Dan Uggla Needs To Strikeout More
June 7, 2011 at 7:11 pm by Ben Duronio under Atlanta Braves
The title of this article may sound pretty silly. You’re probably thinking, “wait, so you are trying to tell me that the guy with an OPS+ under 50 needs to strikeout more? That’s one of your solutions to making him more productive? What are you, some kind of idiot?”
I might be, but there is certainly something wrong with Dan Uggla and the most notable change is his approach. I wrote an article a few weeks ago about the offense in general having increased outside swing percentages, and Uggla was one of the main culprits. His O-Swing% is currently 26.7 and his career average is 21.4. His O-Swing% has never been higher than 22.7.
With that said, his contact rate of 76.2% is also the highest of his career. His O-Contact% is 54.9, which is again the highest of his career. He is swinging at more pitches outside of the zone than he ever has and he is making more contact than he ever has. This is an absolutely terrible combination.
He needs to be striking out more.
Of course that is not quite the entire solution to the problem. He needs to be more selective, that is what I am really trying to say. He needs to take more pitches and be willing to take a tough strike every so often. He will not be able to swing his way out of this. Working walks and waiting for a pitch he can drive will lead to more balls being squared up.
Power hitters making too much contact is not a good thing. Look at Mark Reynolds. Here is a guy who hits 30 home runs a year annually but when his strikeout rate drops almost 10% he starts making weak contact and his power begins to deteriorate.
There is a very real correlation for power hitters making more contact and hitting for less power. This may not be the only solution to improve Uggla’s offensive woes, but making too much contact has certainly been a big problem thus far. Fixing that may lead to straightening him out, and hopefully the Braves’ coaches, upper management, and Uggla himself are able to realize this.
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Amen to that brother!
Dope Boy’s got his knee-highs on tonight. So he can hit some home runs.
Yes, absolutely.
It’s not how much contact you’re making, it’s the quality of the contact you’re making. Quantity should never be sacrificed for quality.
What do you do with a player like Uggla when he is struggling so bad this far into the season? Keep playing him or sit him? One would think he would eventually get out of this funk….
Move him to cleanup, Look at his career numbers and this years splits, pretty Damn goood, he seems to b more comfortable there, couldn’t hurt to try, nothing else seems to b working…he’ll come around regardless(right after the break seems most likely?)
Moving him around in the batting order isn’t going to affect his performance.
Send him to minors for a couple of weeks.
At this point, striking out is much better than rolling over and grounding into a DP.
maybe he should talk to the first base coach?
@9
If he could get to first base he might try that.
HR on mlb tonight showed video of how his leg kick has changed since last year which leads to poor pitch recognition/timing issues . Not sure if anyone saw the piece but someone needs to get the memo to Uggla. Said Holliday did the same when he switched teams and sucked until he reverted back. If this turns out to be the issue, you HAVE to question Parrish’s coaching as this would be some very objective data against him.
If this is a deliberate effort that springs from Parrish, it’s obviously been a disaster. If it isn’t and it’s just a product of Dan somehow developing these bad habits and drifting from the approach that’s made him the hitter they traded for, it needs to be addressed, by the staff or someone he’ll listen to. So far, I see precious little evidence that any of that is happening.
On Sunday night’s broadcast, Bobby Valentine mentioned that Uggla is having issues with his front leg while batting. Now I wouldn’t want to maintain that Valentine is any great hitting guru, but if he mentions it, then it’s very likely that it’s fairly common knowledge that this part of Uggla’s batting stance has changed. If someone had suggested that he make this change, you’d think the Braves’ coaches would have convinced him to abandon it by now.
I read this article on AJC, and his problem IS THIS, Uggla thinks he’s late and behind the ball. All somebody who is that strong needs to do is let the ball travel, use your strength and drive the inside part of the ball. This guy thinks his problem is that HE IS LATE??? They don’t have film or a hitting coach that can show him just WAVING AWAY as soon as the pitcher lets go of it…if the pitcher threw the rosin bag he would swing at it. WE COULD BE IN TROUBLE. He’s not even saying the right things, “I just need to relax, pick out a good pitch, and drive it to right-center or left-center.” Ted Williams number 1 rule…pick out a good pitch. LET THE BALL travel, and drive the inside half, STOP waving at everything and being SO OUT OF CONTROL the bat waves around your head.
@13,
Uggla said in spring training that he changed his stance to get his front foot (specifically his toe) down faster. Parrish said he liked the adjustment. No mention on if he’s eating those words yet.
@14,
Uggla IS late on the ball. That’s why he’s rolling shit over to 2nd base. He knows he’s lost bat speed, that’s why he’s changed his stance. Hitting for power is simply bat-speed at point of contact, and he’s trying to generate more bat speed by tinkering with his mechanics.
I think we see a big 2nd half from him. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
I subscribe to the mlb.com package and I’ve been listening to the other team’s broadcasters for the last couple weeks for a change of perspective. I think it was in New York when they were talking about Uggla. One of them asked Parrish if he talked to Uggla much about this and the response was “No, not really”. I was floored. I’m paraphrasing but basically Parrish said he doesn’t talk to guys much, just lets them play through it, unless they come to him and as of last weekend Uggla had not! It seems like these guys don’t get much guidance – he’s certainly not tinkering too much.
After having a really good season at the plate as a team, I hated the move of TP to first. Terry was really into everything that the guys were doing. That can be bad. But I would rather see a person making mistakes while giving high effort…than “No…not really”.
Two strikeouts today, I’m starting to think someone over in the clubhouse reads this blog…