Good article (blog entry) on Gomez's new approach

[GormanHarvey]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/117592838.html

 

Really enjoyed this read for several reasons. Great to see Gomez putting in all the extra work to try to better his approach at the plate. I, for one, am really pulling for him. I just like him and I feel he can really bring an element to this offense with his speed and agressiveness if he can get on base more often. I think his speed will definitely be utilized with Roenicke's approach should he find a way to do that. I also think its a testament to Sveum's dedication to and influence on this club. To me it is immeasurable. I really like how Gomez was basically willing to surrender and do whatever Dale tells him. I'm excited about Gomez's outlook for this season

[Thurston Fluff]

What a boost it would be if he finally got it.

[docduany]

Here's hoping!! As people have said all winter, if he can just be serviceable at the plate we can win with him. Hopefully a light will go on. Asking for help sure sounds like a step in the right direction.

[logan82]

I will believe it when I see it. He has had ample opportunity to change and as of yet has shown nothing to indicate he has changed. He tried to bunt yesterday.

[GormanHarvey]

I will believe it when I see it. He has had ample opportunity to change and as of yet has shown nothing to indicate he has changed. He tried to bunt yesterday.

I agree with him needing to proving it. I cannot see a fault in attempting a bunt yesterday though. He is probably our best bunter and there is no better time to work on it than ST

 

 

[RobDeer 45]

Can I ask what is wrong with him bunting?

 

I know we always say, he's got the tools, but he really does. I'm not expecting anything from him, but I really do think you can teach plate discipline enough to give a player a boost. I also think you can teach a guy not to swing for the fences, to some extent. So with those two things being his biggest faults I do think there is still room to improve. He really does have to be humble and forget all his natural instincts of swinging at everything and swinging for the fences. But if this kid can fight those urges and use the bat speed he is blessed with, I really don't see why he can't improve.

 

I'm not sure why he gets such a bad rap for his attitude. I for one believe it's never been an attitude thing as much as a pride thing. I believe he's always been told he would be amazing and thought he could do things his way all the way up to the bigs. I believe his attitude is good, he seems to play hard every game and really seems to want to win. He's firey but I don't think he's got a bad attitude. He really does need to swallow his pride here but I do think he can still improve at leat to a respectable level.

 

Kids fun to watch on the base paths and with his glove and arm, that is for sure.

[logan82]

I have no problem with his swinging for the fences. I have a huge problem with continually swinging at balls out of the zone.

 

Bunting eliminates many positive outcomes. He also frequently pops up his bunt attempts, like he did yesterday.

[Ennder]

He absolutely should be bunting if he puts the ball in play consistently. If he draws the infield in it increases his chance to get a hit when he doesn't bunt by quite a bit.

 

His problem is more poor pitch recognition than anything but taking a better approach overall at the plate can only help. Even if he stinks it shows he is at least putting in the effort to try to get better which is always good to hear. CF isn't likely to be a strength on the team but it isn't likely to be a problem either since we have good defensive players and the average CF is pretty terrible offensively.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'm really pulling for Gomez. He has the potential to be a remarkable talent if he can figure it out at the plate. I really hope he does, because it would be huge for us this year and beyond. The Brewers clearly believe in him, because they were willing to give up Cain pretty easily. Not saying that is necessarily the reason, but they had to believe he could fill in well in CF. I would just like to see improvement this year at least.

[gregmag]

Whatever the results, I think Gomez deserves credit for going about his work in a constructive way. He has taken some justifiable heat in the past for his attitude. Now he's talking about working to get better and trying to be the player he should be. I don't think you can fake that kind of humility; he's still a young man, and he seems to be growing up more. Maybe he has the full mix of talents to be a productive player, maybe not, but good for him.

 

As for the bunting, of course he should be laying down a few bunts in spring training. It's time to work on things. I am no fan of bunting generally, but it's the right thing to do in some situations, and it's a better percentage play for somebody with Gomez's speed. He needs to know how to bunt well, and the only way to stop popping up bunts is to integrate bunting into his efforts to change his offensive approach.

[GameMisconduct]

I am way too skeptical of this "new approach" so far Gomez has not walked in ST. I mean his biggest problem was offering at bad pitches and he hasn't drawn a walk. I hope Go Go has finally figured it out, but I doubt it.

[danzig6767]

I am way too skeptical of this "new approach" so far Gomez has not walked in ST. I mean his biggest problem was offering at bad pitches and he hasn't drawn a walk. I hope Go Go has finally figured it out, but I doubt it.

I don't think anyone is expecting Gomez to suddenly start taking a bunch more walks this season, but at least if he's somewhat more selective in the pitches he swings at, maybe it will lead to a higher batting average and a few more walks even if that meant his walk rate was still poor.

[Ennder]

If Gomez can somehow hit .270 it means an OBP of over .310 which would be a significant improvement. He still won't be a positive offensively but he is a glove first player so he doesn't have to be as long as he isn't downright terrible like he has been the past few years.

[derflotr]

If he can just manage to keep his OBP at .320-.330 and get comfortable in the 2 hole the offense goes from quite good to really, really good. Assuming health, of course. He is an absolute nightmare when he's on base. It bothers me when I hear TV people like Bill yesterday saying immediately after a HR something like "his manager wants him to keep it on the ground". Just drive the ball. Line drives. He's got tremendous bat speed, maybe he profiles more as a power hitter. Either way the goal should be to make him a threat in some capacity so pitchers actually have something to fear when facing him.

[danzig6767]

If he can just manage to keep his OBP at .320-.330 and get comfortable in the 2 hole the offense goes from quite good to really, really good. Assuming health, of course. He is an absolute nightmare when he's on base. It bothers me when I hear TV people like Bill yesterday saying immediately after a HR something like "his manager wants him to keep it on the ground". Just drive the ball. Line drives. He's got tremendous bat speed, maybe he profiles more as a power hitter. Either way the goal should be to make him a threat in some capacity so pitchers actually have something to fear when facing him.

Gomez shouldn't be hitting anywhere near the top of the order. The 8th or 9th spot in the order is where he belongs, even if he improves some at the plate.

[derflotr]

If he can just manage to keep his OBP at .320-.330 and get comfortable in the 2 hole the offense goes from quite good to really, really good. Assuming health, of course. He is an absolute nightmare when he's on base. It bothers me when I hear TV people like Bill yesterday saying immediately after a HR something like "his manager wants him to keep it on the ground". Just drive the ball. Line drives. He's got tremendous bat speed, maybe he profiles more as a power hitter. Either way the goal should be to make him a threat in some capacity so pitchers actually have something to fear when facing him.

Gomez shouldn't be hitting anywhere near the top of the order. The 8th or 9th spot in the order is where he belongs, even if he improves some at the plate.

Of course not. Anyone with a .290 OBP shouldn't be there, but if he actually shows improvement and keeps it around .330 by June I'd do it. The guy's a game-changer when he's on first base. Pitchers are going to die having to pitch to Braun/Fielder/McGehee with Gomez hopping all over the place on the bases. I'd rather have a .330 Gomez there than a .340 Hart. But it's all so unlikely it probably isn't worth getting into...I mean, if I had my way Braun would be hitting 2nd and Gomez would hit 9th, but baseball is so stubbornly traditional the best hitters on the team absolutely have to wait at least 2 turns to hit.

[cadillacjosh]

If Gomez hits well, and this new approach for real I think the two hole behind Rickie would be such a premium spot for him. The speed on the bags for Braun/Fielder would just do wonders. You could almost gurantee they'd never get doubled up and the two of them would probably force a lot of errors for infielders.

 

I love Gomez and I really do hope this is for real. I still think he's worth a roster spot for his defense.

[TexasAggieBrewer]

The guy has serious moxy and a swagger about him that's contagious.. Loved the way he celebrated after hitting a homerun even though we were getting dominated one game.

I for one am wondering why he's just now getting help to change his approach at the plate. Kind of seems like something he should of been doing last spring, and throughout all of last season, for that matter.

[logan82]

His speed is wasted in front of our good hitters. His speed would be best leveraged in the lower part of the order ahead of bad hitters where small ball makes sense.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I for one am wondering why he's just now getting help to change his approach at the plate. Kind of seems like something he should of been doing last spring, and throughout all of last season, for that matter.

He was supposed to work on hitting the ball on the ground more and change his swing and he has done the complete opposite. Look at this quote from March 12 of last year,

 

Hitting coach Dale Sveum has worked with him extensively and manager Ken

Macha would like to see Gomez hit more grounders so he can flash his

impressive speed.

link

 

I don't believe any of Gomez's comments anymore. He needs to practice what he is being taught and get results or he will be replaced early on in the 2011 season.

[danzig6767]

If Gomez hits well, and this new approach for real I think the two hole behind Rickie would be such a premium spot for him. The speed on the bags for Braun/Fielder would just do wonders. You could almost gurantee they'd never get doubled up and the two of them would probably force a lot of errors for infielders.

 

I love Gomez and I really do hope this is for real. I still think he's worth a roster spot for his defense.

I would never bat Gomez in the two hole barring a near miraculous improvement by him for two reasons

 

1. The key job of the guy batting in front of Braun and Fielder is simply to get on base. Braun and Fielder can only drive in runners that are on base, not a guy sitting in the dugout who makes to many outs. Gomez has a long history of being an out machine.

 

2. The higher a batter is up on the batting order, the more at bats he'll get. A likely best case scenario for Gomez is an OPS in the .700-.720 range and that's trying to be optimistic. That kind of bat is best served getting fewer at bats than your better hitters.

 

Plus, batting Gomez at the bottom of the order would allow him to use his speed asset the most. If he can get a single or rare walk while batting 8th, the option is there to have him try to steal second before the pitcher tries bunting him over. If he can steal in that situation and the pitcher bunts him over, now Gomez is on third base. Or a simple stolen base gets him to 2nd base and given our likely above average hitting pitching staff, it allows the potential to steal a run if the manager lets the pitcher swing away vs a bunt. Roenicke could also bat Gomez 9th in some games, there he could be a quasi-leadoff hitter with Weeks following him. Lastly, having him bat 2nd in the order makes trying to steal bases more risky because you don't want guys making an out on the bases with Braun and Fielder due up.

[Ennder]

Fielder should bat 2nd but that is probably a discussion for another day~.

[ILuvDaBush]

Away Game Lineup

 

Gallardo (Immediately subbed out for either the P or a PR, depending on the outcome of the 1st AB)

Weeks

Braun

Fielder

McGehee

Hart

Gomez

Yuni

Token Catcher

 

Bat the four best hitters 1-4.

 

That said, I would have no problem with Gomez in the 2-hole once he opens his batting eye. I don't think Captain Ron is going to have a problem running in front of Braun/Fielder given that one of his first statements was that he was going to frustrate fans with his aggressiveness on the bases. No caveat concerning our 3-4 hitters exempting said aggression (in fact I am quite excited about the prospect of seeing Prince approach double digit steal....attempts).

[SpottedCow]

The one thing about players that tends to be a "have it or you don't" skill is plate discipline.

 

While that's not to say it can't be learned, if a player hasn't figured it out by the time he reaches the majors, the room for improvement in that area would seem to be small. You rarely, if ever, see guys who didn't have good BB/K rates in the minors suddenly figure it out in the majors.

 

That being said, he definitely has his assets and, as has been said, if he can get himself into the .270/.320 range, he should at least be serviceable hitting 7th or 8th.

 

The problem with that is I see three potentially below average hitters in the lineup (Gomez, Lucroy, Betancourt), so who do you guys think will/should hit 2nd?

[DuWayne Steurer]

Regarding the "Have it of you don't" comment on plate discipline. Richie Sexson comes immediately to mind as a guy who didn't take walks at all when he came up, but ended up being an 80-90 walk guy later on. Now granted, that's just one example off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's more.