Feeling Blue

The Defensive Specialist wanted to take a break from making horrible series predictions and answer a couple of questions that have recently hit the comments box and email.

First up from an anonymous poster:

I'd like the Defensive Specialist to weight in on this one...In what rulebook in PROFESSIONAL baseball; can a team put a COACH on the field? I have nothing against Mike Wells; I've just never heard of allowing a coach to suit up and play. Wells was NOT on the 22-man roster, nor was he on the 35-man roster (the minor leagues). The team still has several very good position players who ARE on the roster who have not had the chance to get out on the field. Why not let them suit up and play? If the ABL really wants to be taken seriously by the world of Professional Baseball; then they really should follow the rules. You won't see this kind of thing happening in Major League Baseball! The Bite should play this series under protest!

Well that’s a different question! Not since the days of the ‘player coach’ has the Defensive Specialist heard of a coach getting into a game in professional baseball. A quick check of the Multiculturalists roster indicates that 23 guys are listed ‘active’ as of 8.05pm on Tuesday night. As far as the Defensive Specialist knows teams can only nominate 22 players per series and that roster is fixed. We have seen considerable flexibility around the 35 man rosters with players coming and going throughout the season, but to extend the active roster by an additional man seems a little slim shady quite frankly.

Obviously the goal of the ABL in the early days is to put a good product out on the field each and every week, so roster flexibility is a good thing as it prevents teams from being decimated by injury and playing short. It does seem odd however that a 23rd man could be pulled into action especially as it’s really only beneficial to the home team who have additional players on hand to draw from. In fact, something similar happened in Perth last weekend when a player was struck down by illness (and taken to hospital by ambulance) and replaced on the roster by a substitute. The originally listed player did not appear and his replacement saw no game time either. The Defensive Specialist has to assume that there is some fine print allowing teams to make changes to the 22-man roster under exceptional circumstances.

The situation that unfolded in Canberra was stranger still because the replacement player was a coach. Michael Wells put down his stopwatch, stepped into the lineup and proceeded to go 3-8 with a double, 3 RBI’s and 2 runs scored. From an outsider’s perspective, it doesn’t make the league look overly professional when coaches can stroll in to the lineup to fill a hole. Without knowing exactly what went down during that series (injury, illness, domestic disharmony) it’s tough to argue that it was a bush league move, however the Defensive Specialist vows to get a ruling on it and report back ASAP.

From a concerned Sydney Blue Sox fan:

Hey D Spec,

I was interested in hearing your thoughts on the Blue Sox’ struggles at the plate to start the season. Our pitching staff is pretty legit but its asking a lot of them to hold teams to 1 or 2 runs per game since our hitters cant score any more than that at the moment.

Cheers

MJ

MJ,

For a team that’s 10-4 and atop the ABL standings, it’s interesting how much talk there is of the Blue Sox offensive woes. The Defensive Specialist has seen more of the Sox than any other team and has been doing quite a bit of thinking about their line-up of late mainly because with their  stellar pitching staff, they could legitimately take the league apart if the offense ever got going.

The great Ted Williams used to say that the hardest thing to do in sport is hit a round ball with a round bat squarely. He’s right on the mark with that statement! The Defensive Specialist has a couple of solid reasons why the hitting may be down:

Firstly the overall quality of pitching in the league is significantly better than what we saw last year in the Claxton Shield. Every team is able to run out at least 2 starting pitchers who would be deemed above average. Where last year teams could knock out the starter and then feast on the bullpen, teams are now able to roll quality arms out in relief making life tougher for hitters. The other noticeable difference is the uptick in velocity around the league – more guys are dialling it up, once again making it tougher on hitters who have to contend with greater changes in speed. The improvement is attributable to imports, greater involvement from Australian professionals and steroids.

(Ok that last point was a fabrication)

Another factor to consider is that teams are only playing 4 times per week with anywhere from 3-5 days in between series. Hitting is all about repetition and timing so only strapping it on a couple of times per week can play havoc with a player’s rhythm and comfort levels. For starting pitchers who are used to 5 days between starts this break in action is somewhat more manageable. You could say that hitters are somewhat underdone each week while going up against pitchers who are on a typical pitching rotation. That’s always going to create disparity.

While the above 2 paragraphs seem like sound reasons why a team may not be hitting, it doesn’t do much to explain how teams like Adelaide are hitting the cover off the baseball. It may be more helpful to take a look at the Sydney line up and see if the Defensive Specialist can identify any major issues. The first thing that stands out is that Manager Glenn Williams is not blessed with a significant amount of depth offensively meaning that he doesn’t have a plethora of sticks that he can turn to when one of his starters isn’t getting it done. There are 4 guys (Andy Graham, the Bossman, Alex Johnson and Stone Hands Maat) who are able to rotate through the catcher, first base, DH positions but other than those 4, the options off the bench have been Josh Dean and Trent Schmutter (who has been hot of late). This lack of depth has forced Williams to stick with the same guys who have just struggled to get it going.

Lets run down the line up and take a closer look.

1. Trent D’Antonio- The Defensive Specialist must admit that he enjoys watching D’Antonio hit, mainly because he gets in there and grinds it out (and doesn’t mind dishing a spray at the home plate umpire on strike 3 calls). As a lead off hitter D’Antonio has walked 11 times while hitting .280 for a solid .419 on base percentage that would please his manager. He has a solid split average-wise against lefties and righties (.295 / .273) and has been particularly effective with runners on base.

Grade: B+ 

2. Techno Tim Auty – It pains the Defensive Specialist to see one of Deep in the Hole’s favourite players scuffling with a .219 average. Rumours are swirling that Techno Tim’s increased focus on his dance career is detracting from his baseball. The Defensive Specialist prefers to believe that it is the fact that he drifts a little at the plate coupled with the increased quality and velocity of pitching that is making things a little tougher for him.

Grade: D (recent win in the World Electronic Dance Championships: A++)

3. Mitch Dening: Dening’s swing has caused stirrings in the Defensive Specialist’s loins for some time now. Sydney’s 3-hole hitter has not replicated the success he had last season but to be fair he leads the team in hard hit balls straight at the defence. Denings power numbers are down and all of his success has come off right handed pitching. In fact, he has had a rotten time against left-handed pitching this season with a paltry 1-16 performance which has lead Williams in recent times to move him down the order when a southpaw has taken the mound to decrease his exposure.

Grade: C

4. Stone Hands Maat – the big fella had a rock solid season last year and was expected to plug the 4 hole and drive in runs for the 2010 Blue Sox. Things haven’t gone quite according to plan, with Maat languishing at .171 with 17 punch-outs (in comparison Maat had 13K’s in 23 games last season). His slugging % (.244) and OBP (.261) are nowhere close to his career norms, which has to be alarming to his manager. The Defensive Specialist has mentioned previously that Maat has appeared to struggle catching up to the fastball which can be attributed to a) greater velocity around the league and b) his swing being longer than the Defensive Specialist remembers from years past.

Grade: F

5. Andrew Graham: Graham got off to a hot start last season and settled into a middle order run producer. This year Graham has yet to get things going at the plate which may be a clever developmental tool for his new managerial career – you know, tasting failure so that he can coach players through it, although that may be reading too much into it. Like Stone Hands, Graham seems to be susceptible to the firm stuff and has grown increasingly pull-conscious therefore exposing himself to offspeed stuff.

Grade: F

6. Alex Johnson: The man from parts unknown exploded onto the scene winning a player of the week award before cooling off in recent weeks. Johnson has shown glimpses of power as evidenced by his 3 home runs and 10 RBI’s but may now be a victim of his early success as teams pay more attention to his at bats and pitch him with greater caution. The key for Johnson is adjusting to this increased scrutiny from opposing pitching staffs which means he’ll need to hit the breaking ball.

Grade: B+

7. The Bossman: A young hitter playing on the big stage consistently for the first time, the Bossman has had some success driving the ball into the gaps but has not been a run producer as yet this season. He does seem to want to pull the ball at any given chance which is understandable considering that if he ever makes the big leagues it will be as a banger but this approach may be exposing him to breaking balls and the outside pitch.  His manager seems to be using him selectively against lefties and letting him get after right handed pitching which he is handling much better (albeit in a small sample size).

Grade: B-

8. Michael Lysaught: Despite leading the team in stolen bases, Lysaught has not done a great deal at the plate at all this season. He has managed only one extra base hit while striking out 16 times. He showed considerably more pop last year although the strike out has always been part of his modus operandi. Ordinarily a team can carry a light hitting middle infielder who provides defence, unfortunately the Blue Sox are carrying more than 1. Lysaught seems prone to expanding his strike zone, which sees him chasing out of the zone.

Grade: D-

9. Mark Holland: Holland was meant to be the light hitting infielder who provided solid defence at second base. He has had a tough time at the plate thus far this season and looks somewhat overmatched at times. Typically your 8 hole hitter would feast on fastballs as pitchers don’t want to mess around with the lower order but Holland has had trouble catching up, punching out 14 times in 15 games. While manager Williams would obviously love more from his second baseman, he could probably afford to carry him if the rest of his line up was producing at expected levels.

Grade: F

10. David Kandilas: One of the few bright spots in the Sydney line up, Kandilas has settled into the 9 hole and flourished, hitting at a .306 mark with 9 runs scored and an OBP of .422. While he hasn’t provided a great deal of extra base power he has shown a discerning eye (6 base on balls to the 9 hole guy is impressive considering most pitchers would rather get right after this spot in the order) and signs of speed. The tricky thing for Williams is whether or not to promote Kandilas up the line up when he is having such clear success where he currently is.

Grade: A

From that brief overview of the main players in the Sydney order, it is clear to see that they’re really suffering from the underperformance of guys who have truly deviated from their norms (Stone Hands & Graham and to a lesser extend Dening). If those 3 guys find a way to get it going again and the likes of Auty and Lysaught can provide just a little more, the line up could be formidable. Now if you add Trent Oeltjen to the mix, things get downright scary.

The upside to it all? The Blue Sox are 10-4 with a lights out pitching staff and the knowledge that good pitching beats good hitting almost every time.

Later this week – more less than reliable series predictions