Supposedly Longeley is a rockstar recruiter. Know a walk on from UT baseball team last year. He was a pitcher so didn't really work with him to know if he could actually coach or not.

He did the same thing at Texas. They set records for home runs but also had games where they scored next to nothing.

Those are not the kind of swings we've been seeing from Jace recently.

TheDecadeSapling said:

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Do you think analytics has taken the place of good coaching?

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yes i do. their are lies, damn lies, and statistics/ analytics.

Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:

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TheDecadeSapling said:

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Do you think analytics has taken the place of good coaching?

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yes i do. their are lies, damn lies, and statistics/ analytics.

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They're*

Not everybody has Jeff Bagwell forearms. Dude would either send the ball to the LF bleachers, hit the roof of the Astrodome, or strike out. I miss the days of playing smart and doing whatever it takes to get on base.

Well. I am not sure his rock star recruiting is kicking in yet.

ensign_beedrill said:

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HoustonAg2106 said:

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Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:

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TheDecadeSapling said:

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Do you think analytics has taken the place of good coaching?

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yes i do. their are lies, damn lies, and statistics/ analytics.

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They're*

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There*

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Only on an Aggie forum….

Quote:

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yes i do. their are lies, damn lies, and statistics/ analytics.

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Statistics is never having to say you're certain.

I am confidant that any player who realizes that the coaching he is receiving is detrimental to his development and performance would disregard the damaging instructions he is receiving or seek help elsewhere.

True. Plus, a lot of these guys have "their guy" and that's someone who's not even affiliated with the A&M program. Jeremy Isenhower for Braden Montgomery. Chris Dunn for Jack Moss. Mike Earley and Caleb Longley ain't really getting in the way of what a hitter's chosen specialty coach is working on with him. Longley and Earley are smart enough hitting guys to know it's not one-size-fits-all with the swing. Approach needs to work with the team's offensive strategy though and that's where our coaches on staff weigh in.

Welcome to todays game of baseball. There are some very ugly and very bad swings at the Division I level, hell even in pro ball now. MLB Batting averages have been on a steady decline since the early 2000's.
The launch angle theory just absolutely minimizes the window for success of hitting a baseball. Which is a very hard to do even without a terrible swing of the barrel being 8 inches below the hands and the bat at a 45 degree angle through the zone. The HS level its absolutely atrocious. There are more bad hitters than good hitters. Just awful baseball, no other way to say it.
How about letting the ball travel and getting on plane and hitting behind the baseball with a middle/away approach. That seemed to work for a long time. This new era of "hitting" has worked for one guy....who happens to be a 6'7" freak. You're not that guy!

I wish the new hitting coach would stop over coaching. Why change their stance, their swing if they can already knock the cover off of the ball? Very troubling

HarryJ33tamu said:

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If our hitting coach is encouraging unnatural swing paths in order to maximize home runs, that would explain our hitting for the most part this season. He should also be fired yesterday if he's actually teaching/encouraging that.

We don't need to be swinging for the fences every at bat. We need baserunners and base hits.

Disclaimer - no idea if he's actually doing this. Just saying if he is, it's idiotic.

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Guys and gals,

It isnt about an unnatural swing when teaching youth to hit for power and HRs.

There has definitely been a HUGE push in youth baseball to teach swing angles and power that produce more HRs.

This was NOT the case in the 80s and 90s in my youth as a pretty good player.

As a youth select coach, I see this everywhere. Teaching nothing but pure launch angles and hitting for insane power.

Then you see someone like Terrence Kiel and realize that the majority of our players have little skill to simply put the ball in play.

I do blame our coaches for falling into the love of power baseball. When it goes well, it is amazing. But when it doesnt, this is the outcome.

I will say this. There is definitely a change in hitting approach over the last few weeks. Jace is a good example.

But terrible to be re-tweaking swings in middle of season.

victory said:

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Welcome to todays game of baseball. There are some very ugly and very bad swings at the Division I level, hell even in pro ball now. MLB Batting averages have been on a steady decline since the early 2000's.
The launch angle theory just absolutely minimizes the window for success of hitting a baseball. Which is a very hard to do even without a terrible swing of the barrel being 8 inches below the hands and the bat at a 45 degree angle through the zone. The HS level its absolutely atrocious. There are more bad hitters than good hitters. Just awful baseball, no other way to say it.
How about letting the ball travel and getting on plane and hitting behind the baseball with a middle/away approach. That seemed to work for a long time. This new era of "hitting" has worked for one guy....who happens to be a 6'7" freak. You're not that guy!

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Thank you. Brother. So true.

Hitters can be taught to keep the bat in the zone at specific angles. But it is excessively focused on HR swings. I see it ALL the time in Perfect Game tourneys. We teach our kids to hit...pure and simple.

And when we see a team like A&M....full of big, older kids. They strike out while we hit a lot of singles and wait for errors.

Gotta defend my childhood favorite player here... dude essentially hit .300 over 15 years. Hard to do that in today's "three true outcome" world of HR, K or BB.

Just for comparison:

Bagwell '94 MVP Season - finished 2nd in BA (.368) with only 65 Ks
Witt Jr. '24 (MVP RU) - finished 1st in BA (.332) with 106Ks

Obviously pitching has improved tremendously in 30 years, but don't reduce Bagwell to simply HR or K.

Bagwell's worst season for Ks (2001 - 135) would have him near 67th (too many people tied at same # of Ks and don't feel like counting - so let's call it 55th) most in the league in '24. And anyone would happily take that season from Bagwell today - almost identical to '19 Bregman (MVP-RU), aside from the obvious higher Ks.

Swing changes don't happen over night. Thousands of reps to change something. Front foot, shoulder this, bat path is arguable. Your path is your path.

However The interesting thing with making changes is, and this goes with any sport.

The brain tries to not let the hands fail. So there will ne a period of failure. That sometimes is difficult to overcome and we revert back to before.



Hitting coaches. Nevermind the game planning, pitchers tendencies during certain counts etc etc. banging a trash can (just kidding).

The biggest thing a hitting coach will do/can do from peewee to mlb.

Is make that hitter believe they can do anything. And that takes trust. Trust is not easily gained when it comes to something as personal as your swing. It is after all the only one in the world like it.

We don't need to be swinging for the fences every at bat. We need baserunners and base hits.

I think this is bigger than just swing path/launch angle.....the entire approach itself has changed and the plate discipline is no where near what we're used to seeing .

We have consistently been at or near top of the list in pitches/plate appearance and walks over the last three years....now we are tied for 90th in the country in walks (t12th in the SEC).

I just can't fathom why we would collectively as a team change the approach at the plate from what we've been doing over the last 3 years - some of, if not the, best offensive seasons in school history.

We saw a little but of this coming back yesterday in the middle innings where guys grinded out some great at bats but it was not consistent throughout the entire lineup/game.