It's April and the bats usually warm up with the temperature, but our bats have gone a little cold. Take out last Sunday's game and we are averaging less than 4 runs per game this month. What will get us back to being the one of the best offenses in the country?

I agree with what you noticed. Recently too many guys trying to play power ball instead of going with the pitch. Wonder if we will see more guys from the bench get a chance?

3 losses and we are complaining! We actually get a lot of men on base we seem to have issues w a timely hit or get a lot of double plays but we are playing great ball

Yeah those two grand slams on Sunday are real indicative of an offensive slump.

Not doing a good job of putting the ball in play, either.

Way, way too many K's. Just crippling to an offense.

Childress is a good coach, not a great coach, I think our new hitting coach is a great coach, hopefully this will send us to the proper places.

No baseball team is immune to the streaky nature of the game.

Of course, I would have once said that no team wins at a .91 clip...

It might also have a bit to do with the caliber of offense we are seeing trying to knock off the number one team in the nation. Everyone's bringing their A game.

Yes baseball is definitely streaky,

but... in Abilene's last 6 games, only one team has scored fewer than 4 runs... the Ags.

You'd think a 34-3 team would be dominating but it feels like lately they are just squeaking by.

I know I know, 34-3.... 'nuff said!

quote:

---

Childress is a good coach, not a great coach, I think our new hitting coach is a great coach, hopefully this will send us to the proper places.

---

Childress is doing an outstanding job with the pitchers, which is his responsibility. He leaves the offense to Bolt. Since it is our pitching that is getting us most of the wins this month then I give Childress the credit. Am I wrong in thinking that Bolt is responsible for our offense?

quote:

---

3 losses and we are complaining! We actually get a lot of men on base we seem to have issues w a timely hit or get a lot of double plays but we are playing great ball

---

I'm not complaining. This is a discussion board. So let us discuss our recent offensive struggles. We can do that and still recognize that we have had a great season so far. The coaches have noticed the offensive struggles also which is why we have seen a few bench players get ABs recently. So i don't see why we can't discuss this issue.

You think the Ags got up for a 8-25 team?

From last night, I don't think so. We still won, maybe not 25-1 like some foolish poster noted yesterday but baseball is that way.

quote:

---

You think the Ags got up for a 8-25 team?

From last night, I don't think so. We still won, maybe not 25-1 like some foolish poster noted yesterday but baseball is that way.

---

This trend is the whole month of April and not about just last night. Except for last Sunday our offense has struggled during April. Why??

I think the posters are right who mentioned that we have some hitters playing power ball instead of going with the pitch. So we are seeing more strikeouts and groundouts.

1) Guys are tired. It's that point in the season
2) Ags murdered mediocre-to-bad pitching early in the season, which really accounted for the super gaudy averages.
3) This month has featured a lot tougher pitching(even the starter last night) than earlier on, so some of the hidden struggles of this offense are shining through.
4) Last night was terrible, and it wasn't the first time it appeared that 3 or 4 of the same folks in the lineup just mentally never checked in to the game. That's frustrating. Once or twice, fine. But it's a trend with a few guys in the mid-week games.
5) K's have been high all year, and will continue to plague us.

In the end, it's not major cause for concern, but I'd say it's more averaging out to what this offense truly is. Gideon was never a true .380 hitter. Same with Birk. Those guys demolish weak pitching, but tend to struggle against tougher pitching. Time for some of them to shorten their strokes and focus on contact a bit more.

Also, I agree with whoever talked about pitching away. With the power number so high, teams are going to pepper the Ags away the rest of the season. If the ump is giving that call, then at least we have a pitching staff that can also take advantage. If the ump isn't giving the call, the Ags need to stay patient at the plate.

WE need to stop hitting into double plays and run the bases better. We could have lost last night to a lowly team because we need to learn to take what is there when it is tight.

And of course as usually is the case, the guys that are struggling the most are the ones that seem to always come up with men on.

quote:

---

You think the Ags got up for a 8-25 team?

From last night, I don't think so. We still won, maybe not 25-1 like some foolish poster noted yesterday but baseball is that way.

---

Foolish!!!?!! I resemble that remark!

That's baseball ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes you are going to miss pitches, roll over, and even line out. It is how you deal with that and make adjustments that define you as a player and a team. The players on the other teams are good too. Sometimes they play their best and you don't.
This team is 34-3, 16-3 since the start of conference play, 10-3 starting with their first loss, and 6-1 in this supposed dreadful month of April. By the way, four runs a game in this era of baseball is pretty darn good. Especially when you have the pitching staff the Ags have, and the power to keep the pressure on until the last out. Their opponent has scored more than four six times and equaled it four times. Who wouldn't have been happy with 27-6-4, 9-5 in in conference when the season started?
I would suggest that you sit back and enjoy this. It is a very special team that is accomplishing amazing things and having fun doing it. Again, it's baseball, you don't win every game by double-digit runs. Enough with the doom and gloom. This is a special team. Don't ruin the season for yourself by looking for reasons to expect a collapse.

And, don't lose sight of the fact that Bolt is still new and many of the hitters are having to tweak something they spent years creating. It's to change your swing and/or your mental approach and create new habits.

By nature, this lineup will hit into some double plays. It's incredibly right handed and slow. You could have assumed as much looking at the roster before the season began. It's why Bolt constantly has the hit and run on to try and stay out of it.

That's a bigger problem if you can't find a way to score in-between double plays. So far, against conference and non-conference pitching, we've found a way to do so.

Which bench players deserve more ABs?

quote:

---

1) Guys are tired. It's that point in the season

---

I don't believe 18-21 year old athletes are tired 2/3 of the way through the regular season. If they are then they will be completely dead by the playoffs in June. I don't think it's because the players are tired. I think it is their approach to hitting, trying to play power ball instead of going with the outside pitch.

quote:

---

Which bench players deserve more ABs?

---

Maybe Notte and Hinsley? Gideon was swinging for North Zulch last night

Nottebrook still is battling the nagging injury. Was glad to see Moroney get a plate appearance last night.

I would really like to see more of Hinsley. He puts together good at bats, has a great eye, and had some clutch moments earlier in the season.

Birk was a first pitch hitting machine earlier in the year. Is it as simple as teams aren't giving him anything first pitch anymore?

Birk obviously generates a lot of power from that small frame, but he does it by really dropping his hands and swinging loopy. Right now, guys peppering him away with fastballs and off speed stuff hurts that. He needs to do better going the other way with those outside fastballs. It'll force him to stop dropping his hands as much.

Lots of good points being made here. I'm glad this funk is happening because we have time to get everyone right. Winning games through times like this is a really good sign.

quote:

---

Birk obviously generates a lot of power from that small frame, but he does it by really dropping his hands and swinging loopy. Right now, guys peppering him away with fastballs and off speed stuff hurts that. He needs to do better going the other way with those outside fastballs. It'll force him to stop dropping his hands as much.

---

I'm going to pay more attention to this when he bats.

Earlier in the season he was keeping his hands inside a lot better, which was getting the barrel out in front. One some of his HR's, you could really see he got the barrel out way out in front and was able to get a great trajectory from such a short frame. So in that regard, the hands are ok if they drop a little. Lately it just appears he is dropping early and not able to have the same bat speed. On outside pitches it really shows as he's behind most all of them trying to pull the ball.

When he's on, his hands load really well and make fantastic contact. He was smashing balls down the line and all over earlier in the year.

I think Bolt can get that worked out. It just takes accepting that you have to go the other way if you are going to see 8/10 pitches on the outside part of the plate.

Here's a good video from his HS days where you can see it. This is obviously 3 years ago, but the main structure of his swing is still there to see.



He has that natural loop, which is fine. But he also drops his hands a bit just as he loads and swings, which is also fine.

That being said, if he's in a funk, or not timing pitches right, those hands tend to drop more than they need to, and it gets the swing off balance as well as slows down bat speed as his hands then have to catch back up to get on plane.

Birk smashes belt-to-chest high pitches, and low/inside pitches really well. If he can get his swing worked out on the outside stuff, he'll be a force.