MLB clutch issue runs deep
Cora airs gripes on HR focus
In the age of home runs, when the baseballs have scientifically proved to be more aerodynamic than ever before, are too many players losing sight of making simple contact?
Bunting is becoming extinct and has been on the decline for years.
So, too, is situational hitting.
Contact rates across the majors are at a historic low, with MLB hitters making contact just 76 percent of the time, the lowest since the data first started being collected in 2008.
Everybody wants to hit home runs. And Red Sox manager Alex Cora believes it can be problematic.
“I think a lot of players are taking that to the extreme, to hit the ball in the air, to be honest with you,” Cora said before the Sox game last night vs. the Angels. “There are certain situations where a ground ball the other way, it benefits us. I don’t know. … Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
With men in scoring position, Cora’s Red Sox have been hitting the ball in the air 39 percent of the time, the third-highest rate in MLB. But those fly balls aren’t turning into home runs very often.
The Sox’ home run per fly ball percentage in those situations is dramatically low, with just 10 percent of them going over the fence, the third-lowest rate in MLB.
“There’s a reward when you hit the ball in the air but how often does it happen?” Cora said. “We talk about it. We live in an industry when it seems like hitting .200 and hitting 40 homers, I get it, the OPS and all that. But there have been a lot of guys throughout the history of the game that hit 30 and drive in 100, but when do you hit 30 and when you drive in the runs? And I might get criticized because of the comment, but it’s the truth.”
Timely hitting seems to have lost its place.
“If the score is 10-2 and you hit a home run, you can do that 30 times and you become a home run hitter and that’s great,” Cora said. “But what do you do with men on third and less than two outs? Do you hit home runs or put the ball in play and drive in the guy to the plate? Or are you getting on base? And I think that’s where we’re at. I think a lot of people are confused with the whole thing. That’s the way I see it.”
The Red Sox hitting .284 with men in scoring position, third-highest average in the game. But they’ve gone long stretches, including during their recent eightgame losing streak, when timely hitting hasn’t been there.
“I read a quote by Joey Votto (of the Reds) two years ago that there are a lot of great stories about (launch angle saving careers), but people don’t talk about the other stories that haven’t worked out,” Cora said. “People get caught up in J.D.
Martinez and certain guys (who have been successful). It becomes public and people give credit to whoever worked with them. But sometimes those guys have worked with other guys and it hasn’t happened. But those stories don’t come out so you’ve got to be careful.”
Standing by deal
The Angels have a righthander in their bullpen the Red Sox really could have used this season.
A year ago, Ty Buttrey was traded from the Sox to the Angels for second baseman
Ian Kinsler. Since then, Buttrey has shined with the Angels, with a 3.52 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 69 innings.
Looking back at the trade, Cora still feels good about it.
“Hey man, the guy we got here did a good job when he was healthy,” Cora said. “We needed somebody like Kinsler to balance our defense. Everybody thinks about what happened in Game 3 (when he made a gamechanging error in the 13th inning), but Ian was pretty good for us when he got here early. Too bad he got hurt.
“But those are the moves you have to make to win a World Series. I’m glad he’s doing an outstanding job over there,” Cora said of Buttrey.
Speed it up
It took just 2 hours, 16 minutes for the Sox to beat the Angels, 3-0, on the heels of Chris Sale’s gem Thursday night.
It was the fastest game of the season for a Red Sox team that has averaged 3 hours, 23 minutes per game, longest average in MLB.
How do we get more of those fast games?
“I don’t know, because there were a lot of swing and misses and people don’t like that,” Cora said. “There wasn’t too much action. Just two swings, three runs. For how people talk about slow pace because there’s nothing happening, not too much happened yesterday.
“But I think both guys (Sale and Angels starter Dillon Peters) as far as pace on the mound, that was good. Both of them. It’s just when you pitch like that, that’s going to happen. When they’re ready, they’re ready. I know as far as commercials and all that, there’s a lot of money involved. But we have to find a way. If the pitcher is ready, let’s roll. We don’t want to wait.”