Sing with me!

[klaiggeb]

Sung to the tune of Simon and Garfunkels' Mrs. Robinson."

"Where have you gone, Joe-e-Panik-O, our fan base sadly turns our eyes to you.

Pew, Pew, Pew.

What's that you say, Giant Hitting coaches, Steady Joey's bat has gone away...

I say no way..."


Like everyone, I keep asking myself, what the heck happened to Joe?

And I have no answers.

My best guess, and I believe it's right on the mark, is that all of this steady decline goes back to a year or so ago when he got beaned by Moore.

But that cannot be all of it.

Going to his right he failed to come up with a ball that for HIM, had been routine, kicking it and allowing the runner to get on.

This is NOT the Joe we remember PRIOR to his back injury last year.



So what is the reason?

There isn't one.

I'm suggesting 2; the beaning and the back injury.

Some players/many players never really EVER come all the way back after being hit squarely in the head.

Joe is likely one of those.

[sfgdood]

Not your best work but I get it...that's why I keep saying we need to stop letting sentiment guide our decisions in the FO. We need to be VERY active trading this offseason. We can;t hold on to dead weight.

[klaiggeb]

Agreed, not my best.

Then again, I put it together in about 3 minutes.

I really thought "Pew, pew, pew," really hit a bulls eye summing up Panik's CRAPPY at bats.

I'm on the "Randy-Train to Freedom," with you, Randy.

And based upon Sabean's comments, NONE of the core players is safe.



Until this year, I've been HUGE Panik and Slater fans.

Not any more.

I've soured on Slater in a way that's even hard for me to describe.

Taking pitches right down the guy, just like McCutchen did, REFUSING to turn on inside pitches, hitting weak ground balls...

The guy can hit... but he's flushing a career away because, like so many big leaguers, he REFUSES to adjust and make the necessary changes.

[rog]

Last year I spoke that Slater was hitting over his head. Your comments now seem to be confirming that, Boly.

I agree with you that he seemed to cover the inside pitch better last season. Even then though, he didn't pull the ball well in the air. This season he has had an even harder time doing it. His spray chart looks look a left-handed pull hitter who can't hit the ball to left field.

He pulls the ball on the ground OK, but he just can't pull it in the air. Does that tell us he's overplaying his top hand when he turns on the ball? I can't remember ever seeing a right-handed hitter -- other than perhaps a pitcher -- who just can't pull the ball in the air, but has little problem doing so on the ground.

What is he doing wrong, Boly?

[klaiggeb]

Firstly is his absolute reluctance to change.

As EVERYONE always points out, he likes to hit the ball to the right side, thus, it's always "Knob-lead, throw the hands out first," which creates power and bat speed to the right side.

But to be a complete hitter, he must learn, or be willing to learn, how to get the bat head OUT IN FRONT OF inside pitches, OR, and this is where his biggest problem lies, getting the bat head out front on pitches DOWN THE FREAKING HEART OF THE PLATE!

THAT is what he does not do.

Instead, it's still knob lead, hit it to the right side.



Everyone on the Giants feels he has power; + power, but until he learns to pull the ball, that power will rarely show up.

In that respect, he's like early Brandon Belt, who WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO THE GIANTS always wanted to hit the ball the other way.

When he finally learned to pull the ball, he became a power guy.

Still has that stupid, Cricket-bat swing, but he has power.


If Slater will open up his damned ears and listen, he can become that + power guy who could hit 15-20 Hrs, much like Finely did years ago.

Thirdly, and finally, he swings DOWN at the ball.

As far as I know that technique to create backspin on the baseball hasn't been taught since the 1980's.

But that's what he does.

He is a guy who COULD benefit from launch angle, as Mac Williamson did.

But all I've seen from him this year is stubbornness in the Belt-Bochy mode.

[sfgdood]

I'm still hopeful on Slater...he's young and can get better...he has the tools. But Panik is not young anymore and I'm not convinced his head wont continue to be foggy the rest of his career. He'll have good moments and bad...but he can't be trusted to stay healthy and consistent.

"Goodbye Joe, you gotta go, me oh my-oh."

[klaiggeb]

Good call on Joe both with the foggy head analysis, and the song.

I'm convinced that that concussion is still having it's effects.

What about Mac?

Hopefully NOT the same thing.

At least HE wasn't hit in the head by a pitch.

[rog]

Everyone on the Giants feels he has power; + power, but until he learns to pull the ball, that power will rarely show up.


Rog -- Austin hit one of the longest homers of any Giant last season. I think it may have been THE longest. It was hit to left-center field, closer to second base than third. That is where Austin has hit three of his four homers. The other was to straight-away right field. He has also hit two balls a long way to right-center, but not surprisingly given his home park they stayed in the yard.

I believe when Austin hit that long home run, he hit the ball on that "perfect" sweet spot where the batter barely feels the ball hit the bat, and that the belief in his raw power was sparked partly by that one blow.

The deepest Austin has hit a ball to closer to third base than to second appears to have gone about 350 feet and resulted in a fly out.

In his career, Austin has hit only four balls in the air that have been clearly closer to third base than to second and three others that are close to equidistant. On the other hand, the clear majority of ground balls he has hit have been pulled. The issue isn't truly that Austin can't pull the ball, it's that he can't pull the ball AND hit it in the air.

Mechanically, why do you think that is, Boly (and others)?






Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/4815/sing-me#ixzz5QhuLA6U6

[rog]

Brandon Belt, who WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO THE GIANTS always wanted to hit the ball the other way.


Rog -- Brandon has pulled the ball in the air slightly more each season. Through 2016 he hit more balls in the air to the left side of second than the right. 2017 was the first season he hit slightly more air balls to the right side, and this season the difference has increased a bit more.

As we've long been saying, Brandon's problem hasn't been so much that he doesn't hit the ball enough to the left side as it has been that he hasn't gone that way with enough ground balls and line drives.

Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/4815/sing-me?page=1#ixzz5Qi0OaAS1