Comments on: Branson Out, Optimism In

By: BuccoBoy

BuccoBoy — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 19:27:09 +0000

A few things to point out here:

1. 2013 was not a Branson year. Jay Bell was hitting coach that year.

2. A lot of success hinges on the players. Take a look at 2003. That was the year we brought in Kenny Lofton, Matt Stairs, and Reggie Sanders. We still had Brian Giles and Aramis Ramirez for part of the year too, plus Jason Kendall had a big year (and was on his fourth ML hitting coach). 2004 brought us Chris Stynes and Bobby Hill. The hitting coach didn’t change though and having a few guys have big years (Craig and Jack Wilson, Jason Bay, Kendall) didn’t help, mostly because everyone else was bad. In fact, that was true of most of these pre-Branson teams and a big reason the Pirates lost as much as they did–you’d have as many as five good hitters and the rest would be terrible.

(I remember my dad saying that a pitcher’s dream was the 7-8-9 of a Pirates lineup back in 1998…)

3. What is more important though is that some guys are not living up to potential here. Josh Bell should at least hit .300 if he’s not hitting for power. Let his minor league numbers speak for themselves in this case.

4. Let’s not forget that a coach needs to find and correct problems with hitters who are scuffling. Adam Frazier and Sean Rodriguez both had to go to the minors to figure things out. Josh Harrison regressed mightily this year. Who did actually take a step forward this year under Branson other than Gregory Polanco?

This wasn’t just limited to Branson. The guys in the past couldn’t get Jay Bell to hit for power (which he could). They couldn’t help Tony Womack draw more walks. They couldn’t help Chad Hermansen or Craig Wilson learn to hit breaking balls, making the former a bust of a prospect. There was Chris Duffy–need I say more there? Point is, we need a consistent hitting coach.

Where have you gone, Milt May?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 10:18:51 +0000

I think it would be best for people to accept that Hurdle has some managerial flaws, but is seemingly a good guy and is good for the community.
—————————————————-

And it’s statements like this that bring out the “sheep” comments aimed at Pirate fans.

By: NormC

NormC — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 14:32:33 +0000

I agree that the risk is not great, however I question the potential reward. As the article points out the players are the players. The Pirates have been drafting players who are line drive (singles/doubles) hitters and teaching “keep the line moving throughout the minors. Can a new hitting coach really change guys into becoming successful fly ball hitters without resulting in many more strikeouts and weak pop fly balls? I don’t know the answer and would be interested in seeing any data from other clubs where a significant portion of the roster was able to make such a change once they got a new hitting coach.

By: wkkortas

wkkortas — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 14:23:54 +0000

I think that last quote explains it all–if your offense is 10th in runs and 13th in dingers, that is a very generous definition of “things that we know work.”