Originally Posted by Rams Fan:
It’s so ****ing dumb. The Cardinals use accounting maneuvers to say they’re spending more when they really aren’t and how much they are spending isn’t a direct reflection of increased revenue + BPV.
Their refusal to spend on pitching for a true #1 (Gray isn’t a#1 and is older than signing a guy under 30) and inept development is catching up to them.
So they go like 83-79 this year. What ****ing happens in the off-season? More of the same shit with the FO saying they improved from last year.
I’ll be at the game today wearing black for the funeral in the bleachers.
Is wearing black a thing among fans in St. Louis or is that just your choice? [Reply]
Originally Posted by jd1020:
What is so loaded about their minor league system?
They have a handful of 50 FV prospects. You know what 50 FV projects to be? An Average MLB player. You know how often those kind of prospects even achieve average results? Like 10%.
Per BA's End of Year update:
Anthony is now #2 (behind Caminero, who's going to graduate)
Mayer -- 11
Campbell -- 25
Teel -- 26
Montgomery isn't rocketing up like the rst of them, but he's moved up to 61. I predicted 3 top 25 guys in the update and damn near got 4 (Teel will move into the top 25 in about 2 weeks when Caminero graduates). I also said they probably have 5 top 50 guys and just missed with Montgomery not quite breaking into it.
But when you have 4 guys in the top 25 and all of them are in AAA, it's hard to say that isn't a pretty loaded system. [Reply]
Man I miss those 2001-2011 days. Even when he came back as a shell of himself from that era, he still managed somehow to reach 700. He was my favorite player since Bob Gibson.
This version of the Cardinals are a disgrace to the uniform. Not the players fault. Front office and ownership is the root cause of our issues.
Albert Pujols on his favorite tee drill & objective, today on #MLBCentral: - Tee on outside corner (on the black) - Drive the ball the other way, hit line drives; *NOT* hit the top of the cage. #shegonepic.twitter.com/rUlRcLGG1c
I still think Laypeople and broadcasters are getting this more wrong than the overwhelming majority of high level coaches.
This idea that coaches are teaching guys to 'swing up' as part of the launch angle revolution isn't right. Launch angle is little more than a re-labeling of things that Ted Williams was touting 50 years ago.
It's about bringing your bat on the same plane as the pitch. Not because you're trying to lift the ball necessarily, but because you're trying to stay in the hitting lane longer and that's only going to happen by coming at the same attack angle as the pitch (rather than trying to time your downward strike INTO the attack angle).
That's what the 'knob first' approach creates. And that's what Albert is teaching here. You get the knob into the zone first and then your hands can make fine adjustments as you're swinging to change the angle of the barrel as it comes through the zone.
Now I have no idea what the Cardinals are teaching. I think Mabry and Matheny had it COMPLETELY wrong and were teaching exactly what the most dour dissenters claim the launch angle folks are teaching. But the vast majority aren't saying "hit the ball into the net in the cage" - no, most of them are still teaching middle/pull, knob first, adjust to the plane.
All Pujols is talking about here is a consistent first stage. On any pitch you throw a guy with that particular setup and attack, his hands are going to come to the and then its the finish and his hands/eyes that allow him to get on plane with the ball (or stay inside it, etc...) and drive it.
Telling someone like Walker to focus on launch angle isn't telling him to hit pop-ups. It's telling him to stop 'chopping wood' like guys my age were taught. "Strike down on the front of the baseball to create backspin and loft..." just requires such pristine timing that it isn't going to work for most guys.
But knob first to keep the barrel behind, then drive through the baseball with your finish is a 'true' launch angle discussion. And that's absolutely what Walker needs to be taught. If he isn't, you're going to waste all that talent. [Reply]
Folks wanna act like Pujols is saying 'swing flat and up the middle' but he's not. That's clearly not what he did here. He led with the knob and the hands came down right where he's showing, then you can see that he drew them in, opened his hips and swung UP to match the plane of the incoming pitch.
More fans simply don't understand 'launch angle' much and so they've come to hate the concept. They're wrong.
If you were to characterize this as "How Ted Williams was teaching guys to hit decades ago" they'd love it. And Bonds really revitalized it with the added step of actually 'looping' the barrel of the bat behind his hands as he brought them down to create additional whip. [Reply]
To anyone that will tell you that 'launch angle is hooey' -- show them this:
There's simply not better visual representation than can be made of what the good launch angle guys are trying to explain.
And this was from Ted Williams book "The Science of Hitting" published in 1970.
This isn't new. It's not witchcraft. It's the right way to do it. Nothing Pujols says in that entire MLB segment actually runs opposite to anything the launch angle guys say. All he's talking about his his first movement. The rest of it...well, you can see by the photo of his swing. He does EXACTLY what Williams and modern acolytes of his will tell you to do. [Reply]
Eight players from the #STLCards system have been named to the Glendale Desert Dogs roster for the 2024 Arizona Fall League season:
INF Thomas Saggese (MLB) (No.4) C Leonardo Bernal (AA) (No. 9) OF Nathan Church (AA) LHP Alex Cornwell (AAA) RHP Matt Svanson (AA) RHP Trent Baker… https://t.co/B2nyzVLwcj