Behind Byron Buxton's Struggles

Ultimately it comes down to feeling like you can hit whatever a pitcher throws anywhere near the plate. Right now Byron Buxton whiffs way too much. I don't see any way around that problem other than many more thousands of reps in the cage, honing his pitch recognition, timing and mechanics.

In games, the very first thing I'd do is work him on mashing first-pitch fastballs. Make it a little harder for pitchers to assume he's just going to stand there and watch the first heater go by. Thing is, Buxton still has to get better at barreling up the heaters in a wider zone, not just right down the middle. Pitchers have to fear throwing a first-pitch heater, or they'll just keep doing it because it's the easiest pitch to command. If Buxton can lay off the spinning stuff on that first pitch, it puts pressure on the pitcher to command a more difficult pitch on the first offering, which starts to get him more favorable counts. Of course, then Buxton has to be better at hitting off-speed stuff, so... Back to the batting cage.

This Headline is a bit misleading.  

IMHO:  Batting practice is all about eye - hand coordination.

I'm not if BP is actually meant to do much more than get stroke/swing down.  I remember a few years ago a story about Delmon Young standing in against some of the Twins pitchers during their bullpen sessions with a bat but not swinging to get better plate discipline.  I don't think we saw any improvement that year from Young. 

That's funny, that's exactly what I was going to suggest -- or at least wonder about, I'm not in the business and wouldn't know. But when I learned to drive, my brother made me pull away from the curve, then pull back and stop the car. I then had to tell him EXACTLY how far my tires were from the curb -- and then get out and look.  Over and over.  It was brilliant.  There is no better way to get a sense of space and distance than to guess, and check.

So my uneducated thought was, he should stand in while a pitcher throws whatever he wants. He has to, 1) predict where the ball is going to end up when it leaves his hand, 2) show EXACTLY where it passed the plate after it does so, and 3) have a coach show him where it really went.  Over and over.  Why not?  If the problem is not knowing how far a ball is going to break, or not being able to gauge exactly where it actually ends up, work on that.  The more times you say, it went right here, the better your eye will get, right?

Oh, and Delmon Young not mastering something has no bearing on how anyone else will do.  I give him credit for trying, if he did this, but it surprises me. He never struck me as the learning type or the listening type.  This is just going from what I read, but I thought he was notorious for refusing to listen to coaches.  Perhaps everything I read was wrong, and he was a student of the game, but the impression I got from the presss was he was pigheaded and refused to adjust.  But whatever -- he's just one guy.

Not having played more than slow-pitch myself, I have never understood how batters learn very much from swinging at meatball pitches tossed by fat-bellied old men. (Or even by some of the spry old coots that haunt the cages area.)

 

No, Buxton needs to stand there swinging the bat for 30 minutes while Tyler Duffey throws him yakker after yakker, alternated with hittable fastballs of course. Then bring in Perkins as a reliever, to work on recognizing those sliders for 10 minutes (Perk's not stretched out, dontcha know). Repeat every day. But you never hear about that happening, do you?

 

Of course you can't waste major league arms this way. (Hm, Nolasco as BP pitcher, surely this is an original thought.) So how DO you hone your batting skills in a cage, when almost by definition you're not seeing the pitches you'll see in the games?

 

Thanks for taking my call. I'll hang up and listen.

If you were going to get really creative, you could have hard-throwing guys from all over the Twins minor league system work on throwing low fastballs to Buxton. Good practice for everybody. Then see if Buxton can check his swing on selected pitches, to work on recognition. The fact that some hitters can do this indicates that there are cues to look for in every pitcher's delivery that tip off the pitch before it's too late to check. You're not going to see much hotter heat than Jake Reed, Nick Burdi, Alex Meyer, etc. Twins have several serious flame throwers that could feed fastballs all day to Buxton. Byron could even tell them when they're tipping their pitches. Both sides get sharper.

Unfortunately, that's not how these teams appear to operate.

Well, certainly another half year at Rochester isn't going to solve Buxton's developmental dilemma.

Huh? Actually probably the best thing for his development. He's 21, let's give the kid a chance to breathe.

Ok I guess we will find out next year.

After extensive research I've learned that he's only 21 years old AND that MANY much ballyhooed prospects don't become dominant major league baseball players at the age of 21.

Adjusting to major league piching is difficult. Especially to excel. Somehow, Sano is swinging and hitting the right pitches MOST of the time, but he is also striking out a lot. Patience is the key for any youngster. At some point, the hitter forces the pitcher to be careful on that first pitch and NOT throw an automatic strike. That's the game of baseball, is it going to be a ball or a strike. Period. Then you start worrying about lcoation, and a batter needs to constantly adjust their own game plan according to a pitcher's strengths (inside/outside, high/low, breaking pitches, curveballs, etc.).

It will be interesting to see the work guys do during the iwinter (Sano, Buxton, Rosario) and what returns we get out of spring training (Arcia, Vargas, Pinto, Santana...will they rebound). That's seven solid playrs who ALL have a chance to start in the major leagues, pretty much just leaving a space for Mauer and Dozier in the lineup, assuming Pinto culd catch.

We saw some consistent work from Sano and Rosario this season, and Hicks has improved a bit, but on thee whole, beyond the smashing of Sano and the triples of Rosario, we only saw some glimpses of players exceling. We need a couple to become stars, maybe even a superstar. And Mauer to return to his status as an elite hitter. And Dozier to have an equally good second half.

Then...the pitching.....

He has plenty to learn at AAA.  One big reason that he has struggled so much is that he only has 300 AA/AAA AB's.  He hasn't even seen AAAA junkballers and adjusted to them yet.

He's not ready to hit major league pitching. That's fine - he's 21 and just needs some time. He's gonna be great but most likely when he's 23 or later.

A hard working offseason and spring training should do some good. But if that doesn't work wouldn't be suprised to see a short stint with the Red Wings

I don't know what this says about where they figure Buxton will start to begin next season but it makes you wonder if they will give him more time at AAA. 

 

Well, let's face the facts:  The times he got called up were because of injuries [both Hicks, I believe] and in his last 3 starts; 2 of which were because everyone else in the clubhouse was puking their guts out and the last was in game 162. 

Along with what Mientkiewicz has said,  I'd say that's not a ringing endorsement from management.  I expect Buxton to have significant time at AAA.