re: For the critics, define “approach at the plate”

while I'm not baseball savvy enough to discuss approach at the plate in depth...I feel like having a good approach at the plate is a huge factor in getting runs...or hits....or hit....even one...damn...hit.

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Youll get different answers from everyone, but for me its being selective and disciplined with the pitches you swing at. Also, when getting 2 strikes, having the ability to fight off pitches close to the plate...prolonging the at bat. Also im not against swinging at a first pitch fastball thats over the plate

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That’s fair. I think the standard approach in most sub professional leagues is probably sit on a particular pitch in a specific location until you get 1 strike (but if you get that pitch 0-0 or 2-0, you better crush it), then expand that location a bit until you get 2 strikes, then maybe choke up a bit, spread your legs a bit, shortening your swing, and battle your arse off fouling off every pitch even close to a strike until you get one you can handle.

Now, I know the game has changed, so guys like Beloso and Cabrera are probably not shortening their swings down too much with 2 strikes, but other than that, is that not the approach most guys are going up to the plate with? I have only watched one games, so I can’t really comment on it.

And to Caterpillar’s point—and this may be semantics—but I consider bunting and shortening your swing to hit behind a runner on 2nd with no outs more of a team philosophy handed down by the head coach than an individual’s approach.

Also, there are obviously game situations where approaches should change, but again I think that should come from the coach. Like yesterday in the 8th and 9th (with the ball not carrying as Paul admitted), we should have been taking until we got a strike to try to chase that dude out of the game. I’m all for jumping on the 1st pitch if it’s the one you want down by just one, but we hit some piss rods that barely got to the track.

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but I consider bunting and shortening your swing to hit behind a runner on 2nd with no outs more of a team philosophy handed down by the head coach than an individual’s approach.

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These are the things I was hoping Hughes would improve on.

Overall he needs to improve his strength though.

all I know is out right handed hitters CANNOT hit a damn right handed slider. I would love to know how many swing and misses we had from righties against a slider. kept pulling their front shoulder and head out. It was honestly pathetic to watch as a former baseball player. that's hitting 101. do not pull that front shoulder. you'll never hit it. hopefully we work on that heavily or we have no shot.

If I'm a pitcher against us I'm getting ahead in the count and throwing straight sliders. our team has proven we cannot hit it. Especially the young guys. truly unprepared to start the season. I get the freshmen.. but you'd think the sophomores would be able to at least make contact against college level sliders.

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For the critics, define “approach at the plate”

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Something LSU hitters lack.

I still Feel like it’s early.

The bats where hot up through most of this weekend.

We’re batting .260 outside 2 bad games.

We’re 12 games into the season?

I would like to have RYAN THERIOT replace Pulmonary at the end of this season.

Approach starts with vertical plane. Nothing above the hands and nothing below the knees. The second factor is pitch ID-picking up rotation early. There are certain counts that you pick up off-speed rotation and you take it regardless of location. Then probably the most important approach is to try and drive everything back up the middle. That means keep your hands inside the ball and not circling to pull. This is also known as "hit it where it's pitched" approach.

This sounds like a lot to think about and it would be in absence of extensive training on these areas. Hitting off tees and soft toss are the tools used most often to work on these skills. The great hitters give way to straight recognition/muscle memory when they go live.

Our guys are not trying to hit balls back up the middle right now. They are way too "pull-happy" which has led to this high-K rate. They are going to have to get comfortable enough to trust their hands and let the ball get deeper to get out of this. Hit-and-run is a pretty good tool to use when guys are struggling. They think oppo, which makes them let the ball get deeper. The thing that has shocked me is that we have guys that don't looked like they've been properly trained in the fundamentals. There are several long swings in the lineup. Pitchers will just keep working us away until we adjust.

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I know what that means to me, but I see it mentioned multiple times in just about every thread and am wondering what the consensus definition is. And if ours is bad or non-existent, what is a “good approach” in your opinion?

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It's how you want the hitters to approach each at bat. If you want to use MLB as an example: Small Ball in the 90s, the power era, the OBP era (known as money ball by some), forcing a ton of pitches to get into the bullpen, and now the aggressive three true outcome era we exist in now.

My issue with the approach is every hitter 1-9 takes huge uppercut HR swings no mater the count. We rarely see a kid just battle in a 10 pitch at bat only to hit a solid line drive single. We have waaaaaaay too many 2-5 pitch at bats.