|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Leading men Beyond the Box Score: You can't steal first
Posted: Saturday April 22, 2000 12:56 AM
It's sad to see the state of pitching around baseball. The majority of pitchers are overmatched and home runs are up 20 percent over last April. However, you still need men on base to score consistently. Look around the league and you won't find too many traditional leadoff hitters. Sure, Rickey Henderson continues to ignite the Mets' offense, but where are the top-of-the-order speed demons like Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, Willie Wilson? Obviously, the game has changed in the last 10-15 years and leadoff hitters now come in all shapes in sizes. Brady Anderson hit 50 homers in 1996 and Craig Biggio has led the league in doubles three times. Still, the best table-setters have one thing in common -- the ability to reach base about 40 percent of the time. The problem for a lot of leadoff hitters today is that you can't steal first base. Just ask last year's stolen base champs.
Arizona's Tony Womack swiped 72 bags with a .332 OBP. Imagine how many more stolen bases and runs he could have produced with an OBP around .400. For one-dimensional guys like Hunter and Womack, learning the strike zone and hitting the ball on the ground are the keys to success. You have to know when it's a good time to take a pitch and you have to get to a point where you are swinging at strikes. Staying on top of the ball is an art. A pitcher's job is to get guys who can't hit it out of the park to hit it in the air. It takes some hitters a long time to understand that and to do the things they have to do to get it on the ground anyway. It's all about work, about getting in the cage. I had to learn how to swing without an uppercut, without getting under the ball. I learned how to make sure the knob of the bat was below the head when I made contact. Whitey Herzog had bullpen coach Dave Ricketts work with me on that, and it really paid off. In fact, Whitey and I had a running bet. I paid him a dollar for every fly ball I hit and he paid me a dollar for every ball I hit on the ground. It all comes back to finances.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
