This thread is absolutely stupid. Screw the Tucker haters. Had to put up with a lot of bull**** last season

Good thing Tucker is coming around cause Springer and Altuve have been lackluster thus far.

AggiEE said:

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This thread is absolutely stupid. Screw the Tucker haters. Had to put up with a lot of bull**** last season

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This thread proves that reverse psychology works!!!

OP is a genius!!

Jul 25 - Aug 15 Slash - .192 AVG / .234 OBP / .329 SLG / .563 OPS

Aug 16-24 Slash - .400 AVG / .472 OBP / 1.033 SLG / 1.506 OPS

2020 Slash - .252 AVG / .310 OBP / .534 SLG / .844 OPS

Deluxe said:

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OP, can you do an Abraham Toro thread now?

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Altuve might be better.

Tucker clearly reads this forum because since I've posted this he's been on a hitting tear and playing really good defense.

You're all welcome.

Farmer1906 said:

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Tucker now leads or co leads the team in RBIs, runs, triples, & home runs.

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That is another reason to release him. He intentionally is making OP look like he knows nothing about baseball.

Joe Schillaci 48 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Tucker now leads or co leads the team in RBIs, runs, triples, & home runs.

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That is another reason to release him. He intentionally is making OP look like he knows nothing about baseball.

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Right.

Because completely sucking until 2 weeks ago was an indicator he'd just go off at the plate. His swing is still wonky which is why he fouls off so many pitches down the right-field line (his swing means timing is more critical than for most) but, he's started going the other way more frequently instead of trying to pull everything and rolling over on outside pitches. Him going the other way has caused him to get better pitches.

MuckRaker96 said:

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TarponChaser said:

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Joe Schillaci 48 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Tucker now leads or co leads the team in RBIs, runs, triples, & home runs.

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That is another reason to release him. He intentionally is making OP look like he knows nothing about baseball.

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Right.

Because completely sucking until 2 weeks ago was an indicator he'd just go off at the plate. His swing is still wonky which is why he fouls off so many pitches down the right-field line (his swing means timing is more critical than for most) but, he's started going the other way more frequently instead of trying to pull everything and rolling over on outside pitches. Him going the other way has caused him to get better pitches.

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I have a gut feeling the words "I was wrong" have never come out of your mouth.

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If he keeps it up the rest of the season we can revisit. Some guys have unorthodox swings and it works for them but if you watch Tucker swing and think he's doing what you want to coach a young player to do then you should just exit the discussion entirely.

How about if, when the season is done, he gets to the equivalent of what Bregman did as a rookie in 2017 I'll admit I was wrong?

Know how I know you don't know what you are talking about? Because you've talked about wonky swing like 5 time but have yet to elaborate why.

You know what long swings mean?

Power

Now he is more consistently elevating the ball and having an improved launch angle

ATM9000 said:

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Know how I know you don't know what you are talking about? Because you've talked about wonky swing like 5 time but have yet to elaborate why.

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Actually I have, but it might be in the main Astros thread.

Watch him. His first move is to drop his hands. This creates a swing where he's very long in getting to the ball. Meaning slower. It's a long, looping, sweeping motion rather than a compact driving of the hands. This creates more of an uppercut and leaves a hole in his swing. It also leaves him susceptible to lots of pop-ups because his top hand weakens and doesn't stay above the ball. And it frequently causes him to roll his hands on pitches away when he tries to pull them and causes weak grounders instead of driving his back hip towards SS and allowing him to go opposite field.

This is an old pic but it illustrates what he does really well. He's barred out with his right arm and that causes him to be slow. He's got to guess a lot more to be right on his timing:


Compare that with Yordan. See how his right arm is bent and the knob of the bat is pointed at the catcher? That allows him to get his bat on the shortest possible path to the ball. It's much more repeatable and allows you to cover more of the zone, as well as, fight off marginal pitches.



Here's slow-mo of Yordan who has a much more technically sound swing:



Compare that to Tucker:



See the difference? Tucker has a much longer, slower swing and generates power by being long to the ball with his whole body. When he's on with his timing like he has been the last two weeks he's going to hit the ball well but it's problematic for long-term success.

Look at how much smaller guys like Bregman generate power by being compact, short the ball, and long on their follow through. He keeps his hands inside and above the ball. A much more technically sound swing.



I also love this breakdown of Mookie Betts's swing. I figure Jim Thome and his 612 career homers knows a little bit.

https://www.mlb.com/redsox/video/jim-thome-talks-mookie-betts-c1954899283

<iframe src="https://streamable.com/m/jim-thome-talks-mookie-betts-c1954899283" width="560" height="315"></iframe>

astros4545 said:

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You know what long swings mean?

Power

Now he is more consistently elevating the ball and having an improved launch angle

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Anybody preaching "launch angle" as anything more than a neat stat-cast factoid doesn't know crap about hitting.

A "long swing" means a slow swing. Especially if it's long before you get to the ball like Tucker.

Harry Dunne said:

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TarponChaser said:

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MuckRaker96 said:

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TarponChaser said:

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Joe Schillaci 48 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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Tucker now leads or co leads the team in RBIs, runs, triples, & home runs.

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That is another reason to release him. He intentionally is making OP look like he knows nothing about baseball.

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Right.

Because completely sucking until 2 weeks ago was an indicator he'd just go off at the plate. His swing is still wonky which is why he fouls off so many pitches down the right-field line (his swing means timing is more critical than for most) but, he's started going the other way more frequently instead of trying to pull everything and rolling over on outside pitches. Him going the other way has caused him to get better pitches.

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I have a gut feeling the words "I was wrong" have never come out of your mouth.

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If he keeps it up the rest of the season we can revisit. Some guys have unorthodox swings and it works for them but if you watch Tucker swing and think he's doing what you want to coach a young player to do then you should just exit the discussion entirely.

How about if, when the season is done, he gets to the equivalent of what Bregman did as a rookie in 2017 I'll admit I was wrong?

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Bregman was a rookie in 2016.

In 2016 Bregman had 201 ABs. Tucker had his 201st AB a few weeks ago.Bregman had 556 ABs in 2017.

Tucker's best case scenario is 25-30 more games this season, so it won't be enough to close the book one way or the other, but I think if the 556 ABs that come after his 201st career AB are similar to Bregman's, we can all admit we were wrong.

So far in the first 37 of those 556 ABs he is hitting .378 with a 1.413 OPS, so that's pretty decent.

It's funny that you mention Bregman, because he also had a horrific start and any real Astros fan is hoping Tucker will follow suit after his bad start. I don't like his swing and his stupid dirt rubbing and his loafing around either, and he will definitely come down to earth eventually but if you can't be happy to be wrong about this one, you might be a Rangers fan.

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My bad on Bregman's rookie year- I confused the amount of appearances for a pitcher vs. ABs to still qualify as a rookie. It's 50 innings and he was in 49 games. 130 ABs burns your rookie year.

If Tucker keeps it up I'll admit I was wrong but a 2 week hot streak doesn't mean he's turned the corner.

Harry Dunne said:

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I'll add to your swing analysis that he has a narrow stance, but a big stride and so there is a lot of head movement at weight transfer. When he was struggling you'd see him get almost down to his front knee a lot at the end of his swing. It's hard enough to hit major league pitching with your head still, much less when your angle is changing drastically throughout the swing.

If he succeeds, it will be because of elite hand eye coordination and/or he is able to improve his mechanics so that pitchers can't exploit the huge hole in his swing...not because he has amazing technique that we should be teaching our kids.

If he turns out to be a stud, I'm thrilled to be wrong about him. It sounds like you'd rather be right so hard you can't even enjoy the fact that the kid is mashing.

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That's not remotely the case at all. I'm happy to see him doing well because he's a bright spot the last couple weeks that has been missing. However, all of those things discussed have me quite concerned for his long-term success and how that impacts the ball club.

Go back to when I first posted this- he looked absolutely lost. Not unlucky and hitting the ball hard right at people but to borrow from "Tin Cup," his swing looked like an "unfolding lawn chair." He was a black hole in the lineup. Even Bregman started out 0-fer forever in 2016 he didn't look lost. I'll grant that Altuve has been that as well (or was the first 20 games or so) but he's got MVP credentials and a couple batting titles under his belt so he's earned a great deal of grace.

He did. He looked so bad that I just couldn't believe he could succeed at this level but now that he is producing, along with what he has done in the minors and what some great baseball minds thought of him all along I think the odds are against him being a bust. Hitting major league pitching is IMO the hardest thing in sports but it can come in all shapes and forms. The eyeballs say he looks like a newborn foal but the numbers don't lie.

Yes, a lot of guys have gotten hot for two weeks and then been busts...but those are usually Tyler White types and not 1st round draft picks who are just doing what everyone said they would do.

Calm hands you say?

Look at this bum. Not only are his hands not calm, but he drops the **** out of them.

Harry Dunne said:

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He did. He looked so bad that I just couldn't believe he could succeed at this level but now that he is producing, along with what he has done in the minors and what some great baseball minds thought of him all along I think the odds are against him being a bust. Hitting major league pitching is IMO the hardest thing in sports but it can come in all shapes and forms. The eyeballs say he looks like a newborn foal but the numbers don't lie.

Yes, a lot of guys have gotten hot for two weeks and then been busts...but those are usually Tyler White types and not 1st round draft picks who are just doing what everyone said they would do.

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I hope he keeps it up but there's going to need to be some adjustments because in the long run the things he could do vs. minor league pitching don't translate.

We'll see how he does vs. the A's coming up because their staff has been pretty nails this year.

Farmer1906 said:

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Calm hands you say?

Look at this bum. Not only are his hands not calm, but he drops the **** out of them.

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Calm hands are a phrase describing through the swing. The waggle before the swing is a timing mechanism. If you'll notice he's got the waggle then as he loads the hands drop and come back up in his timing motion before the swing. That's not what Tucker does- Tucker has his hands high to start with and then drops them as he swings which results in the upward sweep not the slightly down/on-plane swing Bonds has.

Bonds loads and his hands come up to his shoulder so he can swing more down. This results in a quick path to the ball. Tucker's hands start up, drop and then sweep.

So Bonds has a lot of waggle pre-swing but he gets into a good hitting position as he loads up.

Farmer1906 said:

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Knob towards the catcher huh?

Found another idiot who never gets close to that.

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Let me know when Tucker goes down as the greatest hitter in history.

Williams also still gets his hands in a lot better position and keeps his top hand strong to stay on top of the ball. He doesn't have the loop that Tucker does.

Quote:

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not the slightly down/on-plane swing Bonds has.

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You can't swing slightly down and be "on plane".

Three run hr to start the game today...


Come on man, your post on here AND on HASB facebook... ha!

Three RBI single to start off in game two of the double header!

This guy sucks