Base Revolution

I get a moderately good chuckle every time I read that a Major League hitting instructor has been fired because the multi-million dollar hitters weren’t up to par with their offensive output. Just for fun, here is the running tally of hitting coaches the Los Angeles Dodgers have employed over the last 8 seasons!

Rick Down, Jack Clark, George Hendrick, Tim Wallach, Eddie Murray, Bill Mueller, Don Mattingly, and Mike Easler.

In case you don’t recognize all those names, here are their accumulative numbers:

Total Seasons Played in MLB - 113

Career Average - .283

Career HR’s - 1722

Now you can’t tell me that those seven former players know nothing about hitting. I will agree that some instructors have a tougher time relaying information than others, but those are some big time names! Here is what I think, and a lesson to be learned for all the youth baseball players trying to develop that perfect baseball swing.

I think the reason for the fad of ditching the hitting coach when the offense slumps comes from lack of ability to learn from a large percentage of big league hitters. Take our home town (Seattle) slumper, uh, er, I mean slugger, Richie Sexton. If that guy hits .225 in a season he should get a trip to the White House! This isn’t an isolated case. Once any hitter decides they have “arrived” and become comfortable, the downward spiral will take root.

The best advice I can give is to become a consistent learner who is devoted to understanding the art of hitting a baseball and the baseball swing process. Some of the best in baseball were never satisfied with their performance enough to stop working on the fundamentals that helped provide their success in the first place. Roberto Clemente and Ted Williams are a couple names that come to mind.