94 strikeouts in 8 games with only 55 hits and 21 walks

That’s just absolutely awful

I remember when the new batting coach was the new Joe Brady.

Launch angle!

I've been hearing those words for several years, and despite all attempts at intelligent baseball discourse, I've always been assured that launch angle, not pitch recognition, timing and discipline (you know, the sort of things that lead to solid contact, and drawing walks) was the key to success.

Whenever a player has shown improvement, it has been stressed to me that launch angle was the reason. I have inquired many times as to how one comes to the conclusion that a person who had difficulty with things such as bat speed, and the aforementioned pitch recognition and timing, could somehow miraculously solve all of those problems by swinging at a different angle. The answer, never satisfactory to me, is usually something along the lines of "you just don't understand analytics".

What's not to understand? Launch angle only means one thing: Angle of swing. But the problem with that is that you can't just say "I'm going to swing at a (fill in the blank) degree angle", when you don't know where the pitch is going to be, and have to make a split second decision on whether to swing or not. Typically, whether or not you hit a home run is based on pitch location, your natural swing on pitches in particular locations, bat speed, and strength.

We've had great home run hitters through the history of baseball, long before "launch angle" was a popular thing to say. The reason I point that out is to remind people that home run hitters don't think about their angle. It either comes natural, or it doesn't.

The people who become obsessed with hitting the ball in the air become very predictable, easy outs over time. If a player makes improvements and starts driving the ball, it's because he worked on all aspects of his game.

That is why I was critical of the Eddie Smith hire, when I heard he was an analytics guy. I'm fine with using analytics to chart tendencies and attack weaknesses. That has always been used. Organizations (or programs, in this case) simply have more technology to gather information now. It's not a "sabermetrics" thing. But the launch angle stuff just turns players into one trick ponies. And we see the fruits of that now. Our hitters are capable of hitting home runs, but when the philosophy is to swing hard and get it in the air, instead of working on eye-hand coordination and letting the bat follow where your brain leads it, SEC pitchers are going to take advantage of that undisciplined, aggressive approach. And they have.


I'm done ranting. Sorry... I've been trying to give it time, but my level of irritation in watching this "approach" has kind of boiled over now.

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You have to admit, though, it’s what the rant wanted. For years we’ve had snide comments about the “little players” and the lack of HRs. The majority on here have been screaming for this and applauded the hire of Eddie Smith.

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I know. I wasn't one of them. HR's don't come from the launch angle philosophy. Some people only think they do. And they never think about the consequences of selling out for the home run, unfortunately.

Can't we quit debating dumb arse launch angle and get this quitter of a coach as far from Baton Rouge as we can.

It was exactly 30.

9 + 16 + 5 in the three games.

Do you lose?

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It was exactly 30.

9 + 16 + 5 in the three games.

Do you lose?

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frick...can't even count on them to get 31 ks...

Just pray for a large donor to come through. Otherwise, it isn’t happening because of our budget situation. I hate to say it, but you can’t get rid of a guy when the program is going to lose money again this season like it will. We are talking significant money the past 2 years. We are in a major budget situation besides the garbage with Tito IX. I tried to warn people on here that Title IX was going to affect football, but nobody wanted to listen. Orgeron is now testifying. PM is the only “clean” coach of the major 3 sports and firing him would be about stupid right now considering they may have to fire others and replace them...

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Our hitters are capable of hitting home runs, but when the philosophy is to swing hard and get it in the air, instead of working on eye-hand coordination and letting the bat follow where your brain leads it, SEC pitchers are going to take advantage of that undisciplined, aggressive approach. And they have.

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— What you are saying is true—
—The best asst coach that taught players to hit the ball where it’s pitched was Cannizaro.
—instead of trying to jerk everything— awful plate discipline.