Discipline

[Hairyducked Idiot]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

[erik316wttn]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

[Tracer Bullet]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

[Clem Fandango]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Agreed. Watching their series against the Reds was jaw dropping just how much Dusty has already affected their hitting techniques. How many Reds are on the list and where do they appear?

[CubColtPacer]

Credit should go a little bit all around here.

 

Perry...for working with some of the players and getting them to be more patient.

 

Lou..for hiring Perry, and emphasizing OBP from day 1

 

Hendry..for adding hitters like DeRosa and Fukudome to balance out some of the Soriano's on the squad.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Reds batters, percentage of pitches outside zone swung at, this season and career going back to 2005 (as far back as the site has data):

 

Keppinger 20.84% career, 20.68% this season

Phillips 31.38% career, 34.33% this season

Griffey 20.9% career, 23.57% this season

Encarnacion 24.18% career, 23.61% this season

Dunn 17.63% career, 14.91% this season

Corey Patterson 34.72% career, 32.50% this season

 

 

I'm not really seeing any pattern.

[TruffleShuffle]

as i said in tonight's game thread, this is the first cub team i can remember that puts a great deal of pressure on pitchers by getting deep into counts, drawing plenty of walks, and getting ahead in the counts so that the pitcher has to throw them a hittable strike. some cub teams have had one or two of those types, but never a majority of the lineup.

[hawkeyecub]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

 

You're missing the point. It's not just that he's better than Dusty, it's that this team has been extremely patient and productive at the plate. So you credit Perry more than Lou, okay. Who hired Perry to be his hitting coach? It seems like he lets his coaches coach, but ultimately they're carrying out his vision.

 

I often dislike his in-game moves and some playing time decisions, but I appreciate a lot of his philosophies and strategies and overall I can't think of many ML managers I would rather have.

[TruffleShuffle]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

 

You're missing the point. It's not just that he's better than Dusty, it's that this team has been extremely patient and productive at the plate. So you credit Perry more than Lou, okay. Who hired Perry to be his hitting coach? It seems like he lets his coaches coach, but ultimately they're carrying out his vision.

 

I often dislike his in-game moves and some playing time decisions, but I appreciate a lot of his philosophies and strategies and overall I can't think of many ML managers I would rather have.

 

yeah i don't give a crap whether it's perry or piniella behind the increase in patience; the bottom line is that most of the lineup is showing good patience. in the cases of a few guys (theriot, ARam, DeRosa), they're walking more than they ever have before and seeing career highs in pitches per plate appearance. that suggests that someone is preaching the proper approach to them.

[David]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

 

It's really not about being better at it when in reality Dusty is preaching the exact opposite.

 

Lou does some dumb things, but Dusty is just a really, really, REALLY horrible manager.

[Tyrant]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

 

Agreed. Never, ever, ever give credit to Lou. For anything.

[Tracer Bullet]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

 

Agreed. Never, ever, ever give credit to Lou. For anything.

 

Glad we agree that the hitting coach, who mentioned patience in an interview when he was hired, would get more credit for increased patience by some of the hitters. But I think you're crazy to never give Lou credit for anything (yes, I realize that was hyperbole - this is sarcasm). He's does some things well and I like some of his philosophies, but he does some things poorly.

[Tracer Bullet]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker.

 

Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change.

 

You're missing the point. It's not just that he's better than Dusty, it's that this team has been extremely patient and productive at the plate. So you credit Perry more than Lou, okay. Who hired Perry to be his hitting coach? It seems like he lets his coaches coach, but ultimately they're carrying out his vision.

 

I often dislike his in-game moves and some playing time decisions, but I appreciate a lot of his philosophies and strategies and overall I can't think of many ML managers I would rather have.

 

No, I'm not missing any point. The original post cited some stats to indicate the team is more patient. The 2nd poster (that I quoted) implied that Lou should get credit for that apparent change by referencing Dusty Baker. I merely pointed out that if you're looking at stats about swinging at bad pitches and the measure is Dusty, you've set the bar too low.

 

I don't think Perry is carrying out Lou's vision. It's not like Lou has been Perry's coaching mentor (a la Torre to Girardi). He hired Perry and he clearly doesn't share Dusty's "it's called hitting" philosophy, and that's great. But Perry brought his philosophy about hitting with him when he joined the Cubs. Hendry gets credit for bringing in some more patient hitters (Fukudome, DeRosa) Lou gets credit for hiring Perry. Perry (and to a lesser degree, Lou) gets credit for working with younger hitters on improving patience. Though some of it may have come from the minors as well.

 

Nowhere in my post did I criticize Lou though some people have been pretty defensive about it. Maybe the "pro-Lou" crowd needs to relax a bit.

[CubinNY]

as i said in tonight's game thread, this is the first cub team i can remember that puts a great deal of pressure on pitchers by getting deep into counts, drawing plenty of walks, and getting ahead in the counts so that the pitcher has to throw them a hittable strike. some cub teams have had one or two of those types, but never a majority of the lineup.

The Cubs are for real. I am starting to believe in this team more than I've believed in any other Cub team. If Lou can get the pitching figured out they should be a 90+ win team.

[Jehrico]

You have to give Lou credit for the same reason you ding Dusty. Dusty would never hire Perry because he thinks he has a flawed philosophy. Lou obviously believes in it, so he gets some credit for bringing Perry in. Perry for hitting coach of the year.

[BigbadB]

Gerald Perry deserves the next multi-million dollar contract. :thumbsup:

[bukie]

Lou deserves credit on some level for the plate discipline this year, whether it be that he hired Perry or that he's more directly responsible.

 

It is possible for a manager to do some things right and other things wrong. It may not seem that way after the Dusty and Baylor years, but it's true.

 

I'm not sure there's a manager in baseball who's good at everything.

[rawaction]

Perry has a history of getting his teams near the top of the league in BB/9, P/PA, etc. He preaches patience. I still think a lot has to do with Fukudome, though. I think the entire team respects him from his numbers in Japan and his time in the World Baseball Classic. He is the model of patience, and puts up great numbers this way. I think the others have taken notice. I will give Perry complete credit for the young guys like Cedeno, Soto, and Theriot being more patient in 2008 than they have ever been in any other point in their careers. I think you can tell with Pie too, but he's just not as good of a hitter to let the patience work in his favor. His patience leads to him taking strikes and then pitchers being able to exploit his weaknesses (i.e. breaking ball in the dirt).

[Abe Frohman]

I am absolutely giddy about the offense in 2008. This is a TOTAL 180 from the offense in 2006.

 

Look at how many guys we have with 20 walks, OB% at or around .400, and most impressively - a team OPS OVER .800.

[Roast]

I am absolutely giddy about the offense in 2008. This is a TOTAL 180 from the offense in 2006.

 

Look at how many guys we have with 20 walks, OB% at or around .400, and most impressively - a team OPS OVER .800.

Yeah. That's not going to last though. Those numbers are inflated by a couple of blowout games we've had this year.

 

That said - this offense IS drastically better than anything we've seen in the past. Maybe not half-the-team-having-a-.400OBP good...but we're still darn good.

[TruffleShuffle]

I am absolutely giddy about the offense in 2008. This is a TOTAL 180 from the offense in 2006.

 

Look at how many guys we have with 20 walks, OB% at or around .400, and most impressively - a team OPS OVER .800.

Yeah. That's not going to last though. Those numbers are inflated by a couple of blowout games we've had this year.

 

If I remember correctly, BP projected us to have the best offense in baseball before the season started. So who knows, maybe it will last.

[TruffleShuffle]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

This page is really interesting; however, I don't know what a lot of the columns mean. If you can clue me in on some of these I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm making these guesses:

 

O-swing% = Percentage of pitches outside the zone that the batter swings at.

Z-swing% = (Percentage of pitches within the strike zone that the batter swings at?)

Swing% = Percentage of pitches that the batter swings at?

O-contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at outside the zone that the batter hits? (or puts into play?)

Z=contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at within the zone that the batter hits? (or puts into play?)

Contact% = Percentage of swings where the batter makes contact? (or puts into play?)

Zone% = Percentage of pitches seen by the batter that are within the strike zone?

[Roast]

I am absolutely giddy about the offense in 2008. This is a TOTAL 180 from the offense in 2006.

 

Look at how many guys we have with 20 walks, OB% at or around .400, and most impressively - a team OPS OVER .800.

Yeah. That's not going to last though. Those numbers are inflated by a couple of blowout games we've had this year.

 

If I remember correctly, BP projected us to have the best offense in baseball before the season started. So who knows, maybe it will last.

I could live with that..

[Hairyducked Idiot]

According to fangraph.com stats, coming into tonight 179 MLB batters had at least 120 PAs.

 

Out of those, 5 Cubs rank in the top 40 for lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone swung at, and no Cubs rank in the bottom 50.

 

This page is really interesting; however, I don't know what a lot of the columns mean. If you can clue me in on some of these I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm making these guesses:

 

O-swing% = Percentage of pitches outside the zone that the batter swings at.

Z-swing% = (Percentage of pitches within the strike zone that the batter swings at?)

Swing% = Percentage of pitches that the batter swings at?

O-contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at outside the zone that the batter hits? (or puts into play?)

Z=contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at within the zone that the batter hits? (or puts into play?)

Contact% = Percentage of swings where the batter makes contact? (or puts into play?)

Zone% = Percentage of pitches seen by the batter that are within the strike zone?

 

Yes on all. I'm not sure whether contact is including foul balls or not.

[cubbyvirus00]

To be quite honest, I don't understand why columnists arent interviewing Perry more and giving him kudos for the job hes done here.