Speculations about the hitting

For the first time (thanks to the pandemic) I have had the time to make a subscription to MLBTV to be worthwhile.  

So I have seen, in entirety, every Indians game this year.

It is great to see our pitchers do as well as they are.  

It is gut wrenching to see our hitters suck as bad as they do.

So what is going on with the hitters.

Some thoughts that come to mind:

• Just pressing because no one else is hitting and the season is short.
• Our hitters are just overrated and they suck
  
• Bad hitting coaches
• People not hitting where they are best at hitting
• Pandemic

Because of the pitching similarities to 1991 (a team that lost 101 games) the hitting situation scares me. So I have been thinking a lot about the hitting.

I will preface what I am saying by acknowledging that I was a terrible hitter...in little league.   The best 'hits' I got was when I leaned into one...with my butt.    So I have not expertise to lend to what I am saying.  That being said, here is what I am thinking.

1. I don't believe that our hitters are pressing.   I really don't think this is it.   This has gone on way too long for that to be true.  If you press you generally are not taking a lot of pitches.

2. I don't believe our hitters ALL suck.   Yes, Reyes did not hit well when he came here last year and Domingo Santana, if you take away his first 60 games last year, was just mediocre.  Luplow was really just above average last year but, previously, he sucked so his start could be a little rust and a lot just that he sucks.  Leon sucks but we know he would have.  So maybe some of this is that they suck.  We get that Allen and Johnson could have this kind of start and that Zimmer is doing very similar to every year but his first year.  I think Carlos Santana is just struggling because Lindor is struggling as are Reyes and Domingo Santana.   So he doesn't have to get fastballs.   Basically, pitchers can pitch around him because there is no one on base in front of him and the people hitting behind him are not dangerous.   Thus all the walks he is getting early AND the lack of HRs and BA as when he does swing he isn't swinging at pitches he can feast on.

3. I really was, and maybe still am, thinking it is that we have bad hitting coaches.  Part of the rip on Tito in Boston was it got to the point that the players were running the team.   This is not a dig at Tito but, rather, he had veterans and he trusted them to prepare correctly and, frankly, they were probably taking advantage of that situation.   If the same attitude exists here AND the hitting coaches are not really that experienced, maybe the lack of an unbiased, quality voice is keeping these guys from getting in their groove.   Maybe.  It would not be the first time I have seen that with a team and not even the first time I have seen that with the Indians.

4. It has crossed my mind several times that Lindor is hitting pathetically because he is hitting 3rd.   It looks like he is lost and pressing.   While Ramirez has hit well at times, he is still hitting a lot of line drives foul and is not producing in the clutch as he should.   

So, you could easily say that it is a combination of the first 4 things.   Hernandez is doing what he should do as a leadoff hitter.   Maybe all the other guys are failing because each of them has an issue.   Or......

4. Maybe it is due to the pandemic.    As I think Yogi Berra said, baseball is 90% mental and the other half physical.   Despite the bad math, if you head is not in the game, you won't do well.   I really think that if players are worried about their health and how it impacts their future in the game and their ability to both live AND be millionaires after this season, maybe their head is not in the game as much as it needs to be.   Picture Lindor if he wasn't enjoying the game like he did in the past.   Now it becomes a grind, looking over his shoulder to see who may be infecting him and then having it snowball into a hitting slump.   

In my opinion it is not one thing.   But the thing that comes to mind more often than anything is that a large part of the hitting struggles could be the pandemic.

Why doesn't this impact pitchers?  I think pitching is more mechanical and the pitchers count on the catchers and the catchers can focus on their defense.  The fact that our pitchers are successful with Beau Taylor catching as well as with Leon or Perez tells me that pitchers may be more immune to being defocused by the pandemic.   Maybe.

Well, time to watch again.  Hopefully whatever reason it is, the hitters get over it today...and we don't have a repeat of 1991.