Dear Bryan,
Why is Kevin Long such a highly touted hitting coach? It looks like the Mets have had a power surge since his arrival. David Wright is hitting moonshots and the younger players are also on power trips. Do we contribute this mostly to a healthy Wright, a year progression with younger players or is this Kevin Long's magic? Thanks!
-Mike from Mineola
To Mike from Mineola,
Well first off it’s spring training. It’s a good sign to see all this power and all this hitting. They are hitting like a team that could be making a run for the playoffs. Unfortunately spring training records or stats do not transfer in the regular season. If they did, Kris Bryant would be the MVP and the Mets would be headed to the playoff’s. This is the time that hitters get their timing down and pitchers get a feel for their pitches. I think Kevin Long has something to do with it but I could remind you of a man named Rick Peterson. When Peterson came here he was the talk of the town and he was going to be able to make the pitching staff the best in the league. Make another three headed monster like he did with Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson in Oakland. I don’t think comparing Peterson and Long is fair to either of them.
The thing with coaches is this, they always get blamed, and very little credit so I’m happy you bring this up. I don’t think Kevin Long as the Mets hitting coach hurts them. He’s had success. I think being a hitting coach is a little bit easier than being a pitching coach because even though every hitter has different stances, it’s a little bit easier to see and fix a problem than for a pitcher. A hitter might not have his hands in the right spot or his stride might be El Duque’s leg kick and needs to be cut down. Kevin Long also seems to also have some very creative ways to practice with the hitters. The thing is, when a player steps into the batters box, it’s nobody else except the guy who’s name is on the back of his jersey with the bat in his hands. You can go through a million and two drills to help the batter in the batters box but if he’s not willing to put in the effort then it won’t matter.
I think David Wright’s hitting is his own doing. All signs are showing that he’s healthy and good to go. As for the younger players, it seems like Kevin has the teams attention and is helping in every way he can before they get into the batters box. I don’t think it’s magic, I think it’s sweat and hard work. Oh and just a minor factor that is making the ball travel a little bit more could be the weather. It also helps that some of the pitchers are working on certain things in spring training. The pitchers that know they will be making the team, are working on their pitches, trying to get a feel for them after the offseason. Sometimes pitchers are trying to work in a new pitch to see if they can use it during the regular season to make them more effective. The final two weeks the pitchers are usually just getting in their groove, mixing up pitches, playing it like it’s a real game.
Like I said in the beginning, this is spring training. All spring training stats and records go back down to zero come April 5th, 2015 and for the Mets, it starts back up again on April 6th at 4:05pm at Nationals Park when Max Scherzer throws his fastball to Juan Lageras, who should be leading off, NOT batting ninth. But that’s another blog entry for another time.
Thank You for your question Mike. If anyone else would like to ask me a question please feel free to ask me a question by e-mailing me at: fighttilwon27@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing all your questions and will answer them in a timely fashion.
As always thank you all for your support because as much as I enjoy writing about the Mets I really enjoy the support from the fans.
-Bryan
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