Comments on: Quote: Church Loves Batting Second

By: dykstraw belgado

dykstraw belgado — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:55:58 +0000

there was no good reason to sign castillo. your reasoning about what castillo can do is overshadowed by what he can’t do, which is: hit an extra base hit. and when you consider that an extra-base hit is the absolute best outcome you can hope for, and without it you are left with bad outs, good outs, walks and slappy singles, it really hurts his usefulness in a good lineup.

By: dykstraw belgado

dykstraw belgado — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:43:28 +0000

really? because i REALLY hope willie DID make this change for strategy, because that might indicate that he understands, on some level, that a guy who doesn’t regularly hit the ball out of the infield and doesn’t run like he used to isn’t the best choice to sandwich between three all-star and potential MVP caliber hitters.

By: Another Matt

Another Matt — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:39:02 +0000

I think in general HoJo needs to move Church away from hacking at every first pitch he sees, regardless of what position he’s batting. I’m prepared to be patient about that though, since Ryan’s doing great so far.

By: dykstraw belgado

dykstraw belgado — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:36:11 +0000

hitting the pitcher in front of reyes is a waste of reyes’ power and his ability to drive in runs. which is incidentally what castillo completely lacks.

this offense would be best if either castillo hit 1 and reyes 2, or castillo 9 and reyes 1, than having reyes hit before castillo.

all this talk about bunting and moving runners over is really really meaningless compared to a guy who can hit getting more ABs *especially* when a guy like reyes is likely to be in scoring position. keith loves to talk about all this stuff because he played in an era where runs were scarce and lineups really had to scrape for them. nowadays i will take a whole AL style lineup full of mashers please.

By: Another Matt

Another Matt — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:33:10 +0000

Err… quite possibly. We scored all the runs with 0 out.

By: Gregg

Gregg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:15:52 +0000

So what was the point in signing Castillo? To have some injury prone guy bat eigth hoping he can get a hit to clear the pitcher spot.

Castillo makes such a great #2 hitter because he has an excellent OBP and does not strike out much. Last year Church had 107 SO’s in 407 AB’s. Castillo had 45 SO’s in 548 AB’s. He sets up the #3 and #4 hitters to drive in runs. Castillo also takes a lot of pitches and gives Reyes time to steal bases.

You can criticize my reasoning, but you also are giving only one particular situation (runner on 3rd less than 2 out). And even in that situation Castillo can hit a ball deep enough to drive in a run. He can also get a walk, get a hit, squeeze bunt, whatever.

And there is no comparison in bunting abilities. Church might be good, but Castillo is one of the best bunters I’ve ever seen.

By: fyffem

fyffem — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:50:03 +0000

Matt, I have to respectfully disagree. This lineup, against righties or lefties, is clearly the most dynamic. Castillo is a powerless, slap hitter. A two-hole hitter should have a combination of speed, power, and patience which makes Church ideal although he has average speed (atleast he’s far from being a base cloger)

By: hyperion4

hyperion4 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:35:13 +0000

I agree with you. The traditional image of the “perfect #2 hitter” needs to be revised. It’s nice that Castillo can bunt and take pitches, but it’s better to have a #2 hitter who can actually put runs on the board.

By: bvaz

bvaz — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:34:28 +0000

hmmm. finally the board is positive. but now I need to voice my problem.
6th inning, reyes gets on with 2 outs. Chuch swings at the first pitch and flies out. I thought I saw frustration on Reyes’ face as the game went to commercial.

I don’t know. reyes wasn’t running on the first pitch but I think with 2 outs, getting into the later innings, and in a fairly close game, you need to take a few pitches and let Jose run.

I will be fair though and let church develop into hitting #2. he may be seeing better pitches, but sometimes, it is about taking pitches too. I hope he understands that.

I know I’m nitpicking and it is not negative. I would have just liked to see Reyes get a chance to swipe a bag there.

By: nrmax88

nrmax88 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:34:09 +0000

No, I never want to rely on anybody to ever have to bunt Reyes anywhere. He is pretty fast, and can steal bases. There is nothing I hate more then a late inning game, down by one, Reyes gets on first, and gets bunted over before he attemts steal. I gauruntee we score a higher percentage of the time when Reyes attempts a stolen base as opposed to just saccing him to second.

Here is a situation wehere the commenter makes one decent point and makes his decision based on it. Castillo having to bunt over Reyes… okay.

What about the 3 times that castillo has failed to bring in runners from 3rd with less then 2 outs because he can only hit the ball like 200 feet tops??

What about when Reyes is on 3rd? Vastillo is literally useless in those situations, he needs a hit to score the run.

And by the way, Church dropped down a nice bunt the other day, he omved Reyes over without any trouble at all.

So yeah, if the only reason you have for Castillo batting 8th being a “terrible” idea is that you dont trust Church to get down a sac bunt in the 7th inning or later, when we are trailing by one run, when Reyes is on first.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight………………