The Orioles finally did the right thing when they re-assigned hitting coach Jim Presley. The club said that it was for “personal reasons” at Presley’s request, but it was pretty clear for the last few years that a move needed to happen, but never did.
Perhaps last season was the breaking point.
According to Fangraphs, in 2014 the Orioles ranked 4th in MLB in percentages of pitches swung at outside the strike zone (O-Swing%) and only 24th in their contact percentage when they swung at those pitches (O-Contact%). In other words, Orioles hitters were chasing a lot more stuff than they actually had the ability to hit, to try to make something happen offensively.
Now enter Scott Coolbaugh, formerly the Texas Rangers’ minor league hitting coordinator, who accepted the Orioles’ hitting coach job for the 2015 season on Friday.
Here’s some of his philosophy on hitting he shared during his tenure as Rangers hitting coach:
“It’s all about the process,” he said. “If you go up there with a plan and execute it, then the results will take care of themselves. Most guys find trouble because they’re trying to get a hit or hit the ball hard.”
“But if you go up there and look for a pitch you can drive on a part of the plate that you can handle, then you’ll hit the ball hard and you’ll drive it.”
Sounds pretty good right? Well here’s more:
“One of the things I’m very passionate about is that when you get a good pitch to hit, do that, but don’t try to do too much,” Coolbaugh said. “Let the guy behind you pick you if up the pitcher doesn’t allow you to get the job done. Trust one another. It’s just more of a team concept of making the pitcher work on a daily basis, win or lose. Let’s make him earn every out.”
So basically Coolbaugh wants his hitters to have a plan, execute it, and if the pitchers don’t let them execute it, take the walk and let somebody else try to cash them in. Hitters need to make the pitchers work and earn every out.
Cue the Hallelujah Chorus.
After 16 years of Terry Crowley and Jim Presley preaching only “swing at your pitch and hit it,” the Orioles finally have a hitting coach that stresses that the hitters need to have a plan when they go to the plate and that they also need to make the opposing pitchers work regardless of whether they make an out or not.
I’m not sure what took the Orioles so long to get to this point as teams like the Red Sox, Athletics and Cardinals figured this out years ago and have had sustained success since they did, but nevertheless they appear to finally be there.
Now Coolbaugh isn’t going to change a hitter like Adam Jones, who has had success with his aggressive plate approach, but he can make a difference with a player like Manny Machado, who has regressed under Presley and has increased his swings at pitches outside of the zone (36.1 O-Swing%). He can also make a difference with Jonathan Schoop, who is still raw and was unfortunately taking hitting tips from Adam Jones, swinging away (41.2 O-Swing%) with poor results (.268 wOBA).
Coolbaugh’s Rangers ranked 20th in MLB for O-Swing% in 2011 and 17th in 2012 and 6th in O-Contact% in 2011 and 17th in 2012. In both years, for both categories, the Rangers had better marks than the Orioles and had a more balanced offense.
Just like last offseason, when the Orioles hired Dom Chiti and Dave Wallace to change their pitching results, the Orioles seem to have made a similar move this offseason with hiring Coolbaugh to help improve their approach and thus their on-base ability.
Dan Duquette and the Orioles will still have to acquire hitters that have the approach and plan to generate more on-base ability, but now they at least have the coach that will encourage the players that they currently have to have a strategy that will help them get on base more and take advantage of their power.
To fix their problem with the offense, the Orioles had to realize they had one. They’ve done that now by replacing Presley with Coolbaugh, and now they can focus on completing their offense to return to the playoffs and win the World Series.
