Why is Hart regressing? / Merged: Corey Hart (.300) OBP

[TooLiveBrew]

Just stumbled across this snippet from Tangotiger at The Book blog ("Who Should Switch Positions?"):

 

 

Finally, #5 is Rickie Weeks. A guy whose value is tied up in his legs, and has little value with his arm must be moved to the OF. Last year, I argued, pre-Mike Cameron, that Braun should move to RF, Weeks to LF, and slide Hart to CF. With the acquisition of Cameron, only one of those moves was required. If Weeks has no home in the OF for the Brewers, then either he or Hart has to go. It just makes no sense to continue the Weeks experiment in the IF.

 

 

Thoughts?

[fondybrewfan]

I would just assume Hart try to bunt everytime he goes up there because it seems that is the only way he gets on base. I suppose with Burrell being a pretty bad defender he could drop a few duck farts in short left field as well.

[dadofandrew]

I made a note on this over at Ramblings. Corey has been off the charts bad since 9/6...so bad it is hard to believe he's healthy.

[jhart05]

I doubt he's hurt. If he was, he wouldn't be making those plays in the outfield.

 

I think it's all in his head.

[GormanHarvey]

I made a note on this over at Ramblings. Corey has been off the charts bad since 9/6...so bad it is hard to believe he's healthy.

You don't have to be injured to swing at every pitch you see, most of which are well out of the strike zone

[joepepsi]

I just don't understand a hitter being more careless and swinging harder at every pitch when he's in a slump like this. I could understand being tentative or trying to sneak a bunt or standing there with your bat on your shoulder until you have two strikes, but swinging for the fences on those three balls when the bases are loaded is just inexcusable. He's not going to be in the majors for very long if this is his method of breaking out of slump or trying to help your team win. I doubt he is being coached to take this approach. Which implies he isn't responding to coaching either. It would have been nice to see Nelson or even Gwynn out there for a game or two against a righty in the past month.

[dadofandrew]

However, his slump has been even worse than Braun's, and Ryan's can be directly traced to his muscle problem. Also, Dale said the other day that "Corey at 80% ios better than anyone else we have", and then said, "Not that he's hurt". That seems like an odd thing to say, though at the time, I dismissed it as him talking about Ryan "discreetly".

 

Braun has seemed unaffected in LF and on the bases as well, and he admits he's not 100%.

[danzig6767]

Even if Hart is nursing an injury, how does an injury make a hitter swing at one slider off the plate after another?

 

Corey has taken a pathetic 6 walks in his last 200+ at bats, even Estrada might find that as terrible plate discipline

[datrain711]

Man looking at Hart's stats right now is really depressing. He might be the worst everyday player in the NL over the past 2 months.

 

.414 OPS the last month.....brutal

[Beast Light]

After watching him ground into into a double play, on the first pitch after the pitcher walked in a run on 5 pitches, I was ready to pull my hair out. I am happy that the team made the playoffs but if they are going to be a contender, year in and year out, changes are going to have to be made. Good teams make the pitcher pay in that situation. All we needed was a walk, ground ball to the right side of the field, or a fly ball to the outfield and we have a run. Hart would have been better off striking out.

 

What Hart did today has nothing to do with a slump. It has nothing to do with "not seeing that ball". It was a horrible decision. Even I know that you do not come out swinging in that situation.

 

Hall

Hart

Weeks

 

These are the guys that Melvin should be looking to upgrade this offseason. We need some guys that can play defense and get on-base at a good clip sprinkled into the lineup. If this can be done, we will have a very potent lineup.

[MNBrew]

What Corey Hart needs is just a serious break to clear his head. But the team hasn't been able to afford him that because they need him for what he can do. Vicious cycle totally spiralling on itself right now and the guy just needs to get away from it for awhile - but can't because Tony Gwynn is a worse option. The Kapler injury really hurts.

 

I'm still totally convinced that Hart's a great asset to the Brewers and a starting OF for many years to come. Over time he's been quite steadily productive. His first clutch-time choke is just lasting 2+ months.

 

I wonder how many guys this open stance business is killing. You supposedly see the ball better. Well, too many guys think they see the ball much better than they actually are. The straight-on or slightly closed stance would seem to keep more guys "on the ball," would create much better plate coverage and more balls hit to the opposite field with the conviction we used to see, and less "flying open".

 

Hart stinks at the plate right now, his head's in a bad place, but this is neither incurable nor terminal. I think he'll come back next year better for this, as hollow as that feels to say right now.

[bjkrautk]

Unless Corey hurt his eyes, any injury he has isn't affecting his biggest problem: a lack of plate discipline.

 

When you swing at balls and take strikes, that's not a good combination....especially when you like to swing at the first pitch.

[Ennder]

Hall very obviously needs to be upgraded. This is two years in a row where he has been miserable.

 

I'm still undecided on Weeks as he was an above average 2B on the season. The first half he was pretty good defensively but miserable offensively. The second half he was pretty good offensively but his defense slipped again. Seems like the kind of guy who will eventually 'put it all together' and we'll regret losing. I wouldn't mind Brian Roberts replacing him of course.

 

Hart hurt the team this year but I'm not convinced he will hurt us long term. His minor league BB rate was 1 per 12.5 AB. His BB rate in 2006 was 1 per 15.1 PA. In 2007 it was 1 per 15.7. In 2008 it is 1 per 24.3 PA. Why the change? What happened that made him suddenly not take BBs at a semi reasonable rate. If he had kept his minor league rate he'd have had 53 BB this year and had an acceptable stat line at least before the nasty september slump. I don't know what to think about him at this point.

[DHonks]

Ender, do you think that perhaps hitting Hart 3rd might change things?

[IslandsAC]

"Nothing is working right now with a lot of the guys," Hart said. "We're trying to see pitches and see what we can do. ... I'm not going to sit there and walk, though. I'll eventually find it, and hopefully we'll still be in it."

 

Hart's postgame comments. As a player, I like him and hope he can return to form next year (or this weekend) but the whole "I'm not just going to sit there and walk" thing is about as lame as it gets if you ask me.

[giffted1]

"Nothing is working right now with a lot of the guys," Hart said. "We're trying to see pitches and see what we can do. ... I'm not going to sit there and walk, though. I'll eventually find it, and hopefully we'll still be in it."

That is one mind numbing quote from Corey right there.

 

Corey, if you're trying to see pitches why the hell do you frequently swing at the first pitch? And you're not going to sit there and walk? That explains your god-awful obp. Working the count might help you "find it" a little faster but whatever Corey. Just keep swinging at everything, leaving a path of destruction on Brewers rallies along the way.

 

Corey Hart, the anti-Counsell.

[brains and braun]

I said it before and, I'll say it again. Corey is not smart.

[Teatoe993]

I really, really hope that Hart's comments were taken out of context somehow. Because I have lost some serious respect for the man if the "not going to sit there and walk" comments were said the way I think they were said. If so, I would not mind to see him traded if that is the way he plays the game.

[paulmolitor4]

The thing that baffles me about Hart is that he is such a smart baserunner, but he seems completely clueless at the plate sometimes.

[GoudaBrew]

With those comments, I bet Dusty Baker would LOVE to have Hart play for him. Hart for Bruce straight up!

[fondybrewfan]

Corey hacks on 2-0

[MarquesJohnson2000]

How would Corey get to 2-0?

[bjkrautk]

Corey hacks on 0-0

[stoops17]

Corey I like you, but you have sucked for a while now and you need to admit you are sucking. Kapler why did you have to get hurt? We could have used you.

[BrewCrewForever]

I like Hart, and someday he will come out of this awful slump. But if we could get say David DeJesus straight up for him, I would do that in a heartbeat if I were Melvin.