9/18: Home Away from Home G/T

[IStillLoveTheMs]

I guess that was my point without stating it, and you brought it to light with your Felix analogy. Mental toughness is something that has to be there in the athlete, but sometimes brought out by coaching.

I just don't think of that killer instinct as a coachable trait. Its something a guy like Kobe and Lebron and MJ had. If you could take Gonzales' mentality and put it with Kikuchi's stuff, you would have a perennial cy young contender imo. I don't have any delusions of Kikuchi being an ace, because I don't think that can be developed. I do think he can be more consistent and be a serviceable starter. He was able to do it for years in Japan, and pitchers in the past have shown that the jump from Japan to MLB is doable. Not sure why its been so tough for him. I think he's shown some positive things this year, but he's just not been able to put it altogether.

Imagine Servais trying to coach a "killer instinct" into someone

[bpj]

The thing thats frustrating about Kikuchi, is he has the stuff, just can't be consistent with it. Was a little unlucky that inning with the guy who threw his bat at it for the hit, then Machado hitting it out on what wasn't a bad pitch, but with all his walks it turned into 4 runs instead of 1 or 2. Its obvious there is something missing mentally and when things start to go wrong, they spiral.

Yep he is Altavilla. Why do you defend him so......

I'm just hopeful. He'll be around and I think he's had his moments this year. I gave Altavilla 2-3 seasons before I gave up on him.

Same approach the Mariners take with their terrible players.

[TraderGary]

White killed that. lord.

Okay, I'm PUI (posting under the influence) so take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I think anyone ready to throw in the towel on Evan is barking up the wrong tree. They have to keep in mind that this is his first season above AA. He's had streaks where he has absolutely raked, and he's one of the best defensive 1st basemen in baseball.

Based on what I have seen, I can easily see him as a .270-.280 hitter, 20 HR's, and 90 RBI's. Combine that with his GG defense, and I'll take that every time.

[IStillLoveTheMs]

White killed that. lord.

Okay, I'm PUI (posting under the influence) so take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I think anyone ready to throw in the towel on Evan is barking up the wrong tree. They have to keep in mind that this is his first season above AA. He's had streaks where he has absolutely raked, and he's one of the best defensive 1st basemen in baseball.

Based on what I have seen, I can easily see him as a .270-.280 hitter, 20 HR's, and 90 RBI's. Combine that with his GG defense, and I'll take that every time.

I think Evan has to stop swinging out of his ass at every pitch if he ever wants to think about .270+

[TraderGary]

White killed that. lord.

Okay, I'm PUI (posting under the influence) so take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I think anyone ready to throw in the towel on Evan is barking up the wrong tree. They have to keep in mind that this is his first season above AA. He's had streaks where he has absolutely raked, and he's one of the best defensive 1st basemen in baseball.

Based on what I have seen, I can easily see him as a .270-.280 hitter, 20 HR's, and 90 RBI's. Combine that with his GG defense, and I'll take that every time.

I think Evan has to stop swinging out of his ass at every pitch if he ever wants to think about .270+

True that. But I think he's pressing this year in an attempt to prove himself. Give him a little more time and I think he will settle in and adjust his swing to be a little more under control.

[Petert]

White killed that. lord.

I missed this. I was still pondering the concept of Servais teaching killer instinct.

[IStillLoveTheMs]

Okay, I'm PUI (posting under the influence) so take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I think anyone ready to throw in the towel on Evan is barking up the wrong tree. They have to keep in mind that this is his first season above AA. He's had streaks where he has absolutely raked, and he's one of the best defensive 1st basemen in baseball.

Based on what I have seen, I can easily see him as a .270-.280 hitter, 20 HR's, and 90 RBI's. Combine that with his GG defense, and I'll take that every time.

I think Evan has to stop swinging out of his ass at every pitch if he ever wants to think about .270+

True that. But I think he's pressing this year in an attempt to prove himself. Give him a little more time and I think he will settle in and adjust his swing to be a little more under control.

It's honestly 1 thing the M's don't do well as a unit.

With 2 strikes u shorten and try to punch it where they're not... too many K's...

K-lew was doing that super well during his multi-hit streak... not so much anymore.

[TraderGary]

I think Evan has to stop swinging out of his ass at every pitch if he ever wants to think about .270+

True that. But I think he's pressing this year in an attempt to prove himself. Give him a little more time and I think he will settle in and adjust his swing to be a little more under control.

It's honestly 1 thing the M's don't do well as a unit.

With 2 strikes u shorten and try to punch it where they're not... too many K's...

K-lew was doing that super well during his multi-hit streak... not so much anymore.

Dammit, every time I think I'm right, you make a counter argument that makes too much sense. lol

Yes you are correct, the M's organization or coaching staff has never been good about teaching hitters to shorten their swing in 2-strike counts and I've never understood why. I see every other team do that against the M's, and I have always asked myself why we couldn't seem to do the same. But with Dipoto's "control the zone" mantra, I have hopes.

[bpj]

True that. But I think he's pressing this year in an attempt to prove himself. Give him a little more time and I think he will settle in and adjust his swing to be a little more under control.

It's honestly 1 thing the M's don't do well as a unit.

With 2 strikes u shorten and try to punch it where they're not... too many K's...

K-lew was doing that super well during his multi-hit streak... not so much anymore.

Dammit, every time I think I'm right, you make a counter argument that makes too much sense. lol

Yes you are correct, the M's organization or coaching staff has never been good about teaching hitters to shorten their swing in 2-strike counts and I've never understood why. I see every other team do that against the M's, and I have always asked myself why we couldn't seem to do the same. But with Dipoto's "control the zone" mantra, I have hopes.

Because this isn't little league or softball, imo.

These guys aren't taught to have a swing only to change it when the count changes.

There are some guys that probably should, guys like leadoff hitters that slap the ball into the ground anyways, they should probably do their damndest to put the ball in play.

Guys who have value in their bat aren't going to adjust their swing at all, imo. They will adjust what pitch they think is coming, but unless they're Chuck Knoblauch they're not choking up two inches to try and drop one over the third baseman.

The majority of these guys won't even adjust their strike zone when they get two strikes, much less their swing.

[bpj]

Sorry Moe. Need to take that to the politics forum.

Well then take it all to that forum

Not a fan of hers but not going to shit on her grave. btw It's my and my colleagues forum so I can do whatever the fuck I want.

Dtrain takes it pretty easy on us, when he says something pretty simple to do, just gotta listen.

I have a feeling Moe got upset and bailed, but it's pretty obvious some people seriously don't want to have to read angry politics from us angry aholes on the beisbol forum. Seems fair enough to me.