Jeff Branson instructs Gaby Sanchez during batting practice Monday. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
I, for one, blame Kate Upton.
I really don’t, of course, but play along.
See, for all her otherworldly gifts, the solar system’s most celebrated supermodel didn’t even bother showing Monday night at PNC Park to watch her boyfriend, the Tigers’ Justin Verlander, get flogged for five runs in one inning as the opening salvo of the Pirates’ 11-6 smackdown. Hence, the fair maiden provided no tangible distraction, no Yoko Ono effect on the pitcher who used to give up fewer runs in a month than he did in these 16 minutes.
No, the apparent culprit was Verlander’s “sore right shoulder,” as announced by the Detroit media relations a full hour and 11 minutes after he exited the game without any visible sign of, you know, a sore right shoulder. The Tigers added after the game that he’ll have an MRI on the shoulder, so the veracity remains to be seen.
Not to be cynical, but hey, maybe it was something else.
“We can hit,” Starling Marte told me afterward in almost defiant tone. “Look at all these guys, our guys, we can hit.”
Yeah, there is that, even if it seems to be escaping notice this summer: These Pirates can hit.
And no, I’m not just saying that because, on this night when Andrew McCutchen went on the disabled list and Neil Walker kept hovering on that same line, Travis Snider homered twice, Josh Harrison joined him with three hits, Ike Davis launched a shot of his own after Snider’s first, Russell Martin reached the second tier of bleachers, Marte lasered a bases-loaded triple off Verlander, and Jordy Mercer steadily chipped in two more hits.
Here, take a look at the broader picture of this offense, since it seems a reminder is in order following the weekend blahs against the Padres: With the outburst Monday night, the Pirates rank No. 3 in the National League with 501 runs, up from ninth a year ago. They rank No. 1 with a .334 on-base percentage, up from eighth. They rank fourth with 106 home runs, that one staying the same even with Pedro Alvarez’s issues. They rank No. 1 with 402 walks, up from seventh.
The name that’s most easily attached to all that is McCutchen’s, naturally, and that’s as it should be. An MVP raises all hands.
But the name I’d list next is that of Jeff Branson.
He’s the first-year hitting coach, having followed an overmatched Gregg Ritchie and an underachieving Jay Bell, and he’s been the biggest hit in the role since Don Long came along a few years back to make multimillionaires of Jason Bay, Xavier Nady and many others. That’s especially true among the players who climbed the system ladder with Branson, some of whom pushed for his promotion last fall when Bell left.
In spite of that popularity and his productivity to date, he has stayed out of the spotlight, which is probably why his work isn’t cited more often.
“Honestly, I won’t read what’s written about me, so you can write whatever you want,” Branson was telling me Monday afternoon after batting practice. “That’s just not me.”
OK, but here’s the thrust of it, anyway: He approached the Pirates’ hitters this past spring with an approach that was more philosophical than mechanical. As he described it one morning in Fort Myers, it was built on the idea that one at-bat leads to the next. They aren’t isolated. If one player works a deep count, the next benefits. If they all do it, starting pitchers get chased early. If starters are chased early in the first couple games of a series, the last game or two become easier.
I reminded Branson of that conversation Monday ….
It’s really no more complicated than that. He assists in the individual but insists on the collective.
Take Mercer as Exhibit A of the individual: He struggled immensely in the opening month, with a .167 average and one extra-base hit in 71 plate appearances. He’s now at .263, fifth-best among all National League shortstops, and is doing it with plenty of pop.
What did Branson change in Mercer’s mechanics?
“Nothing at all,” Branson said. “All that happened was that this player became comfortable that he belonged here and began swinging like he belonged here. With Jordy, it was all about believing.”
“One thing that those of us who have known Jeff for a lot of years can tell you is that he lets you be yourself when it comes to your stance, your swing,” Mercer said last night. “And what separates him from other hitting coaches is that he lets you do that, but he makes sure everyone’s got the same approach. Everyone can have different swings, different thoughts, but he wants everyone thinking about the same approach toward us winning that day’s game.”
And that approach?
“Wait for your pitch to take your swing.”
Even if it’s the first pitch?
“Why not?”
Exhibit A from the team standpoint, then, might as well be Pirates v. Verlander: The first four batters worked him for 19 pitches, including walks from Gregory Polanco and Davis. That’s when Marte came up and … yeah, he hacked at the first pitch for that huge triple.
Par for the course with Marte not showing patience, right?
Not so fast: Marte still doesn’t walk much, but the 3.86 pitches he sees per plate appearance are second on the team only to McCutchen’s 4.12. And right behind him in that category are two other guys who have never walked much, Walker at 3.8 and Mercer at 3.73.
That’s the pattern.
“I went up there, Verlander’s probably going to throw me offspeed inside, and I wasn’t waiting,” Marte said. “Slider. Over the plate. I liked the first pitch.”
The same principle applies, by the way, to what Snider was discussing in the column last week about players tossing their egos onto the pile. That’s the broader picture, but this is the payoff.
At any rate, let’s toss all this out and instead blame Ms. Upton, as any responsible subscription site would do for no reason beyond running the obligatory accompanying photo.
August 11, 2014
Column: Hey, anyone notice all this offense?
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Pirates
Jeff Branson instructs Gaby Sanchez during batting practice Monday. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
I, for one, blame Kate Upton.
I really don’t, of course, but play along.
See, for all her otherworldly gifts, the solar system’s most celebrated supermodel didn’t even bother showing Monday night at PNC Park to watch her boyfriend, the Tigers’ Justin Verlander, get flogged for five runs in one inning as the opening salvo of the Pirates’ 11-6 smackdown. Hence, the fair maiden provided no tangible distraction, no Yoko Ono effect on the pitcher who used to give up fewer runs in a month than he did in these 16 minutes.
No, the apparent culprit was Verlander’s “sore right shoulder,” as announced by the Detroit media relations a full hour and 11 minutes after he exited the game without any visible sign of, you know, a sore right shoulder. The Tigers added after the game that he’ll have an MRI on the shoulder, so the veracity remains to be seen.
Not to be cynical, but hey, maybe it was something else.
“We can hit,” Starling Marte told me afterward in almost defiant tone. “Look at all these guys, our guys, we can hit.”
Yeah, there is that, even if it seems to be escaping notice this summer: These Pirates can hit.
And no, I’m not just saying that because, on this night when Andrew McCutchen went on the disabled list and Neil Walker kept hovering on that same line, Travis Snider homered twice, Josh Harrison joined him with three hits, Ike Davis launched a shot of his own after Snider’s first, Russell Martin reached the second tier of bleachers, Marte lasered a bases-loaded triple off Verlander, and Jordy Mercer steadily chipped in two more hits.
Here, take a look at the broader picture of this offense, since it seems a reminder is in order following the weekend blahs against the Padres: With the outburst Monday night, the Pirates rank No. 3 in the National League with 501 runs, up from ninth a year ago. They rank No. 1 with a .334 on-base percentage, up from eighth. They rank fourth with 106 home runs, that one staying the same even with Pedro Alvarez’s issues. They rank No. 1 with 402 walks, up from seventh.
The name that’s most easily attached to all that is McCutchen’s, naturally, and that’s as it should be. An MVP raises all hands.
But the name I’d list next is that of Jeff Branson.
He’s the first-year hitting coach, having followed an overmatched Gregg Ritchie and an underachieving Jay Bell, and he’s been the biggest hit in the role since Don Long came along a few years back to make multimillionaires of Jason Bay, Xavier Nady and many others. That’s especially true among the players who climbed the system ladder with Branson, some of whom pushed for his promotion last fall when Bell left.
In spite of that popularity and his productivity to date, he has stayed out of the spotlight, which is probably why his work isn’t cited more often.
“Honestly, I won’t read what’s written about me, so you can write whatever you want,” Branson was telling me Monday afternoon after batting practice. “That’s just not me.”
OK, but here’s the thrust of it, anyway: He approached the Pirates’ hitters this past spring with an approach that was more philosophical than mechanical. As he described it one morning in Fort Myers, it was built on the idea that one at-bat leads to the next. They aren’t isolated. If one player works a deep count, the next benefits. If they all do it, starting pitchers get chased early. If starters are chased early in the first couple games of a series, the last game or two become easier.
I reminded Branson of that conversation Monday ….
It’s really no more complicated than that. He assists in the individual but insists on the collective.
Take Mercer as Exhibit A of the individual: He struggled immensely in the opening month, with a .167 average and one extra-base hit in 71 plate appearances. He’s now at .263, fifth-best among all National League shortstops, and is doing it with plenty of pop.
What did Branson change in Mercer’s mechanics?
“Nothing at all,” Branson said. “All that happened was that this player became comfortable that he belonged here and began swinging like he belonged here. With Jordy, it was all about believing.”
“One thing that those of us who have known Jeff for a lot of years can tell you is that he lets you be yourself when it comes to your stance, your swing,” Mercer said last night. “And what separates him from other hitting coaches is that he lets you do that, but he makes sure everyone’s got the same approach. Everyone can have different swings, different thoughts, but he wants everyone thinking about the same approach toward us winning that day’s game.”
And that approach?
“Wait for your pitch to take your swing.”
Even if it’s the first pitch?
“Why not?”
Exhibit A from the team standpoint, then, might as well be Pirates v. Verlander: The first four batters worked him for 19 pitches, including walks from Gregory Polanco and Davis. That’s when Marte came up and … yeah, he hacked at the first pitch for that huge triple.
Par for the course with Marte not showing patience, right?
Not so fast: Marte still doesn’t walk much, but the 3.86 pitches he sees per plate appearance are second on the team only to McCutchen’s 4.12. And right behind him in that category are two other guys who have never walked much, Walker at 3.8 and Mercer at 3.73.
That’s the pattern.
“I went up there, Verlander’s probably going to throw me offspeed inside, and I wasn’t waiting,” Marte said. “Slider. Over the plate. I liked the first pitch.”
The same principle applies, by the way, to what Snider was discussing in the column last week about players tossing their egos onto the pile. That’s the broader picture, but this is the payoff.
At any rate, let’s toss all this out and instead blame Ms. Upton, as any responsible subscription site would do for no reason beyond running the obligatory accompanying photo.
Or a brazenly obvious photo-shop, in this case …