Thoughts about Hardy at the plate

[AJAY]

I am having a tough time figuring out what is going on with J.J. Hardy. He seems to hit a lot of balls hard but too many of them are outs. It's good that he is making contact, but they aren't falling in enough.

 

I also noticed that he almost always seems behind in the count. I think he is too content to take a strike. I would like to see him swing at the first pitch more often. Lots of times it's right down the middle and he lets it go and then gets behind eventually. I am not a professional hitting coach but maybe he needs to make some changes.

 

Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

(added tag --1992)

[DHonks]

really, JJ is taking the good pitches and swinging at the bad ones. His strikezone has expanded dramatically since April, meaning that he's swinging at lots of pitches out of the zone. We know JJ can hit belt high fastballs, but he hasn't shown an ability to hit the ball hard to right field or to hit breaking pitches.

[jlau20]

I agree with AJAY on the fact that JJ hits alot of balls really hard, just directly to fielders. I don't have stats, but it seemed to be alot of the same thing last year before he got injured. Good contact with the ball just hit right at the fielders.

 

I don't know what can be done about it, but until he starts to "go with the pitch" a bit more, he's not going to be getting that average anywhere near where it was early this year when he was smacking those hip high inside fastballs.

 

The good news is we have another guy who doesn't seem to care where the pitch is, he'll hit it and get on base.

[Baldkin]

He needs to start hitting the ball to right field.

 

He keeps trying to pull those outside pitches and grounding out to the left side.

[danzig6767]

Hardy just doesn't hit righthanders well.He was horrible vs them his first two seasons and after that hot first two months,hasn't been able to hit righthanders since.My guess is that April/May was quite the abberation and we are seeing something closer to the real Hardy than we saw those great two months.

 

As for other issues,Hardy does swing at alot of junk,even if he does take some pitches.Tonight was a perfect example.In the 6th inning we are down 6-2 with Hart on second and JJ worked the count to 3-1,then for whatever reason he swings at a pitch that was clearly high and ball four,a shallow fly follows for the out.He reminds me a bit of Jenkins in that regard,both will take pitches,but both are still overanxious and not willing wait out pitchers for walks or really good pitches they can handle best.

 

Edit--On a side note,i wish JJ would be moved from the two spot.We have two great hitters that follow Hardy,but he's never on base to drive in and that's costing the team runs.Since he doesn't K that much,Ned has pigeon holed Hardy as this perfect two spot guy,ignoring that he's not on base nearly enough.Then again,getting on base is a team wide problem and there is no great option for that spot.

[Sepolevne]

If Hardy doesn't hit 2, who does hit 2? Graffy?

 

To be honest, I'd kind of forgotten about J.J. Hardy. Maybe just because he hasn't been horrible, and he hasn't been lights out.

[jason21nl]

I think Hardy stands to far away from the plate daring them to throw the fastball inside. The only thing is, they throw on the outside corner and he trys to pull it. I think if he moved in closer he could get the outside pitch, or he should hit the ball the other way, which he doesn't seem to want to do.

[imaji]

2007 Split Stats
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Total 101 409 61 111 18 1 18 63 33 57 0 3 .271 .327 .452 .779

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
vs. Left 47 112 25 31 8 1 6 26 13 10 0 3 .277 .349 .527 .876
vs. Right 99 297 36 80 10 0 12 37 20 47 0 0 .269 .318 .424 .742

Clearly better against lefties, but not HORRID against righties, especially for a middle infielder. SS isn't a 'platoon' position like a corner outfielder, so there's not really a solution in that regard.

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
April 24 103 13 29 7 0 6 17 10 10 0 0 .282 .345 .524 .869
May 28 114 21 37 5 0 9 29 6 27 0 1 .325 .355 .605 .961
June 21 82 13 18 1 1 3 5 12 10 0 2 .220 .319 .366 .685
July 23 87 11 21 3 0 0 9 4 8 0 0 .241 .283 .276 .558
August 5 23 3 6 2 0 0 3 1 2 0 0 .261 .292 .348 .639

Clearly he bottomed out in June, and has been rebounding slowly since. The aberration is that OBP and Slugging has not come back with his BA.

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Bases Empty 99 243 10 58 10 0 10 10 17 30 0 0 .239 .291 .403 .694
Runners On 92 166 51 53 8 1 8 53 16 27 0 3 .319 .377 .524 .901
RISP 79 101 39 30 5 1 5 45 14 14 0 2 .297 .379 .515 .894
RISP w/2 Outs 47 42 13 10 1 1 1 15 5 9 0 2 .238 .319 .381 .700
Bases Loaded 13 7 7 3 0 0 1 8 0 1 0 0 .429 .429 .857 1.286

numbers indicate he's at his best with men on base and less than 2 outs. Good sign.

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
None on/out 63 80 8 26 5 0 8 8 5 8 0 0 .325 .365 .688 1.052
None on:1/2 Out 99 163 2 32 5 0 2 2 12 22 0 0 .196 .256 .264 .519
Men on, 2 outs 63 64 16 15 3 1 1 17 6 13 0 2 .234 .300 .359 .659
Man on 3rd, < 2 outs 27 13 16 6 1 0 1 14 2 1 0 0 .462 .500 .769 1.269

Not bad leading off an inning either, and again, very clutch in RBI situations with LESS than 2 outs. Not sure what that means...

As far as taking strikes, I think that goes with the "#2 hitter" job description to an extent, as I have mentioned in other threads. The numbers indicate he may be better off batting 5th or so, perhaps.

Not really trying to make a statement of opinion, just throwing numbers out there for smart(er) people to evaluate.

[uwisfan]

I heard comments about his back after two months and how he needed time off to heal, and there was rumbling about how much tread he had on him this year in the discussion. This was shortly after getting knocked off his HR lead. Now he has barely hit a HR since, and his movement on the basebaths and throwing to first have also looked weak. I'm guessing he needs a week off, which he won't get.

[WV Brew]

I also think his struggles are injury related. Also, only Hall, Gross and Hart have lower GO/AO. He hits a lot of fly balls. Therefore, if power is down, he will struggle to get on base.

[brewcrewkid14]

I'll know he's confident again when he turns on one of those first pitch waist-high fastballs and hits it out for his 19th home run of the year.

 

Until then, I don't know what is wrong with the guy that was my favorite player the first two months of the season, and still is right there.

[Menotti80]

really, JJ is taking the good pitches and swinging at the bad ones.

According to espn.com last month, JJ looks at more strikes than anyone else in baseball. I have noticed that a lot of times when JJ gets ahead 1-0, he will take the 2nd pitch no matter what, which usually turns out to be a strike...

[HebrewHammer]

Hopefully when Weeks comes back he'll start raking and we can move him to the #2 spot. Then move Hardy to #7. #6 should be Jenkins. This all assumes of course that Weeks hits and plays like we know he can when he comes back.

 

Also, I'm not sure Yost wants Estrada in the #8 spot due to his lack of speed.

[DrWood]

Counsell would be a decent choice at #2, since he still gets on base fairly well.

If weeks comes back and bats leadoff, Hart could bat #2; he doesn't SO that much.

 

I really wish Hall was still a super sub. If we added an OF, Hall could have filled in for weeks, hardy, could have played 3b earlier in the year, and played OF.

[TCSM]

It seems like JJ has been the player who waits late in the count, or when he falls back before he starts swinging. This defiantly isn't something that he recently took on, I've been noticing this since the very first week of the year.

[brwrsfan]

Does anyone else seem to think that Yost plays to his favorites too much? It seems to me that when somebody else is struggling badly at the plate, they almost always get a "2 game breather" to regroup (see Bill Hall for example). Yet, when a guy is struggling mightily (no homers in 1.5 months seems to be a struggle to me), Yost doesn't bench him at all and continues to let him hit second during this whole time. He just seems to be getting a free pass on this one, while Hall (coming off the DL no less, rides the bench).

Making it even worse is that we have Braun and Prince mashing behind him but he's never on base to drive him in.

I know we have more adequate replacements for Hall than Hardy, but would Counsell really be THAT bad for two games at shortstop? I'm sure his defense would be OK, and we could handle his hitting for a small period, he does still get on base at a good clip.

[JohnBriggs12]

First of all, he shouldn't be batting 2nd. Patience as a hitter does not mean taking the first strike everytime at bat. Pitchers either throw him a fastball center cut or that "get it over" breaking pitch that hangs in the middle of the plate. Patience means being able to lay off that 0-1 pitch usually a slider or breaking pitch down and away. He puts himself in a hole way too often and the book on him is you can get ahead of him with first pitch fastballs.

 

He's taken a few more pitches to right field, so that should open up the field. Personally, I'd like to see Gross back up playing more and hitting second or if Weeks comes around, Weeks in the 2 hole. Gross may be the most patient hitter they have.

[HebrewHammer]

I agree with JohnBriggs12.

[brettac1]

Briggs is on the money here, yet for some reason Yost can't see that Hardy's OBP is under .300 for about the past three months. He had a big April and early May, and that's been it. For whatever reason, he is considered to the the prototpe #2 hitter, but I don't even know what that means - apparently carry a low OBP (similar to Gwynn being a "true" lead off man, while the only thing he does is run moderately fast).

 

He makes lots and lots of outs, and he should be making them lower in the order - the problem is that there really isn't a high OBP guy on the team outside of Prince or Braun. I would probably put Counsell up there, because he works the count well. If Weeks comes back and starts, he and Hart should bat 1/2, I don't care in what order.

[Ennder]

Does anyone else seem to think that Yost plays to his favorites too much? It seems to me that when somebody else is struggling badly at the plate, they almost always get a "2 game breather" to regroup (see Bill Hall for example). Yet, when a guy is struggling mightily (no homers in 1.5 months seems to be a struggle to me), Yost doesn't bench him at all and continues to let him hit second during this whole time. He just seems to be getting a free pass on this one, while Hall (coming off the DL no less, rides the bench).

 

Making it even worse is that we have Braun and Prince mashing behind him but he's never on base to drive him in.

 

I know we have more adequate replacements for Hall than Hardy, but would Counsell really be THAT bad for two games at shortstop? I'm sure his defense would be OK, and we could handle his hitting for a small period, he does still get on base at a good clip.

 

Before sending Weeks down Hardy was getting a good bit of rest so I can't really agree with this.