*sigh* Same confused Royals...
 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this, but isn't this the same franchise that for the past couple of years decided to send instructions to their coaches in the minors to preach patience at the plate and getting into deeper counts?

I'm not saying don't be aggressive, worked great for the Tigers. But make up your mind.

No wonder Bell still thinks Berroa is a good player...

The difference is Berrora swings at pitches that are in a different area code.

What Bell is wanting is for players that have plate discipline not to sit on the first pitch as is it is thrown down the middle.

You are also forgetting that Bell is a complete moron, which is why almost daily he has some ignorant quote like this in the Star. I still can't figure out why Moore hasn't shitcanned this idiot.

they should of tried Teahan at short ....... to get B-Error out of the lineup. We have more options in the outfield.

After the Royals lose their obligatory 100 games this year, hopefully he will be gone.

Bell's been spouting that nonsense since the day he got here. Buddy Bell is the anti-Moneyball manager. He is not in tune with the rest of the organization with regards to strike zone management. (That is, if it is still preached. It was one of the good things Baird did. Not sure where Moore stands on the issue.)

I was disappointed that Moore didn't fire Bell. Bell is a dinosaur.

Let's see, who has spent the majority of his life involved in baseball and who adopted a username of a stoned out cartoon moron.

When Bell talks about being more aggressive early in the count he means for players to be more aggressive in the strike zone. Ever heard of hitters and pitchers counts? Having a hitters count doesn't mean you stand there and take strikes until the pitcher evens the count or worse yet actually gets the advantage. Regardless of what philosphy of hitting you adopt, you are never going to be successful if you watch called 3rd strikes with the bat on your shoulder.

I say again, you will never be a successful hitter if you stand at the plate and watch called 3rd strikes with the bat on your shoulder. Not only that but if you continually allow yourself to get into 2 strike counts you will fail more often than not. It's the 2-0 and 3-1 counts that you want to be in as a hitter. If the pitcher knows you are going to walk up there and take that 1st pitch no matter what, how many times is he going to try and hit that outside corner and how many times is he going to use the more of the middle of the plate. That is why you need to be aggressive within the strike zone early in the count.

Oakland hitters aren't successful because they stand at the plate and take strikes until they fall behind in the count, they are successful because they have enough strike zone awareness and are disciplined enough to take pitches out of the strike zone thus forcing pitchers to actually throw strikes.

I agree with you 100%.

But for the record, I seem to remember that Hal McRae almost always took the first pitch.

You have to learn to get "your pitch" that pitch maybe the first or 15th. With the good pitchers the first or second ball maybe the only one you can handle

Hitting will not be the Royals downfall this year.

He'd probably get on base more if the Royals sent him up to the plate without a bat. ROFL

How long is it gonna take him to figure out nobody throws him strikes because they don't have to to get him out?

I think there is a huge difference in getting deep in the count and then watching strikes go by. You can't always be swinging at the first pitch pitch. There has to be a happy medium on being patient at the beginning of that at bat, but aggressive when the situation calls for it.