Gordon Beckham: What To Do?

[Balta1701]

Maybe change his intro music?

I heard that song on the radio coming into work this morning. Thanks to his slump, it almost made me cry.

 

[chetkincaid]

Maybe change his intro music?

 

 

Please please PLEASE change his intro music. It used to be kind of cool, but now it's really annoying. Good God change it.

 

It's almost as annoying as OOOEEEOOO MAGGLIO! used to be.

 

 

As a matter of fact, he shouldn't have any intro music. IF YOU'RE BATTING UNDER .280, YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED INTRO MUSIC!!!

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2010 by Chet Kincaid

[flavum]

Chet--I like that rule. Maybe I'd say .250, but Beckham needs to lose the music.

[Bubba Philips]

I would rather Beckham be sent down in the lineup, not sent down to AAA. I don't think it will help him w/ the breaking ball if he goes to AAA and faces mediocre ones. The only thing I can see a AAA stint doing is boosting his confidence by crushing bad pitching, then again, it may rattle his confidence by losing his job. So, I'd rather he just start hitting out of the 7th or 8th spot.

Im sure if we, the fans know he has problem with breaking balls. he's going to get a steady diet from opposing pitchers. Pierre has a .297 obp so 7 out of 10 chance that when beckham is up pierre is in the dugout. He needs to be batting after someone that has a high obp and a base stealer. That would be after Rios

[Balta1701]

Im sure if we, the fans know he has problem with breaking balls. he's going to get a steady diet from opposing pitchers. Pierre has a .297 obp so 7 out of 10 chance that when beckham is up pierre is in the dugout. He needs to be batting after someone that has a high obp and a base stealer. That would be after Rios

Pitchers really don't care as much as you'd like to think about throwing fastballs with a base stealer on 1b.

[The Ginger Kid]

since this season seems to be on the tracks to a 3rd place finish, why not let Gordon work it out?

[Jerksticks]

And why do they play the Outfield song AGAIN when he gets on base. Cut the music; dude's gotta earn it back. It's only cool when he's hitting doubles down the right field line.

[pktmotion]

As "Slayer's" biggest fan on this site, I think it's obvious he needs to get sent down to AAA. He's shown absolutely no signs of breaking out of his month long slump, and you can really see the frustration in his body language on the field and in the dugout. I don't even care about how his performance is hurting the team right now, as this season is looking like a long shot. It's vitally important for this franchise that Beckham is a productive starting 2nd baseman for years to come, and he needs to go back to the minors and regain his confidence. As someone else said in the game thread, maybe a few new voices from the Charlotte hitting coach will help him out. I really respect how Ozzie has handled Beckham's struggles this season, FWIW

 

Keep him out there, he's gonna have lumps, but you have to show confidence in him to get through it. I'm torn whether or not to move him down in the lineup.

Maybe the 2 spot does bear a great level of pressure and moving him down would alleviate this, but he's gonna see a lot more fastballs (better pitches) in the 2 spot than if he were hitting 6, 7, or 8. Whatever you do you don't send him back to the minors, he's a major league talent, a move like that would be regressive in his development. I have faith he'll get it together.

[Balta1701]

Maybe the 2 spot does bear a great level of pressure and moving him down would alleviate this, but he's gonna see a lot more fastballs (better pitches) in the 2 spot than if he were hitting 6, 7, or 8.

Really, no he isn't. We tested this last year with Podsednik (a base stealing threat who actually got on base at a good clip) in the leadoff spot and Alexei (solid fastball hitter, terrible breaking ball hitter) in the 2 hole. Despite the supposed base stealing threat hitting 1st, and despite offensive guys hitting behind him, our #2 hitter saw the fewest fastballs of any #2 hitter in baseball...because everyone knew that you had to throw breaking stuff to get Alexei out.

[pktmotion]

Really, no he isn't. We tested this last year with Podsednik (a base stealing threat who actually got on base at a good clip) in the leadoff spot and Alexei (solid fastball hitter, terrible breaking ball hitter) in the 2 hole. Despite the supposed base stealing threat hitting 1st, and despite offensive guys hitting behind him, our #2 hitter saw the fewest fastballs of any #2 hitter in baseball...because everyone knew that you had to throw breaking stuff to get Alexei out.

 

Thankfully Beckham has a better eye than Alexei. I have more faith in him taking a walk than "Trigger Happy" Ramirez.

[AWhiteSoxinNJ]

Send him down for the rest of the season.

 

The team rushed him up as a quick band-aid when he clearly wasn't ready.

 

I said this over a month ago.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Send him down for the rest of the season.

 

The team rushed him up as a quick band-aid when he clearly wasn't ready.

 

I said this over a month ago.

 

Right, someone who puts up a .270/.347/.460/.807 line with 14 HR 63 RBI (and 28 2B) in 378 at bats as a rookie CLEARLY was not ready.

 

Ugh.

[flavum]

So a guy that played 2/3 of a baseball season that hit .270, 14 homers, 28 doubles, and knocked in 63....and learned a new position at the major league level and did well, was rushed to the majors? Uh, no.

 

This is just a slump. A slump that a lot of second year players go through (Coghlan). He will get through it, and be fine. I have no doubt about that. Could Beckham be sent down for a short time to get his swing back? Sure, that may be the right thing to do for him. But he should not be sent down for the rest of the year, and he wasn't "rushed".

[justBLAZE]

Then there is the Josh Fields case... but yes I agree with not sending him down to the minors.

[Chisoxfn]

The good news is he sounds confident. I think he just feels a lot of pressure and because of that he's just tight. Still has a very good eye though, but he's just got to get his head movement down, which seems to be caused a lot by him over-swinging. He'll pull out of this funk or at least I hope he will.

[BearSox]

This is another clear example of why Greg Walker needs to go now. Im a fan of the whole hands off approach, make minor suggestions or alterations from there.

 

But there is a clear hole in Beckham's swing and approach that needs to be fixed. The way he holds his hands is just awful. Sure, he was able to get away with due to his high talent level, you dont hit the way he did in college, the minors, and last year without having a ton of talent. However, pitchers see his weakness and they have been relentless exploiting it this whole year, and Beckham has yet to make a single adjustment.

 

Watch every Beckham AB closely, overwhelmingly, you will see breaking stuff outside and fastballs out of the zone inside. If he re-adjusted his hands and held his bat up in a more classic position, he'd see much better results.

 

The way he holds his bat now is just wrong and you'll never really see that with any professional hitters. Sure, it worked for him for a while, but it dont work no more.

[Jordan4life_2007]

This is another clear example of why Greg Walker needs to go now. Im a fan of the whole hands off approach, make minor suggestions or alterations from there.

 

But there is a clear hole in Beckham's swing and approach that needs to be fixed. The way he holds his hands is just awful. Sure, he was able to get away with due to his high talent level, you dont hit the way he did in college, the minors, and last year without having a ton of talent. However, pitchers see his weakness and they have been relentless exploiting it this whole year, and Beckham has yet to make a single adjustment.

 

Watch every Beckham AB closely, overwhelmingly, you will see breaking stuff outside and fastballs out of the zone inside. If he re-adjusted his hands and held his bat up in a more classic position, he'd see much better results.

 

The way he holds his bat now is just wrong and you'll never really see that with any professional hitters. Sure, it worked for him for a while, but it dont work no more.

 

Does Walker get any credit for PK, Jones and Rios?

[Quin]

Does Walker get any credit for PK, Jones and Rios?

 

No, hitting coaches are only responsible for those who suck.

[BigSqwert]

Does Walker get any credit for PK, Jones and Rios?

We're hitting .230 as a team and it's May 13th. Does any of that fall on him? And if not, how bad would our offense have to be in order for you to think we may need to go with someone else?

[greg775]

I think he just feels a lot of pressure and because of that he's just tight.

 

Isn't that the copout excuse for our whole team this year? They all feel the pressure? Didn't Oz say that in one of the rants?

What crap. Play ball.

 

Are we really eight or nine back in the loss column? This season sucks. Boring.

[Balta1701]

Link

[Balta1701]

OzzieGuillen: Why people worrie about gordon song oh my god this is crazy

[ThunderBolt]

I miss Your Love, sue me.

[dyuen]

So a guy that played 2/3 of a baseball season that hit .270, 14 homers, 28 doubles, and knocked in 63....and learned a new position at the major league level and did well, was rushed to the majors? Uh, no.

 

This is just a slump. A slump that a lot of second year players go through (Coghlan). He will get through it, and be fine. I have no doubt about that. Could Beckham be sent down for a short time to get his swing back? Sure, that may be the right thing to do for him. But he should not be sent down for the rest of the year, and he wasn't "rushed".

 

I hope its a slump but i am not positive about that yet. A lot of guys have had first year success and then ended up never matching it again. I think Coghlan could be one of those guys.

[elrockinMT]

:PMaybe Gordo and Quentin are just one shot wonders? Trade them and everyone else while their value is high

 

They will get it turned around. If he doesn't this is a heckuva character builder I am more concerned with Quentin at this point. We don't need 13 pitchers and our minor league system is still pretty slim