I was recently re-reading the book Think Better Baseball: Secrets from major league coaches and players for mastering the mental game. It was written by Bob Cluck was a major league coach and scout. He wrote a short passage entitled: Are You an RBI man?In this passage he is asking a great question regarding a hitters mindset in RBI situations. The question is should guys go out of the strike zone in RBI situations to drive in the runs? The hitters he is talking about is your middle of the line-up guys. He is not referring to your 7,8,9 hitters.
He is basically saying they should go out of the zone in order to drive in runs. He uses guys like Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Ted Williams as examples of hitters who would not stray away from the strike zone but would instead take their walk and leave it to the next guy.
He asked the question is this being selfish or showing respect to their teammates? He then mentions hitters such as Edgar Martinez, Manny Ramirez, and Juan Gonzalez as hitters who will consistently go outside the strike zone if necessary to drive in runs. After all, they are getting paid big bucks to drive in runs not walk.
The questions is who is right? My personally opinion is I would prefer my RBI's Guy's to expand their zone, as long as it is a pitch they can put a good swing on, to be as aggressive as possible to drive in runs. Certain players in your line-up have a knack for it and to me it is in your advantage if you they are more aggressive to drive in runs.
I am curious what our readers philosophies are on this question. This is something I talk to my hitters about. We have certain guys in our line-up who are coached to be more aggressive in those situations and others who should continue to look for the ball in certain zones they are waiting for.
Definitely a valid debate. Completely situational in my mind, though. With runners in scoring position, I really don't mind my batters going after a pitch around the shoulders that they can put in the air.
ReplyDeleteBut as a coach, I will never get frustrated with a player, no matter the skill level, showing discipline at the plate and drawing a walk. It shows a team-based mentality and a trust in the next batter. At times I may pull a certain hitter aside and tell him to expand his zone, but those instances are far and few between.
A successful team should not solely rely on heroic swings at the plate by a select few hitters in the line-up. Walks are free bases, and can lead to multi-run innings.
So to answer the question, though not succintly, I believe that plate discipline should be favored over the RBI-man, except for rare cases.
Great Topic....Could discuss it for a long time..but the "Last I checked RBI'S win Baseball Games..."
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