Clint Coulter - Why is he playing so poorly at High A?

[Bombers]

What happened to Clint Coulter? Does anyone think the move from Catcher to the OF threw his hitting off? Ever since they tried him in the OF in Arizona fall league, he hasn't been able to hit at all. Is he thinking too much defensively? At this rate, they might as well move him back to behind the dish. His 239 / .314 / .375 / .689 line in high A is pretty bad for a guy who came out of Rookie League and A ball hitting .270 / .388 / .483 / .870. Really hope he can find this bat again and not become just another wasted first round pick.

[JohnBriggs12]

Likely he's "another wasted first round pick" as is Roache who was taken one spot below Coulter. Coulter's soon to be 23 and in his 5th pro year. He's more suspect than prospect at this point regardless of position. Both Couldter and Roache will be a minor league free agents in a couple of years unless they work their way onto the 40 man roster or get taken in the Rule 5 draft neither of which seems likely at this point. Brewers might have been able to spare us this rebuild had they hit on those two picks, but clearly they did not. By the way, Stephen Piscotty was taken 8 spots later, and Joey Gallo 12 spots later, right behind Mitch Haniger. At least Haniger eventually helped them end up with Davies.

[foamboy1]

He played pretty well last year.

 

He only hit .246 and finished with a .736 OPS - but that was primarily because of a late-season slump. I thought for sure he earned a promotion to AA and it would be good for him to get out of the oppressive Brevard County ballpark environment. I immediately wondered if he was going to be disappointed with his assignment this year and would give him a shot at AA just to give him a clean slate.

 

He could be frustrated with the lack of movement and his numbers regressing this year could be the result. I say give him 45 days in AA and see what happens. Otherwise, he's withering on the vine.

[JohnBriggs12]

He played pretty well last year.

 

He only hit .246 and finished with a .736 OPS - but that was primarily because of a late-season slump. I thought for sure he earned a promotion to AA and it would be good for him to get out of the oppressive Brevard County ballpark environment. I immediately wondered if he was going to be disappointed with his assignment this year and would give him a shot at AA just to give him a clean slate.

 

He could be frustrated with the lack of movement and his numbers regressing this year could be the result. I say give him 45 days in AA and see what happens. Otherwise, he's withering on the vine.

 

Playing poorly because he's disappointed with his assignment? That's not the kind of reaction you like to see.

[fondybrewfan]

There is no way they will keep him in A+ 3 years in a row so 2017 is going to be a make or break year for him in Biloxi. He has pretty much fallen out of everyone's Top 15 list already and if he doesn't figure it out next year he absolutely will be in danger of being a MILB FA.

 

His 2nd half has been a bit better at least.

 

BC certainly appears to be where good bats go to die. Corey Ray has been less than inspiring there as well.

[Boomer5]

Since we drafted Braun

 

2006: Jeffries

2007: LaPorta

2008: Lawrie

2009: Arnett

2010: Covey

2011: Jungmann, Bradley

2012: Roache, Coulter

2013: N/A

2014: Kodi

2015: Clark

2016: Ray

[FVBrewerFan]

I'm not going to say BC has no effect. Certainly it affects power. But I won't accept that as an excuse for a guy who is repeating that level, with worse results. Same as Phillips in AA. Also, I don't believe switching from C to RF has anything to do with it. You're not doing a whole lot of thinking in RF, if anything far less pressure than worrying about calling the game as catcher.

 

It is what it is. Different guys hit the wall each step of the way up the ladder, and A+could very well be Coulter's wall. He is still relatively young, and if he goes to AA next year and rakes he's back on track. I don't see that happening, but it's not impossible either.

[dacbrewers]

Promotion to AA? The only players that deserve a promotion to AA are the ones that earn it. I am tired of them promoting guys in the past just because of where they were drafted. Another 1st round pick wasted. Not sure Stearn's regime is going to allow him to move up since he wasn't one of his picks. Keep him back at A+ and see if he can hit his way out.

[igor67]

Is it possible that repeating A+ put him in a mental funk. Yes, is it the most likely? I don't know. Given that he is repeating and doing worse, there seems little plausible reason to suspect that more repeating of the level will help him at this point. Ultimately its not about punishing him or moralizing about his character what gives the team the best chance to see him develop is the only question that's important. He's old enough that a complete washout isn't that far off(or atleast a departure from the organization), but young enough if he started hitting like he used to he could get back on track. Barring info we are not privy too (mental health, family issues, injury...), promoting him and seeing what happens strikes me as the best shot at getting some value back.

[reillymcshane]

I had a conversation recently about Coulter with a baseball person who said that Coulter has two issues:

 

1. He's frustrated and it shows. He said to watch Coulter and you'll see a lot of bad body language, and he's letting his struggles overwhelm him. He needs to find a way to reboot himself. This person suggested he needs to be moved from BC, or perhaps an organization change would be best for him.

 

2. I'm going by memory about this next one - we talked about a lot of players and I hope I'm not mixing up his analysis with another guy - but if I recall correctly, he felt that Coulter was struggling against good right handed pitchers - particularly high heat up in the zone. Clint just can't keep up with them. He doesn't have the bat speed and/or pitch recognition skills to deal with them.

 

I should note, this person wasn't particularly high on Coulter. He feels problem #2 is going to limit him no matter where he goes. He said there are people that are believe he can still be a major leaguer. He has power, but there are too many other flaws to let the power emerge.

[MKE81]

Coulter sucks. It has nothing to do with position changes, location or anything else. A change of scenery won't increase his likelihood for vertical growth. He simply sucks. Roache is better than Coulter but Roache also won't make it to MLB (neither will Taylor)

[jerichoholicninja]

Coulter sucks. It has nothing to do with position changes, location or anything else. A change of scenery won't increase his likelihood for vertical growth. He simply sucks. Roache is better than Coulter but Roache also won't make it to MLB (neither will Taylor)

 

Dynamite analysis.

[Bombers]

Coulter sucks. It has nothing to do with position changes, location or anything else. A change of scenery won't increase his likelihood for vertical growth. He simply sucks. Roache is better than Coulter but Roache also won't make it to MLB (neither will Taylor)

 

Dynamite analysis.

[MKE81]

Coulter sucks. It has nothing to do with position changes, location or anything else. A change of scenery won't increase his likelihood for vertical growth. He simply sucks. Roache is better than Coulter but Roache also won't make it to MLB (neither will Taylor)

 

Dynamite analysis.

 

If I provided a detailed analysis of "why" then would that result in a different conclusion? No. So I went straight to the point. Not my issue that you can't see what's right in front of your face

[jerichoholicninja]

Coulter sucks. It has nothing to do with position changes, location or anything else. A change of scenery won't increase his likelihood for vertical growth. He simply sucks. Roache is better than Coulter but Roache also won't make it to MLB (neither will Taylor)

 

Dynamite analysis.

 

If I provided a detailed analysis of "why" then would that result in a different conclusion? No. So I went straight to the point. Not my issue that you can't see what's right in front of your face

 

Your post simply sucked. I could have taken time to explain why but I went straight to the point. Not my fault if you can't understand what's right in front of you.

[TheCrew07]

He played pretty well last year.

 

He only hit .246 and finished with a .736 OPS - but that was primarily because of a late-season slump. .

 

It's pretty easy to refresh one's memory at either MiLB.com or Baseball-reference.com:

 

[pre]Split G PA AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP

 

April 20 91 77 25 3 2 6 10 12 .325 .429 .649 1.078 50 2 4

May 29 128 112 22 6 0 3 10 25 .196 .281 .330 .612 37 0 4

June 26 107 90 24 8 0 1 12 16 .267 .383 .389 .772 35 0 5

July 27 107 101 23 6 1 1 3 18 .228 .252 .337 .589 34 5 1

August 30 117 101 24 7 0 2 11 19 .238 .325 .366 .691 37 3 3

September 5 19 18 5 0 0 0 0 2 .278 .316 .278 .594 5 0 1[/pre]

 

So no, it wasn't primarily caused by a late season slump.

 

View Original Table

[paul253]

At this point just let him play out the season the put him in Boloxi next year and see if he gets better. A third season in BC, you might as well just release him.

 

The Brewers recent first round draft picks have been bad. I still have hope for Clark and Ray but we need to do much, much better.

[Bombers]

At this point just let him play out the season the put him in Boloxi next year and see if he gets better. A third season in BC, you might as well just release him.

 

The Brewers recent first round draft picks have been bad. I still have hope for Clark and Ray but we need to do much, much better.

Gulp - I hope we have hope for Ray - he was drafted less than 2 months ago 5th overall