***OFFICIAL ROYALS vs. mariners 09/03/2013 Game Thread***

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Just focusing on the DPs would be ignoring the RBI he had earlier in the game but he got his praise. The double plays aren't about speed or a lack of it, it's about making bad contact and constantly hitting the top of ball, taking bad swings, and swinging at the pitchers pitch for a weak ground ball.

While definitely true to a point, I would say early in the year, Billy was a much worse hitter. The increase in his DPs are also a result of a higher contact rate. He's been making better but not great contact. And since no one on this team is an extra base hitter, he's put in tons of DP situations. Sure it sucks, but we know it's coming.

If he's such a problem, who do we replace him with in our lineup?

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by lewdog

While definitely true to a point, I would say early in the year, Billy was a much worse hitter. The increase in his DPs are also a result of a higher contact rate. He's been making better but not great contact. And since no one on this team is an extra base hitter, he's put in tons of DP situations. Sure it sucks, but we know it's coming.

If he's such a problem, who do we replace him with in our lineup?

I don't want him replaced. I want him to either be more aggressive or focus on hitting the balls on the outer half of the plate to the opposite field. Salvy does that well. It seems all of Billy's ground balls occur when he tries to pull the pitches on the outside or swings at the pitches coming in at him which are really hard to put good wood on. Being more aggressive could remove that pitch which he almost always sees with two strikes.