What to make of Hart's starts...

[Yeti73]

Interested to hear others' thoughts on Hart's recent games. He had a few misplays in the field, but there seems to be more pop in his bat and his approach seems a bit better. Part of me thinks that pitchers have failed to attack his weak spot (ie throwing in the dirt in the LH batting box), but dare I believe he may be returning to decent form?

[FVBrewerFan]

I think the same thing I did in March. Hart is more likely to produce better numbers than Edmonds, Gerut, or Gomez.

[JohnBriggs12]

Nothing more should be made of Hart's start than was made of the fact that Bill Hall started 2009 with a 9 game hitting streak.

 

It's a hopeful sign, but he's still likely to be dogged by some prolonged slumps. Can he outproduce those other guys. Sure. Is that saying a whole lot? Not really. Is say a .265/.320/.430 line acceptable? They can get by with that assuming production in other areas.

[lcbj68c]

Part of me thinks that pitchers have failed to attack his weak spot (ie throwing in the dirt in the LH batting box)

 

Actually, they haven't. He just hasn't been swinging at pitches down there. I've counted 15 pitches that were low and away off the plate so far to Corey Hart this season. Of which, 6 of them have bounced in the dirt. Of the 15, Corey has swung at just 1 of those pitches.

[Yeti73]

If that is true and he's laying off those pitches, you'd have to conclude that it isn't the same old Corey...At least that is the hope.

[joepepsi]

Before all the talk of glasses/eyesight issues this Spring, I projected Hart to bounce back and put up better numbers than the previous two seasons. We may never see the 2007 version, but something like 2008 with a better obp and batting average seems likely. I think he'll put up good numbers for a 6 hitter. Something along the lines of a .800-.830 OPS.

[pete]

Never trust Spring training numbers?

[logan82]

The only unfortunate thing about Hart's start is more Edmonds in CF. It makes our offense much better but it would be nice to have at least one good outfielder.

[craigharmann]

If Hart bounces back and has a good year, it benefits him and the Brewers. I'd like to see him return to being our everyday rightfielder and better the lineup!

[Dragonbait]

I make the same of Hardy's start this year -edit to add - and that its a new year.

[Tbadder]

Nothing more should be made of Hart's start than was made of the fact that Bill Hall started 2009 with a 9 game hitting streak.

 

It's a hopeful sign, but he's still likely to be dogged by some prolonged slumps. Can he outproduce those other guys. Sure. Is that saying a whole lot? Not really. Is say a .265/.320/.430 line acceptable? They can get by with that assuming production in other areas.

 

 

 

I agree with this completely, but if he continues to lay off the outside pitch (as he's done so far) then he'll certainly improve, and maybe significantly. Alas, he will not, and I await his Braun-like commitment to getting himself out on pitches low and 12 inches off the plate.

[BrewCrewForever]

It's only a few games, but he seems to be doing a much better job laying off the low and away breaking ball. If he can continue to do that, he will have success.

[thebruce44]

Part of me thinks that pitchers have failed to attack his weak spot (ie throwing in the dirt in the LH batting box)

 

Actually, they haven't. He just hasn't been swinging at pitches down there. I've counted 15 pitches that were low and away off the plate so far to Corey Hart this season. Of which, 6 of them have bounced in the dirt. Of the 15, Corey has swung at just 1 of those pitches.

So far he has seen 71% fastballs and only 4.2% sliders. Over the last two seasons, as most here know, he has destroyed fastballs and struggled with sliders. It is very likely that in a couple of weeks the % of sliders will jump up to his norms of +20% while the number of fastballs will drop to 50%. He is likely to struggle a lot more when seeing that ratio of pitches.

[sbrylski]

His approach looks better to this graph too...

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d175/sbrylski06/swingingphp.gif

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d175/sbrylski06/takingphp.gif

 

 

 

So far he has seen 71% fastballs and only 4.2% sliders.

 

Where'd you get this data? The site above says he's seen 17.2% sliders.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I see it's from Fangraphs. Must have more stringent criteria for what defines a slider.

 

EDIT2: Actually, Fangraphs says Hart's seen 17.2% of unknown pitches. I'll bet a handful of those are termed sliders by the site I linked to.

[TooLiveBrew]

Sam, those stinking graph images are hard to link to -- showing up as "No Data Found" right now. Casey explained how to do it, iirc, in the lineup thread somewhere around page 12 or so

[sbrylski]

Sam, those stinking graph images are hard to link to -- showing up as "No Data Found" right now. Casey explained how to do it, iirc, in the lineup thread somewhere around page 12 or so

Fixed, I believe.

[Warning Track Power]

Nothing more should be made of Hart's start than was made of the fact that Bill Hall started 2009 with a 9 game hitting streak.

 

It's a hopeful sign, but he's still likely to be dogged by some prolonged slumps. Can he outproduce those other guys. Sure. Is that saying a whole lot? Not really. Is say a .265/.320/.430 line acceptable? They can get by with that assuming production in other areas.

I've been thinking a lot about the type of player Corey Hart is or should be and the name Lyle Overbay keeps popping into my mind. It isn't the tall big body type of player that makes me think Overbay but rather Overbay the hitter. Granted, not everyone can have the baseball eye of an Overbay, which I thought was fantastic. I also know we all wish that some player was someone else. I mean I wish Bill Hall would've been Hank Aaron, but that is a stretch. I don't think the Overbay-Hart comparison is. I just can't help but think though that when Hart has been right in his career, he has been a doubles hitter and not a power hitter, much like Overbay in his career. If he were to forget about the HR and the outside breaking ball in the dirt and focus on doubles and walks, I feel he could absolutely reach JohnBriggs suggestion of .265/.320/.430 with 40 doubles. Basically, emulate his final stats from 2008 and dropping the HR total and upping the OBP total. If I were Dale Sveum I would lock Corey in a room with a tape of Overbay.

 

Of course I may looking at the world with Brewers-colored glasses on today...

[Yeti73]

Those are great fangraphs for this discussion (would love to see the JJ Hardy first pitch swing/take from 2009--probably no data for the swing).

 

WarningTrack may be right, but I feel like it has been so long since we've seen the disciplined Corey Hart the doubles player that I find it really hard to see him as that.

[bobskube]

Personally, I still see a lack of discipline at the plate and a lot of first pitch swings. I still predict less than a .750 OPS. I think he has gotten better at not swinging low and away but it isnt necessarily showing in his numbers. He still also struggles mightily in the field.

 

Count me as one that is not sold on him. Now Rickie on the other hand...I'm glad I stuck with him through the hard times when many ripped him on here. I saw potential with him that I do not see with Hart.

[Ennder]

I think his OPS will be closer to .800 than .750 but only because Macha is protecting him against bad pitching matchups and not because he improves all that much.