strikes out. People don't like when a batter pops out. Call me crazy but I think it's that "out" part that people don't like. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[trwi7]

Wow. 50 swings and misses at sliders out of the zone in nine games? Pathetic.

[RoseBowlMtg]

It's the easy outs I don't like. Put some pressure on the defense. Make them make plays. Check it out how many easy outs we make. trwi7 pathetic is right!