Phillies 2026 Spring Training Discussion

[phillychuck]

All due respect to Kevin Long, but being aggressive early in the count is a bad hitting strategy. Be aggressive when you get your pitch, not the pitcher’s pitch, and pitchers are throwing their pitches early in the count. Take a few pitches and get a 2-1 count or a 3-1 count, or a 2-0 count and then be aggressive. Being aggressive early in the count reduces walks and increases batted-ball outs. Learn to hit more like Ted Williams and Bobby Abreu than like Manny Sanguilllen.

I heard three different guys in the minors last year say in post game interviews the coaches had told them to expand the strike zone in RBI situations. That is just plain idiotic. Maybe there is a reason we don’t win championships at the level of our talent, and that we have to sign hitters rather than develop them. Maybe the hitting coaching is bad. Again, knowing a friend who works with the Braves minor leaguers, they are not being told to do that, they are being coached to work the count and see a lot of pitches.

[allentown]

It is beyond straange that you would post this article and take a victory lap. Whereas you replied to my concerns about our scouting and inconsistent across levels and constantly changing hitting instruction with the assertion that you don't care about what happened 20 years ago, you have now posted an article stating that the Phillies brass agrees with my assertion that their hitting instruction was bad, inconsistent across the organization, and also disjointed from the amateur players they chose to sign as of the start of the 2023 season and further more that they admitted that the problems had existed for at least a decade. So, any hitter signed in 2022 or earlier would have been subject to this failed hitting instruction and a hitting philosophy geared to benefit players other than the one our scouts were drafting.

The new changes would be expected to benefit the players now in the DSL, FIL, FCL, and SAL leagues, but our teams in those leagues have not been noted for the quality of their position players the past two seasons. Yes, there are a few hitters who have stood out, but in general, not a great success. The article lists the recent promising guys from the prior arrangement.

[andyb]

Not sure where you get a victory lap. This whole discussion is about whether the organization has changed? I said they have but we need to see more years of data to know if it works.

And a secondary discussion about whether being aggressive in specific counts or situations is a good idea.

You are just reading stuff in my points that is not even remotely there. We have grown up as an organization considerably. Klentak actually started it but was bad at it (and the people he brought in like Almazar were not great). Barber and Mattingly have improved things organizationally. Everything does not have to be an argument.

[Philsmania]

I'm beginning to wonder if this debate over Phillies hitting philosophy instruction also needs its own thread.

[Austinfan]

Prospect BB5
AAA: Rincones 15.8%, Crawford 11.5%, Kemp 10.5%, Anthony 8.1%, Rojas 8.1%
AA: Miller 14.9%, Campbell 10.7%, Moore 10.0%, DeMartini 9.6%, Anthony 7.0%, Ricketts 5.9%
A+: Spikerman 17.0%, Dissin 15.2%, Rincon 13.9%, DeMartini 13.5%, Hettiger 12.4%, Escobar 11.1%, Campbell 9.1%, Saltiban 7.1%, Heredia 6.5%
A: Nori 13.1%, Escobar 10.1%, Beltran 9.9%, Spikerman 9.6%, Tait 9.0%, Ferrebus 3.4%

Off the top of my head, they're being more selective than in the past.

[andyb]

More importantly, we've got baseball tomorrow. Saturday should be on Toronto TV according to MLB.TV. Sunday at home on NBCSP.

[zambonir]

Klentak actually started it but was bad at it (and the people he brought in like Almazar were not great).

He didn't even hire Almazar, who got the job a year before in October of 2014 (so, Amaro was still GM but Gillick had already taken over above him. Benny Looper was the one who announced the hire and was his immediate superior). But Klentak did keep him.

Not sure we'll ever really know how much Klentak was overly deferential to the old regime (and moved too slowly) versus how much of that was also MacPhail versus how much Klentak was simply unable to change things (while also lacking the political/managerial skills to do so). The people they hired with the Driveline and Astros connections didn't seem like bad hires at the time, and I think it was all the same issues - were they the wrong people, the right people with the wrong bosses, or just too many generations of people in the organization at odds.

[zambonir]

Via Phillies not-Twitter

[Callison]

IMHO, the Phils have really needed another hitter in the top of the order for years and I'm mighty disappointed the Phils aren't more aggressive.

As things are, I'm really hoping Crawford will win leadoff on this team and become the hitter the Phils declined to purchase. It could happen.

Garcia is the Phils' latest econo acq - one of these long shots is bound to connect. It could happen.

De La Cruz' power off the bench should give him an edge for the bench. If it shows up in ST he's the guy.

The pen looks a level stronger. Could argue that the Phils' weak pen was the margin of victory against the Dodgers. Alvarado's agent must be tops to explain the drugs away like that - must have some credible story. He's had some great moments with his effective-wild game. Kerkering has always seemed to have a great arm, at one time looked like a top closer, but needs to get a level tougher.

Phils fans love Harper and are with him in spirit, but he needs to keep it in house.

Vitello of the Giants described the Dodgers as "a dragon to slay" - a whole bunch of dragons, actually.

[EDmuch]

Some interesting names in that lineup.

[allentown]

I believe the Phillies have been as aggressive as fans can reasonably expect them to be. The don't have the revenue stream of the Dodgers. Ownership has basicallly bought the guts of a team: Walker, Lorenson, re-signing Nola, relievers every year, Harper, J.T., Castellanos, Schwarber, Turner. Of the position player FAs, only Castellanos was a miss, and we are out from under that contract after this year. Garcia this off-season. Past trades for Marsh and Sanchez. I don't fault the team at all on salary budget or FA signings. You can't expect the owners to buy an entire team,

I do strongly fault ownership and DD/past GMs/Execs on the very poor results of our draft/international/player development programs and decisions.

Nothing ownership could have done this off-season to put Phillies on par with Dodgers, and it is not simply that they spend more on MLB salaries. They produce more and better players in-house, enormously aided by their international programs.

[LoneStarPhan]

First game is in the books. Blue Jays defeat the Phillies, 3-0. Phillies outhit by the Blue Jays, 9-4. Johnson gives up a solo home run in the 5th and Hoffman a 2 run homer in the 6th. Crawford started the game off with a leadoff double, but the Phillies generated little offense the rest of the game. Crawford went 2 for 3, collecting half of the Phillies' four hits.

[Florida_Sunshine]

Great start by Crawford!

[allentown]

What Crawford did matters, the rest not so much. It's early and this isn't our regular lineup. Guys who played winter ball will be ahead.

[flyers19rw]

Crawford played well in CF. Nice catch running in on a line drive. There’s some there with him. He reeks of ability.

[andyb]

This was the lineup of all the guys kind of competing for bench spots. Crawford obviously the most important, but Moore and De La Cruz and Kemp and even Cairo are competing for those last spots on the bench. I want Rojas to get a fair shot too (though he does not need to play early too much as he played all winter).

[Austinfan]

I;'m not even watching games until March.
Really doesn't tell you much until starters get stretched out in their 3-4th start and approach their regular season velocity and pitch mix.
Crawford worth watching only to see if they've improved his swing mechanics, so far so good.

[Jazzhead]

ll due respect to Kevin Long, but being aggressive early in the count is a bad hitting strategy.

Not if you assume the pitcher seeks to throw a strike on the first pitch. Wasting the first pitch of an at bat may be some pitchers' idea of how to start things off, but I bet most seek to get ahead in the count. Swing at it!

[phillychuck]

You want a narrow zone early in counts. Know your best hitting area, and swing at pitches there. But don’t get aggressive and chase pitches out of your sweet zone.

[andyb]

You want a narrow zone early in counts. Know your best hitting area, and swing at pitches there. But don’t get aggressive and chase pitches out of your sweet zone.

That is just not how hitting is taught though. Hitters in a favorable count are taught to pick a pitch speed and a zone. Stuff is so good that most hitters cannot put a power swing on a pitch without being aggressive, so early in the count is the chance to do that. Now if you are looking fastball and you get offspeed you are not supposed to swing. If the pitch is not in the zone you are in you are not supposed to swing. But if it is the right pitch and in the zone where you are thinking then you put a good swing on that pitch even if it is a bit off the plate.

Everybody is not Barry Bonds or Joe Morgan or Wade Boggs. Guess hitting strategically is a thing. Obviously getting ahead in the count is a plus, but it just is not the only goal in a good count. That is when a good hitter does damage. Now I hate when someone like Bohm is aggressive because he rarely does damage in that count. I am not looking for a single to the opposite field.

I think your idea of what hitting is is what we want it to be in an ideal world. Only swing at strikes. Hit home runs all the time on 2-strike counts. That is just not how hitting works howevevr.