“Juan is talented. I’ve noticed that,” Long said. “And I’m excited about this player. He’s got a nice demeanor about him. He’s confident. Obviously he’s going to have to hone in on the strike zone — and take these chases and swings out of the zone — and be able to lay off some pitches and determine what’s a pitch that he can do damage to. … Certainly laying off is going to do what? It’s going to increase his on-base percentage. I think with Juan it’s more: Can we maximize his ability to get on base? So he’s got some work to do.”
snip
“Instead of trying to get there all at once, you gradually get there,” Long said. “So we’ll do strike-zone stuff where we’ll say, ‘OK, let’s just swing at pitches middle [or] middle-away. Anything in, take it. Instead of trying to cover the whole strike zone and expand it.’ And you can do it early and you can do it in plus counts and a lot of times that will help as well. He’s got a good swing. And he’s always had the ability to get hits. He finds a way. I think he hit .285. The major league average is .250. So he’s 35 points up there. I think the point we’re looking at is: What is his on-base [percentage]? It’s probably .315-.320. If we can get that number up to .350-.360, you’ve gained on it quite a bit.”
Source: Adam Rubin at ESPN.com
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“If we can get that number up to .350-.360, you’ve gained on it quite a bit.”
Only two NL teams had a leadoff hitter with an OBP of .350 or higher last season. If Long can get Lagares’ OBP up to even .335-.340 I foresee some nice run support for our pitching staff that Terry loves to talk about.
Yeah, I think Collins has said .330-.340
I’ve come across five guys who served as their team’s primary leadoff hitter in the NL last year who topped .350 — Matt Carpenter, Denard Span, Christian Yelich, Carlos Gomez and Josh Harrison. Your overall point still stands.
The issue is that not only does Lagares have to increase his walks, he also has to keep his BABIP at a high level. The NL average BABIP was exactly .300 last year and Lagares’ was .341
Makes me wonder what the hell was going on with Hudgens. We suspected he was spewing a lot of refried mumbo jumbo — and this would appear to support that.
Hudgens is obviously talented or he never would have been on a MLB staff. Like it is in almost any industry, when you are comparing the best of the best; good communication skills set you apart. It is clear that K. Long is an exceptional communicator. Hudgens was just not as good, they players have said that he confused them.