Highest chase rate in the MLB with the worse bullpen in MLB

[Ducksnort]

The team is broken. Numbers back that up, as clearly evidenced in this thread. They are the laughing stock of the league. Thinking they will turn it around is false hope. Given the circumstances and promises that were made, we have to have the most depressing team-situation (other than maybe the A's) in the league.

I am fully convinced that nothing will change until Jerry, Kenny and Rick are gone. Not just Rick, as some have ascertained. All 3. I had full faith in them when the rebuild was taking place. I was combating the nay-sayers who were saying the exact things a lot of us are now, and should now be saying I told you so. What an absolute joke. How do the 3 of them continue to try and run this ballclub? What does it take to tell you that you are no longer good at your job and should pass it along to someone else?

Edited April 24, 2023 by ScootsMcGoots

[Tomas]

Right now. This team sucks. Undisciplined hitters. Limited power. Horrible bullpen. Hahn is a disaster 

[joejoesox]

Was Robert this bad in the minors against breaking balls? Or did they even challenge him with anything but fastballs 

[wegner]

1 hour ago, whitesoxfan99 said:

It isn’t because players are pressing.  This isn’t a new issue for this group of players 

They sure look to be getting worse.  When I watched at the beginning of the season, Robert was laying off pitches out of the strike zone for example but that did not last.

[JoeC]

37 minutes ago, joejoesox said:

Was Robert this bad in the minors against breaking balls? Or did they even challenge him with anything but fastballs 

Quality / consistency of pitches probably wasn't the same.

This is what I keep beating on about - we don't do a good job developing out players' deficiencies in the minors.

[bmags]

1 minute ago, JoeC said:

Quality / consistency of pitches probably wasn't the same.

This is what I keep beating on about - we don't do a good job developing out players' deficiencies in the minors.

We wait until they struggle, which for Robert didn’t really happen. But it’s why they thought our last HC was good, he got high swing and miss players to drums contact. They just sacrificed all power and patience for it.

Hard to unwise this stuff.

[Balta1701]

16 minutes ago, bmags said:

We wait until they struggle, which for Robert didn’t really happen. But it’s why they thought our last HC was good, he got high swing and miss players to drums contact. They just sacrificed all power and patience for it.

Hard to unwise this stuff.

“Hard to unwise(?) this stuff” doesn’t seem to fit with a guy like Benintendi coming in and dialing the ground balls up to 11 though. 

One alternative is that their new hitting coaches sold Hahn on the idea that ground balls would be even more valuable with the new rules and that sounded to him like the great idea he was already ready to hear.

[Chicago White Sox]

“We will control the strike zone on both sides” doesn’t seem to be coming to fruition Pedro.

[bmags]

25 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

“Hard to unwise(?) this stuff” doesn’t seem to fit with a guy like Benintendi coming in and dialing the ground balls up to 11 though. 

One alternative is that their new hitting coaches sold Hahn on the idea that ground balls would be even more valuable with the new rules and that sounded to him like the great idea he was already ready to hear.

Hard to unwind. I'm sure that was difficult.

It's 19 games. This isn't the first small game sample Benintendi has collected with a high ground ball rate.

[Tnetennba]

14 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

“We will control the strike zone on both sides” doesn’t seem to be coming to fruition Pedro.

Pedro said all the right things before the season, but boy has the team not backed any of it up.  Makes me wonder if he is more mouthpiece yes-man than legit manager.  

[Tnetennba]

2 hours ago, ScootsMcGoots said:

The team is broken. Numbers back that up, as clearly evidenced in this thread. They are the laughing stock of the league. Thinking they will turn it around is false hope. Given the circumstances and promises that were made, we have to have the most depressing team-situation (other than maybe the A's) in the league.

I am fully convinced that nothing will change until Jerry, Kenny and Rick are gone. Not just Rick, as some have ascertained. All 3. I had full faith in them when the rebuild was taking place. I was combating the nay-sayers who were saying the exact things a lot of us are now, and should now be saying I told you so. What an absolute joke. How do the 3 of them continue to try and run this ballclub? What does it take to tell you that you are no longer good at your job and should pass it along to someone else?

Cushy exclusive gig with lifetime job security, zero accountability, and no mandate to do the hard work of trying to be best.  The boss is happy, and that is their sole job parameter.  

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

10 hours ago, wegner said:

If the highest chase rate is due to the players pressing because they are struggling to win, ok.  But if that is just who they are, I don't see how this team turns it around. Advanced scouting will see these guys coming and opposing pitching staffs will be licking their chops.

That's the thing though Wegs. Pressing should not result in swinging more and if it does then they don't understand the concept of baseball as a team sport.

The more base runners,  the more runs you score, the more you win. The more you swing at pitches out of the zone,  the more pitchers will throw pitches out of the zone, the less you get on base, less base runners, less runs, less wins.

It's a simple unselfish way to play the game. At some point with enough guys getting on base heros emerge. The approach has to be the same no matter the situation. Pitchers pitch you in some combination of up ,down, in ,and out and various velocity and spins. You have scouting reports. You should have a good idea of what's happening up there. I don't mind guys looking at pitches on the outside edges for strike 3 because teaching for those away pitches is how they end up swinging at stuff out of the zone away. Hitting is extremely difficult. So difficult in fact that your have to eliminate and identify pitches you won't swing at because they don't play into your strengths. You cannot cover every pitch and that's the problem many times teaching these guys an opposite field approach. They look for too many pitches where they are reaching and making weaker contact instead of preaching patience. Patience equals getting better in zone pitches , pitches you can get in front of and pull. Pulling equals harder contact, more barrels more HRs.

 

[Slayer12]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:32 AM, Snopek said:

There’s just no way to know this though. For all we know, he’s putting in the work but the players, as you say, are just “too stubborn or stupid to make adjustments.”

Then he isn't doing his job as a coach. Not holding coaches and/or players accountable is at the basis of all terrible organizations in sports.  

Prime example is all over this board. JR isn't holding his FO accountable for their failures. The trickle down affect has hit the field..... and now we are 7-15 and look like absolute garbage.