The importance of a leadoff hitter

[CheezWizHed]

If I was a manger, I'd instruct my batters to swing and the good pitches and take the bad ones. It amazes me that no other manager has thought of this. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

This was basically my thought on the aquisition of a LHB. Now we have three poor hitting LHB, instead of finding a good hitting OF despite the "handness". Forget "balance", we need good hitters.

[nate82]

That is not what taking pitches means, it does not mean let a piped fastball go because your only goal is to see 6 pitches this at bat. It means you are only looking for one specific pitch until you have 2 strikes, which is usually a fastball middle in....

And this helps out a leadoff hitter how? You still haven't answered why it will help and if it does even help a batter. The majority of the time a fastball is the first pitch a hitter will see. Once a batter gets behind in the count they are going to be in trouble untill the pitcher screws up. I still don't see how watching pitches go by that a player can drive is a good thing. If it is a hanging curveball or slider that you can drive you better be swinging at that pitch and if you are not I wouldn't want that player on my team.

 

No taking pitches does not mean you are going to walk more or have a higher OBP and why would you want to be taking a pitch untill you see the one you want. If you let a pitch that was driveable for an extra base hit or even a base hit is that really helping when the batter will probably be at 0-2 and will now have to go into defensive mode because they now have to swing at anything near the plate. How is that going to lead to more walks? A walk and a single are the same thing when batting leadoff. If a player can get a pitch they can drive they should always be swinging. A double or triple is worth more than a single or a walk for a leadoff hitter. A batter should always always always always swing at anything that is driveable. I don't care if the count is 0-0 and the player is leading off the inning or not.

 

I bet the probability of scoring a run will be three times higher than that of a single or a walk by a leadoff hitter.

 

You still haven't pointed out why taking more pitches is something that needs to be done for a leadoff hitter. Pitches on the black are going to happen and the majority of the time the player is going to take the pitch because they think it is a ball. I believe you are confusing taking pitches with plate discipline.

[whizkid]

It doesnt matter who is up, if they are the first hitter on an inning they should act like a "leadoff hitter" and take pitches and try to have a high OBP

 

I think Rickie does a good job of this except for one thing which is the reason i think he struggles, he does not change his approach with 2 strikes.

 

I think you over estimate the ability of hitters including many good ones to adjust their approach AB by AB or pitch by pitch. Players get to the majors having developed the ability to do something well enough to be promoted and be valuable, some combination of OBP and SLG. Some achieve this by being able to alter their approach but I think most do so by taking the same approach consistently and achieving overall results. We see one player who can make adjustments and wonder why all players don't do it. I don't think they can. Asking Prince, Ryan, JJ or Rickie to just try to get on will just result in more weak grounders, pop-up and K outs imo. The good hitters get their walks regardless of their approach.

[jcr0nk]

looking at extra pitches not only makes the pitcher work harder, throwing more pitches, but it also allows the others on the team to check out what stuff a pitcher has on any given day. i would assume this is more important in the later innings with relievers that will only be in a short time. also by forcing a pitcher to throw more pitches you may be able to drive up a pitch count and get past a tough SP and get to a BP that is having problems. hitting is more than just getting up there and hacking at the first best pitch, it is a mind game also.

[topper09er]

The point of taking pitches is that if you always swing at strike 1 you never force the pitcher to throw strike 2 and 3, so you will never ever ever ever ever ever walk, so according to you you would be happy with a batter who hits .320 with and OBP of .322 because the only way someone could ever walk is if they get 4 horrible pitches in a row. Also, hitting is not that easy, all good hitters guess before there are 2 strikes. You cant just go up there and react to any 96 mph fastball and drive it everytime. So sometimes they are looking in and they take a fastball away, even though it may have been drivable if they were looking. Maybe they are looking change-op and a fastball comes down the middle. What guys like Hart does is just swing at everything. If every player could just drive every "drivable pitch" for a double in the gap then jason kendall would have had a slugging percentage of .800 last year. Just because a pitch is hittable does not mean every time the batter will hit it well, its not that easy. Corey Hart doesnt take pitches, and his OBP was .300, so im not sure that the brewers scored 3 times more runs with him doing that instead of taking some pitches.

 

Taking pitches means taking questionable strikes so the pitcher has to throw 2 more, not taking a piped fastball. Maybe these strikes were drivable, but maybe they were a ball, but now the at bat continues and the pitcher has to make more quality pitches or maybe make a mistake and hang one. You make it sound like every pitcher is Greg Maddux and if you dont swing at the first perfect strike you are just going to see 2more perfect pitches and strike out. It is good to put pressure on the pitchers. Sometimes you need to make the pitcher prove he can consistantly throw all of his pitches for strikes.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Macha wants to stick with Weeks and Hardy as 1-2 in the order.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39719417.html

[TooLiveBrew]

Really there isn't another option for Macha aside from Weeks. I hope that Melvin is able to work a deal this season to bring in another strong OBP bat to give Rickie the chance at hitting down around #5 or so.