Whats is Rickie's problem? Is he hurting or confused?

[brettac1]

Actually it is. The expectations were so high because of what he did in the minors and considering his production a massive disappointment is plenty justified.

 

He just went out and did the best he could do, which is what he's doing now. That's why I would say he didn't put these expectations on himself, players don't assign the amount of "potential" they posess to themselves, fans and analysts do. There's not a clear-cut better alternative currently on the roster or in the system, so that's why I say stick with him for a while. If it's August and he's still sucking it up, then maybe make a change.

[sweepscc]

I've been pretty patient with Weeks but he hasn't shown he can hit in the big leagues for a protracted period of time as of yet. I'd give him another week or two and if this continues send him down and make him earn his way back to the big club. I don't know if this is a confidence/emotions issue, i.e., he gets too jacked up during at bats, or not but his swing has progressively worsened since he first got called up. It's getting close to Graffy time.

[twobrewers]

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It's getting close to Graffy time.

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That occured to me during last nights game. We have actually been pretty patient with Rickie. Graffy has been hitting WAY better for a long time now.

 

Imagine the uproar from this board if Graffy has been starting and playing like Rickie. Everyone would have wondered why Rickie wasn't play...

 

If the best player plays - then Weeks isn't even close right now.

[jason21nl]

according to yost he is just unlcuky right now and can't find a hole.

 

He's got zero luck right now," Yost said. "He cannot find a hole. I thought Rickie had good at-bats [Friday] night, he's just got nothing to show for it."

 

 

yeah, thats exaclty what it is Ned

[1992casey]

I bet someone like Sam could dig up grounder, popup, line drive, and fly ball stats on Rickie.

 

If those things haven't changed appreciably, then you certainly have to consider luck.

 

My gut says it's a combination of plate issues and bad luck.

[sbrylski]

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I bet someone like Sam could dig up grounder, popup, line drive, and fly ball stats on Rickie.

 

If those things haven't changed appreciably, then you certainly have to consider luck.

 

My gut says it's a combination of plate issues and bad luck.

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Ha, I was already doing so.

 

Rickie's BABIP is only about .014 below his expected BABIP. So, his bad luck has taken away about 3 hits. That would raise his average from .221 to .234. So luck doesn't really have too much to do with it.

 

What Yost might be talking about is how many P/PA Rickie has been seeing. He's been fouling off a lot, and showing good pateince yet. This is at least what I think I see, I'm not sure where to find P/PA splits or in a game log.

 

EDIT: Do dive a little deeper, he's hitting less line drives and groundballs, and more flyballs, up to 40.9% from 32% of the last two years. That might be fine if he wasn't missing some power from his injured wrist, his HR/FB ratio is down to 7.5% from the 12.4% of seasons past. He's missing 3 hits, and 3 HR.

 

EDIT 2: This isn't really meant to inspire confidence in Rickie, just presenting the stats. Even if he gets the small bump up to what he "should" have, he'd still be underpreforming to his expectations and to league average.

[brettac1]

yeah, thats exaclty what it is Ned

 

It's definitely a little part of it. He's got a .277 BABIP, last year it was .355. He is hitting fewer line drives this year (17.1% compared to 20.5%). But he has a better ISO (.171 to .125). He's hitting fewer groundballs and an inordinate amount of infield pop-ups.

 

His P/PA is about the same as it's always been, it's at 4.0.

[jason21nl]

right now, luck has nothing to do with not benig able to hit a breaking ball.

[brettac1]

Well, no, but he's never been able to hit a breaking ball. He's a dead red hitter, and there's lots of them that have a lot of success.

[jason21nl]

this is true, but being a dead red hitter means you have to swing at the first fastball. Weeks more times than not will let that first fastball by then be down in the count. Which of course then lets the pitcher use breaking pitches. If anything Weeks should be more agressive and swing at the first pitch fastball.

[Ennder]

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He's got zero luck right now," Yost said. "He cannot find a hole. I thought Rickie had good at-bats [Friday] night, he's just got nothing to show for it."

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This is taken a bit out of context, he is only talking about the last couple games in this quote not the entire season. He is right though, Weeks did hit a few hard ground balls right at guys in the past few days.

[danzig6767]

Well, no, but he's never been able to hit a breaking ball. He's a dead red hitter, and there's lots of them that have a lot of success.

 

I don't remember it being this bad though.Rickie has been swinging at a ton of just horrible pitches and looks lost at the plate right now.In this really bad stretch it's amazing how often pitchers are throwing him the exact same sliders off the plate or in the dirt and he can't stop himself from swinging at them.

 

In that last Washington game i told my buddy before his K's with runners on that Simontacchi was going to throw him almost nothg except sliders off the plate/in the dirt and Weeks would strikeout.Rickie must really be lost mentally at the plate because you would think that Weeks should have known the same thing and yet he couldn't stop himself from swinging at them.

[RU Rah Rah]

I hope he hangs out with Jim Skaalen a lot over the break. They should maybe lock themselves into Miller Park and spend 4 days looking at video and taking BP.

[T B0NE 10]

i would have no problem with sending weeks to the minors for a while....hopefully he would rip the ball down there and come back to majors hot.

[joepepsi]

A couple days before he went on the DL his OPS was over .800. The current league average OPS is .760. So, while we hoped for more from him, he was having a fine season.

 

The bottom line is, it's very difficult to come back from a hand injury and be an effective hitter. It's hard to drive the ball when it hurts to make contact.

[TauPentaRei]

His problem is the spot he's hitting in the order.

 

They can afford to throw him breaking pitch after breaking pitch with the pitcher batting behind him.

 

Put Weeks ahead of Braun and Fielder and he will catch fire in no time.

 

Not much more to add here; I just think JBriggs is right-on enough to deserve a bump, and before I posted this thought myself I wanted to read the thread - finding my idea on page 1.

 

How far can bat speed and a "waggle" get you in the majors when you never figured out breaking stuff in the minors? How much of Braun's .350 has he himself associated with the fastball diet served pre-Prince meat? How devastated / disillusioned would Prince be if Rickie was the centerpiece of a trade?

 

Swap JJ and Rickie in the order to save Prince. It's all about Prince.

[lumberrule]

His problem is the spot he's hitting in the order.

 

They can afford to throw him breaking pitch after breaking pitch with the pitcher batting behind him.

 

The problem isn't his spot in the order. The fact that he gets thrown breaking ball after breaking ball is because the book is out on Rickie that he is a dead-red fastball hitter...always has been.

 

I seem to recall conversations like these about this time last year about a certain shortstop who was struggling at the plate, and look where he is this year. Rickie has hit at every level of ball he has ever played at...he hasn't just "forgotten" how to hit the ball. Right now, its probably just a combination of the wrist injury lingering along with just pressing at the plate.

[danzig6767]

The problem isn't his spot in the order. The fact that he gets thrown breaking ball after breaking ball is because the book is out on Rickie that he is a dead-red fastball hitter...always has been

 

It's true that he's struggled with offspeed stuff in the past also,but unlike this year,Weeks didn't swing at every crappy slider a pitcher threw to him.

 

I'm sure he's in a mental funk right now like many hitter find themselves in at times.If though Rickie wants to see some fastballs,it would help if he stopped swinging at every slider/curve off the plate or in the dirt.Get the count in his favor instead of hacking at all the garbage and make the pitcher throw a fastball.

 

Weeks right now reminds me a bit of when Jenkins would get in one of those deep ruts.He'd swing at every slider down/in they threw,you just knew a K was coming if he got behind in the count.

[TooLiveBrew]

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You think his problem is that he's just not trying hard enough? What evidence suggests such an explanation?

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The old 'I don't like him because he's struggling' explanation.

 

Someone mentioned that Weeks will be 2008's JJ. One thing is for certain, however: he's bf.net's JJ Hardy 2007. This thread could almost be exactly the Hardy 'debates' from last year/this past offseason - all you'd have to do is sub in "JJ" or "Hardy" anytime Weeks's name is used.

 

And, like in those JJ threads, I'll stick up for the player because we've seen what Rickie can do when he's healthy...and that's slug the cover off the ball, play solid defense**, draw BBs, and burn up the basepaths.

 

 

** - Where's the respect for his hard work, by the way? Totally out of bounds here for anyone to criticize his 'hypothetical' work ethic, and totally ignore the fact that his d has been very good this year. Many players let their woes at the plate carry over into the field. So far this year, Rickie most certainly hasn't "taken it with him." And I applaud that mightily!

 

Every account on Weeks is that he's a hard worker, dedicated to improving his game when/where/however he can. Shame on those who imply otherwise.

[FVBrewerFan]

Miller seems to be hitting fine when he's in the 8 spot, not to mention others. Weeks could be hitting 2nd or 3rd and he would still see a bunch of breaking balls, with fastballs off the plate mixed in.

 

I honestly believe his hands are so fast, he's out in front far too often. He needs to sit back another tick before he swings. He's just out in front chopping at pitches instead of sitting back and taking a smoot swing. I don't know how you fix that without fundamentally changing his entire swing. maybe something as simple as moving up in the box a bit?

[AJAY]

I don't know if someone else might have mentioned this already, but my theory is that dropping Rickie Weeks to the 8th spot has gotten into his head.

 

One minute you are the leadoff man, and you come to the park knowing that you are a vital part of the offense and you are being counted on as an important member of the team. The next minute you are being sent the opposite message. You are being told that nobody is reallly expecting anything from you and you are not really thought of as being that important anymore.

 

I would love to say that it shouldn't matter where in the lineup you hit. But players are human and the mindset and enthusiasm just seems so different when you are batting 8th.

 

I say bump him up in the lineup for a week or two and see what happens. Corey Hart has solidified the leadoff spot, but try Weeks at 6th or something.

 

I am sure the wrist is part of it, but Weeks has gotten much worse at the same time he started batting 8th. I don't think it's a coincidence.

[Kpanz20]

I don't think his spot in the batting order has anything to do with his struggles. You think it's making him try harder because he doesn't view himself as an 8-hole type of hitter? It's possible, I don't buy it though... I think it is more likely a physical problem that is affecting his approach. I just don't think he'd be that fragile mentally.

[aracko]

I am standing by Rickie. He is going to get it going and once he establishes that confidence I dont think that we will ever look back. For once, I agree with Ned, build him up, let his letdowns be soft and blame luck, not his skills.

 

I still say Weeks is going to be a superstar. I wouldnt bench him for Counsells best season right now.

[pg44]

Nothing a month in the minors can't cure.

[TerraceReserved]

"Nothing a month in the minors can't cure."

 

And that would do him good... how? He's struggling at the plate, we all know that. But just giving up on him and sending him down is not the answer. That would be handing over the job for a month to Graffy and Counsell. And granted, graffy has been hitting well as of late, but we al know that he cannot keep that up. It's not as if once he's in Nashville, his wrist will heal up magically, or he'll find his stroke somehow. That would do no good in my opinion.