Let's look at one case in point - our old whipping boy, Rougned Odor.Grapesoda2525 said:
The banny hitting coaches were bad too with the idiotic philosophy that strikeouts are ok as long as you swing for the fences. The rangers still strike out a lot, but they're much more patient hitters than past ranger teams who would chase pitches out of the zone and literally get themselves out. These guys give themselves a chance by mainly swinging at better pitches.
Yankees hitting coach is Marcus Thames (who the Rangers traded Ruben Sierra away for in 2003). Worked his way up through the Yankees farm system as a hitting instructor. The man is a respected hitting coach.
So what's happened with Rougy? Well, he still sucks - hitting .164. But let's look at some stats. Smallish sample, but we are right at 50% of the 2021 shortened season.
2020
148 PA
138 AB
10 HR
7 BB
47 K
2021
70 PA
61 AB
4 HR
7 BB
10 K
So at the halfway mark, he has a similar rate of HRs - he's walking twice as much as 2020 and striking out half as much. Keep in mind he still doesn't walk enough and strikes out way too much. But it isn't historically bad like in the past.
