Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 27, 2006
Swinging Easy

Matt Treanor is crediting shoulder surgery with changing his swing for the better:

''[Because] I couldn't go out there and just start taking some huge hacks, I had to be more mechanical,'' Treanor said. ``Just taking some easy swings at first kind of helped me. And once I started taking live batting practice and the easy swings were producing line drives and the ball was getting some carry on it, I realized that I don't have to take a huge swing.''

A splendid defensive catcher, Treanor has been held back in the past by his bat. He played 10 full seasons in the minors, hitting just .243, before he finally got a shot in the big leagues in 2004.

Two things strike me about this:


  1. It's a real small sample size, so we don't know if the change is real. Once he starts facing major league pitching in real games, who knows what's going to happen.

  2. What does this say about coaching in the minors? Did someone ever say, "Matt, you're swinging too hard, ease up a bit." All spring long I've been reading stories about a coach telling a player something basic, and the player acting like he's never heard it before. How do teams go about hiring people to teach their prospects?

I hope it's a real improvement for Treanor, since he has a real love for the game. He's hit well enough that it looks like he'll be the starting catcher and Willingham gets placed in left.

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Posted by David Pinto at 08:43 AM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

i've wondered a LOT about coaching in the minors. a LOT. seems the people who come up the fastest and do the best are the guys who don't need coaching. but i do know that a LOT of guys get a LOT of bad advice. you hafta go with a person's strengths because you can't turn everybody into a 5 tool guy like bagwell...

Posted by: lisa gray at March 27, 2006 08:39 PM
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