Theriot's random power development

[Schwarber Fan]

Well we can either worry that he's gonna try to drive everything now and become a less effective hitter or we can think he's gonna be able to drive pitches inside as well as slap the outside pitches into RF which would make him an awesome hitter. I'll admit I disagree with Lou telling him to try and drive it more, but now that he's shown some pop, I might have changed my mind.

 

Thoughts?

[Mephistopheles]

No.

[Outshined_One]

The words "aberration" and "fluke" come to mind.

[Schwarber Fan]

No.

 

Thanks for the in-depth and insightful contribution to the thread. :roll:

 

Perhaps you'd like to talk about Khalil Greene instead.

[chuckywang]

Those of you thinking 'roids, just stop it right now.

[Outshined_One]

Those of you thinking 'roids, just stop it right now.

 

But you made me think it by bringing it up. :(

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Theriot has been surprising me for the past two seasons. Last year, he did it by keeping is OBP respectable for the whole year. This year, he's added some pop. Whatever it is, I hope he keeps it up.

[Ski]

Prior to the last two games, did Theriot simply not have the power to hit a HR or simply chose not to drive the ball?

[Schwarber Fan]

Prior to the last two games, did Theriot simply not have the power to hit a HR or simply chose not to drive the ball?

 

He actually had a multi-HR game in 2006

[XZero771679666304]

Theriot has been surprising me for the past two seasons. Last year, he did it by keeping is OBP respectable for the whole year. This year, he's added some pop. Whatever it is, I hope he keeps it up.

 

I think he go a couple of meatballs and hit them about as well as he could, nothing more. If Ryan starts trying to drive the ball with regularity, he's going to go in the crapper in rapid fashion.

 

If Theriot's going to maintain his value to the team, he needs to keep doing what he did all of last year and this year up to this point, which is be a spray hitter with occasional gap power.

[TruffleShuffle]

if theriot starts trying to hit for power he will stink. he's small, doesn't weigh much and doesn't have much loft in his swing. he has gotten a couple of inner-half pitches and was able to drive them, but power isn't his game and if he tries to hit home runs, he'll end up just hitting a lot more fly balls and making more outs.

 

if he can drive bad pitches into the gaps and maybe get a home run here and there, that's fine, but he shouldn't start trying to make power a part of his game. leave that to the guys who can do so without hurting the rest of their game.

[jyoung55]

Lou actually was talking about driving the ball with runners on. He didn't say he wanted him to do it all the time. I am guessing that is to adjust to teams adjusting to him slapping the ball the other way. Sort of the opposite of what he'd tell a struggling power hitter. But as far as the HRs, I think he's just gotten lucky a few times and they happened to be in back to back games. Nothing more.

[shnsajax]

The words "aberration" and "fluke" come to mind.

 

and "wind blowing out"

[cubweiser03]

Lou actually was talking about driving the ball with runners on. He didn't say he wanted him to do it all the time. I am guessing that is to adjust to teams adjusting to him slapping the ball the other way. Sort of the opposite of what he'd tell a struggling power hitter. But as far as the HRs, I think he's just gotten lucky a few times and they happened to be in back to back games. Nothing more.

 

Theriot has a good bat, he drives/lines the ball well and had good LEVEL swings. HIs BB/K ratio is really good, especially for a non power hitter so he has control of the strikezone and the plate. Lous is right about drivin the inside pitches(he may look like a hero given his comments about Theriot and his HRs) but its about driving the ball down the line getting 'on the pitch' and expanding his zone further and not about the dongers. The HR power is funny though.....um especially the grand slam isnt it :)

[UMFan83]

I noticed that Theriot had been driving the ball a lot more the last week or so. He had several hit balls that were more long fly balls than line shots. Honestly, I don't want Theriot to get too full of himself. He's at his best when he's hitting those line drive singles into RF, not when he's trying to hit HRs.

[XZero771679666304]

I noticed that Theriot had been driving the ball a lot more the last week or so. He had several hit balls that were more long fly balls than line shots. Honestly, I don't want Theriot to get too full of himself. He's at his best when he's hitting those line drive singles into RF, not when he's trying to hit HRs.

 

Yeah, if Ryan starts hitting the ball in the air too much, he'll be next to worthless.

[Schwarber Fan]

Reply with quote

 

Wind was blowing in on the GS so that's kind of a weak excuse

 

Yeah, if Ryan starts hitting the ball in the air too much, he'll be next to worthless.

 

And yea, that's the point I was trying to make in the OP, and several other people have mentioned it here. Totally agree.

[bhogg]

I think it's as simple as Lou wanting Theriot to, in fast ball situations, turn on the heater --- maybe get a gapper or even the occasional homer. I don't he's instructing the guy to completely change his approach.

 

I'm not saying Theriot will be become a hall of fame middle infielder, but a similar approach was thrown at Sandberg in '84. Up to that point, he was not a power hitter. He was told to try and drive the ball in fastball situations. It worked out well for him.

 

Maybe Theriot will see a boost in two-baggers and triples. . . . .beats the heck out of a single and crossing your fingers on him stealing :)

[Little Slide Rooter]

My guess is guys like Theriot are capable of hiting the long ball if they get the perfect pitch, but know it's not their job, so instead of looking for that perfect meatball to smash, they look for the pitch they can get a clean base hit on and set the table for the big boys, but on Friday, he knew that the rest of his team wasnt getting it done, said to hell with it, and got that perfect meatball from a pitcher who never thought that Theriot would do anything with it accept maybe a lazy pop up. Im not saying Theriot suddenly turned into a power hitter, but he probably realised that the pitchers are going to throw him pitches that guys like Soriano or Lee will really see, and that day was waiting for one.

[CubColtPacer]

We had talked about the Theriot conundrum in the offseason. With the swing he showed in 08, he had no possibility of getting much slugging. He hit line drives either to straight right field or center. Those rarely stayed up in the air long enough to be able to split fielders. He occasionally hit grounders down the lines which is where a decently large percentage of his extra base hits came from last year.

 

The question was if he could add power without hurting the other parts of his game too badly. His power in 06 and 07 was better, but he also wasn't as effective in 07 using that stroke.

 

I think he can still hit more fly balls than last year and be effective. His worst ground ball/fly ball split has still been 1.59 in his career so he's still going to be primarily a ground ball/line drive hitter. I do not believe his power is an anomaly here (although the home run numbers are inflated..he probably would be very happy to finish between 5-10 home runs and he has 2 after just more than a month) but instead I've seen a completely different approach from Theriot this year.

 

My concern is that his strikeouts are up and his walks are down. If those stay anywhere near where they are, he is going to have issues if his BABIP doesn't start to line up with his LD percentage. It looks like Theriot is swinging at pitches more often this year and is simply missing more pitches inside the strike zone, so his peripherals would indicate a continued decline in the walk rate due to his approach but I'm not sure if he will continue to miss pitches that are in the zone.

 

This change in approach is risky but it probably was needed. Theriot needed some room for error and some room to avoid being unlucky with his BABIP like he was in 07. His power is still exceptionally poor and he cannot hit too many home runs even with hitting the ball as squarely as he can, but as long as his fly balls are hit squarely he should be all right even though it will likely result in more outs being made.

[TruffleShuffle]

good post, CCP.

 

if he has found a way to at least get some extra base power then a change in approach is okay, but if he isn't any stronger then he'll just end up hitting more fly outs and not getting much positive out of it. khalil greene has legitimate power, but he started swinging at junk a lot more in recent years and sacrificed patience and batting average for power, and got worse. personally, i'd think that theriot should just hit line drives and hard ground balls.

 

i did see a hardball times article on BABIP that suggested theriot was very lucky in 2008 - they were using a new formula that they claim is more accurate that the traditional methods of calculating expected BABIP. now, i think the new method evaluates theriot's xBABIP too low, but that being said - if he lost the 24 hits that the method claimed he wouldn't have had without the extra luck, he would've been a mediocre shortstop instead of above average last year.

[questionmarkgrace]

theriot needs to drive the ball every so often just to keep pitchers from pitching him the same way every time out. Right now they are throwing it middle in because he keeps slaping outside pitches to right field.

[Rob]

I don't have a problem with him occasionally deciding to pull the ball if he guesses right on a pitch and a location in a hitters count. I don't want him to try to pull every 3-1 fastball, but one outta five might not be a bad idea... just to keep opposing defenses honest.

[Derwood]

Seems to me that some pitchers realized that he hits the ball opposite field a lot, so tried getting him out inside, and Theriot just happened to put a good swing on those pitches and they went out. That's all

[CliftonHanger]

if theriot starts trying to hit for power he will stink. he's small, doesn't weigh much and doesn't have much loft in his swing. he has gotten a couple of inner-half pitches and was able to drive them, but power isn't his game and if he tries to hit home runs, he'll end up just hitting a lot more fly balls and making more outs.

 

if he can drive bad pitches into the gaps and maybe get a home run here and there, that's fine, but he shouldn't start trying to make power a part of his game. leave that to the guys who can do so without hurting the rest of their game.

 

 

I'd like it if Soriano didn't strike out so much. Attempting to drive the ball = swinging the bat faster and harder = more SO's