What role does a hitting coach play?
On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton went on 93.7 The Fan, and among the things he said were a defense of hitting coach Andy Haines. Shelton felt it was unfair to blame one person for the hitting woes of the team.
I agree with this sentiment.
The full blame shouldn’t go to Haines. You could argue that Shelton is putting players at a disadvantage with the endless lineup shuffling. Only Bryan Reynolds has a consistent spot every night, and it should be no surprise that Reynolds is one of the only consistent hitters on the team.
You could also argue that Shelton and Haines are both put at a disadvantage by General Manager Ben Cherington, who has yet to make an active effort to upgrade the offense in his fifth year running the team. The offseason saw additions of Rowdy Tellez at first base, Yasmani Grandal behind the plate, and Michael A. Taylor in center field. While Shelton also chalked the hitting woes up to a young lineup, these three veteran free agents are having the worst years of their careers.
What role does a hitting coach play in all of this?
Is Cherington correct in signing these three players, and they’re all just having the worst seasons of their careers because of Haines? Is Haines given an impossible task? Is it somewhere in the middle? How much are the players to blame?
The development system hasn’t shown the same results on the hitting side as the pitching side. That, plus the MLB career-worsts speak to the system’s overall hitting philosophy being flawed. While Haines would be a big part of leading that philosophy, I don’t think he would be the sole creator of an organization’s hitting approach.
The role of the hitting coach is to maximize the talent given to him. For Haines, this requires working with budget free agents and young players making the adjustment to the big leagues. The Pirates have consistently ranked as one of the worst offensive teams under Haines, and that’s after Haines coached the Milwaukee Brewers to a bottom-third result. But he also hasn’t been given a real lineup to work with, and hasn’t shown an ability to develop a young lineup quickly into the majors.
Firing Haines isn’t going to fix anything, other than possibly allowing more freedom for individual approaches from some struggling hitters who aren’t benefitting from the organizational approach.
The adjustment that is needed is to the organizational hitting philosophy. This is an organization that largely outsources developmental changes. It’s an organization that has removed old school coaching expertise in favor of analytics-driven approaches at the plate. Players reach the majors and know how to defensively swing, and take a cautious approach at the plate, but they don’t know how to offensively swing.
I’m not sure that Haines would fit in with a correct hitting philosophy. His approach is largely reaffirming the organizational approach of relying heavily on data and trends to provide a sort of predictability at the plate. This doesn’t exist.
This organization needs to learn how to develop their hitters to operate in the unpredictable situations. Or, better yet, how to make each individual situation as predictable as possible in real-time, rather than trying to predict a specific outcome.
What is the pitcher likely to throw and where to during the specific count? What is the plan of attack? How does the plan change if the pitcher throws the alternate pitch? Is there a third option to defend against?
I think the pitching coach has influence over the plan of attack. That’s not to say that every plan of attack is a good one. And if the plan is influenced by an organizational philosophy that forces a bad plan, there’s nothing that Haines can do but continue believing in the plan.
The Pirates seem to be sticking with their approach all season. It looks like they’re giving Tellez, Grandal, and Taylor as long as possible to turn things around, just like they did with Austin Hedges last season, before trading him at the deadline. They’ll likely give Andy Haines the rest of the season as the hitting coach.
In the end, we’ll see if their plan finally worked, or if they truly had a flawed approach.
I do think it’s important to note right now that the plan is obviously not working, but that it’s only obvious to some. The Pirates are reaffirming that they are not of the “obvious” belief by keeping things the same for as long as possible.
At a certain point, inaction becomes an action in and of itself.
The Pirates are doubling down on the overall organizational hitting philosophy. The rest of the season will show the outcome of that wager. And if the hitting doesn’t rebound, that will be the first sign that they didn’t take proper action to address a flaw with a team that could contend.
Pirates Beat the Reds
The Pirates offense showed up in a big way on Tuesday night.
Bryan Reynolds hit his 13th homer of the year in the first inning, and extended his hitting streak to 22 games. The Pirates took an early 3-0 lead, then added three more runs in the third, helped by a two RBI single from Edward Olivares.
A two run homer by Jared Triolo in the fifth inning gave Mitch Keller an 8-0 lead. Keller ended up allowing four runs, three earned, in his final two innings of work. He pitched 5.2 innings, striking out six, and walking three.
Carmen Mlodzinski pitched 2.1 perfect innings of relief. Mlodzinski has looked great this month as a long reliever, working either as an opener or an extended reliever to save the rest of the bullpen in games like this. The Pirates ended up winning 9-5, with Mlodzinski shutting down the Reds scoring after Keller began to struggle.
Roster Moves
**RHP Aaron Shortridge had his rehab assignment transferred to Single-A Bradenton. He previously pitched five innings across two appearances in the FCL.
**LHP Ryan Borucki began a rehab assignment with the Indianapolis Indians.
**RHP Fineas Del Bonta-Smith was activated from the 7-day injured list in Indianapolis.
**OF Canaan Smith-Njigba was placed on the development list, from Indianapolis. He was hitting .212/.344/.330 this year, in his third season at the level.
**LHP Luis Peralta was promoted to Altoona, and made his Double-A debut last night. RHP Valentin Linarez was sent down to Greensboro, after a 6.46 ERA and a 28:19 K/BB in 30.2 innings at the Double-A level.
**Altoona activated catcher Eli Wilson off the 7-day injured list. Wyatt Hendrie was sent down to Greensboro to make room.
Pirates Prospects Daily
Braxton Ashcraft threw five shutout innings in his latest start for Indianapolis. Luis Peralta was also promoted to Altoona, pitching 2.1 innings in relief. Read about all of Tuesday’s action in the latest Pirates Prospect Watch.
Pirates Prospect Watch: Braxton Ashcraft Throws Five Shutout in Triple-A
In this week’s Statcast Heroes, I highlighted the big hits from Oneil Cruz and Rowdy Tellez, the Triple-A pitching depth (which includes Ashcraft), and the performance this month of Javier Rivas in Bradenton.
Statcast Heroes: Oneil Cruz, Rowdy Tellez, Triple-A Pitching Depth, Javier Rivas
