Hot Seat Ike

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Adam Rubin ?@AdamRubinESPN 1m

Wilmer Flores at first base tonight for Triple-A Las Vegas. Only second time manning the position this season.

[metirish]

Golden again for all the wrong reasons tonight.

[Edgy MD]

Flores in bloom at first tonight in Vegas.

[ashie62]

Jesus Montero has been Ikelike in Seattle...The Mariners sent hin to AAA...

[Lefty Specialist]

Ike's clutch single on national TV last night probably bought him a couple of extra weeks to flail and bail in New York.

[Zvon]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Ike's clutch single on national TV last night probably bought him a couple of extra weeks to flail and bail in New York.

I figure he's got these two games at Citi.

[smg58]

Does Ike still have options, or would he have to be placed on waivers?

[Edgy MD]

Maybe that standing O on his RBI single the other night should have been Terry's cue to get him out on a positive and send him down after the game --- or better yet, remove him for a pinch-runner and send him down immediately.

[Frayed Knot]

smg58 wrote: Does Ike still have options, or would he have to be placed on waivers?

I'm almost positive he still has options. Certainly folks keep talking about it as if he does - and folks who actually know what they're talking about, like Gary C and others who you would think would have brought up the subject of waivers if that were an issue.

[Zvon]

I have some free time. Okay, here's how I would fix Ike.


1) Stand up again like you used to. If only because it is easier to sustain over the course of a career (if you want one). You're a big guy. Not a slap hitter. You can hit without the crouch. You have done it before. Drop the crouch. Stand up. Trust your stride. Use your stride.

2) Start going out late and stayin up watching movies or whatever it is you did before the media ratted you out in regards to your personal schedule. Only you know what kind of rest cycle you need.

3) Swing a bat in front of a full length mirror for, meh, 10 to 15 minutes a day. Do it in slow motion. From both front view and side view make sure your hips lead and your arms become a controlled whip as a result. You know you can do it, so just trust your hands to the ball. The stride step and hips can move in sync, but if your hips and hands are coming through in sync, you've been fooled by the pitch. Ideally: Step/turn hips-swing. Just visualize this, continuously and seriously. Do this in private somewhere in the clubhouse.

There. I did my best. I wash my hands of the situation. If he don't listen, what can I do?
This is a semi-serious post.

[Edgy MD]

Well, he's not crouching in his first trip.

[Zvon]

Edgy MD wrote: Well, he's not crouching in his first trip.

Nor his second. That's a step in the right direction, I firmly believe.

[Zvon]

Now I hope they afford him a few more steps before giving up. He'll find the groove. And that short porch in Skanktown is mighty inviting.

[ashie62]

Once Ike is behind in the count he is an automatic out..

[Frayed Knot]

Ashie62 wrote: Once Ike is behind in the count he is an automatic out..

Once Ike is in the batters box he's an automatic out.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

It's a two-seater, and Ruben Tejada is shotgun.

[ashie62]

Swan Swan H wrote: It's a two-seater, and Ruben Tejada is shotgun.

Thats pretty good

[smg58]

Frayed Knot wrote: Ashie62 wrote: Once Ike is behind in the count he is an automatic out.. Once Ike is in the batters box he's an automatic out.

Well he's almost always getting behind, so you're both right. The key to whatever recovery Ike will have is strike one. As in, don't let anybody throw a fastball to get it, and don't go fishing for what would be ball one.

[Frayed Knot]

As somebody said on the broadcast last night (and you can do it now with these 'Pitch F/X' charts) if you were to see a graph of all the pitches Ike's seen lately and the results you'll probably see most of his swings-and-misses are at stuff out of the zone and many of the ones he takes wind up as called strikes.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: As somebody said on the broadcast last night (and you can do it now with these 'Pitch F/X' charts) if you were to see a graph of all the pitches Ike's seen lately and the results you'll probably see most of his swings-and-misses are at stuff out of the zone and many of the ones he takes wind up as called strikes.

well, someone run one! (I don't have the time to figure it out at work. bleh, jobs.)

[Benjamin Grimm]

If that's true, that he's taking strikes and swinging at balls, then he's about as lost as you can be.

[metirish]

Ceetar wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: As somebody said on the broadcast last night (and you can do it now with these 'Pitch F/X' charts) if you were to see a graph of all the pitches Ike's seen lately and the results you'll probably see most of his swings-and-misses are at stuff out of the zone and many of the ones he takes wind up as called strikes. well, someone run one! (I don't have the time to figure it out at work. bleh, jobs.)

Yeah, Ron was telling Keith.......he concurred .....from what I have see they rarely even throw him strikes now...why would they, he swings at shit.


Ike has got to go.

[metsmarathon]

i don't know how to make one of the charts, but i do know how to look at the raw numbers...

there are two data sources. baseball info solutions and pitch fx. the first set of numbers is from bis.

bis wrote: this year, ike davis is swinging at 26.7% of pitches out of the strike zone, making contact 48.0% of the time on those swings. last year, ike davis swung at 29.3% of pitches out of hte strike zone, making contact 60.4% of the time on those swings. in 2011, ike davis swung at 25.4% of pitches out of the zone, making contact 68.4% of hte time on those swings. this year, ike davis is swinging at 71.1% of pitches in the strike zone, making contact 70.6% of the time on those swings. last year, ike davis swung at 68.0% of pitches in the strike zone, making contact 74.7% of the time on those swings. in 2011 ike davis swung at 66.1% of pitches in the strike zone, making contact 78.4% of hte time on those swings. this year, 44.8% of pitches thrown to ike davis have been in hte strike zone, compared to 40.4% last year, and 42.5% in 2011

pitch f/x wrote: this year, ike davis is swinging at 30.2% of pitches out of the strike zone, making contact 52.3% of the time on those swings. last year, ike davis swung at 30.7% of pitches out of hte strike zone, making contact 59.8% of the time on those swings. in 2011, ike davis swung at 25.5% of pitches out of the zone, making contact 65.8% of hte time on those swings. this year, ike davis is swinging at 62.6% of pitches in the strike zone, making contact 78.7% of the time on those swings. last year, ike davis swung at 61.5% of pitches in the strike zone, making contact 83.6% of the time on those swings. in 2011 ike davis swung at 62.7% of pitches in the strike zone, making contact 84.0% of hte time on those swings. this year, 48.3% of pitches thrown to ike davis have been in hte strike zone, compared to 45% last year, and 45.5% in 2011

what does it all mean, other than that there's a difference between what bis calls a strike and what pitch f/x calls a strike?

well, ike isn't really swinging at balls out of the zone more often, but when he does, he's making much less contact.
and he's not taking more pitches in teh zone for strikes. in fact, the opposite is happening. he's swinging a maybe little more often, but making less contact. he's also getting thrown more strikes, because pitchers aren't afraid of him doing much of anything with the ball.

[Centerfield]

I don't know how else to put it, but Ike Davis looks like a guy who lacks the ability to hit major league pitching.

As far as I can tell, he has two major problems:

1. Lack of batspeed: The fastballs are too fast for him. So he starts his swing earlier, making him susceptible to breaking pitches. This is why he ends up flailing at pitches in the dirt.

2. Lack of hand-eye coordination: On the rare occasion that he guesses correctly he lacks the hand-eye coordination to hit it square, often fouling it off or making weak contact.

When other hitters slump, they get out of balance, or their swing gets long. I don't know how one corrects these two problems. All I know is that I have never seen a major league hitter look this bad.

[metirish]

Have you guys noticed how he squints and blinks a lot after flailing hopelessly at a pitch? I've seen this a few times now , like he has bad eye allergies or something.

[seawolf17]

As far as I can tell, he has one major problem: He's terrible at baseball.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

metirish wrote: Have you guys noticed how he squints and blinks a lot after flailing hopelessly at a pitch? I've seen this a few times now , like he has bad eye allergies or something.

Absolutely. I mentioned it back on page 1 of this thread, and it's not getting any better.

[metirish]

Swan Swan H wrote: When Davis came up for his last AB last night he was blinking his eyes to the point where it was making me nervous. Blinking and opening them up wide in that 'who, me, I'm not tired' move. Makes me wonder if there's not something there that's bothering him.

You sure did .....

[Frayed Knot]

ike isn't really swinging at balls out of the zone more often, but when he does, he's making much less contact.

Which implies that the bad balls he's swinging at are really bad now as compared to maybe only slightly out of the zone in the past.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

metirish wrote: Swan Swan H wrote: When Davis came up for his last AB last night he was blinking his eyes to the point where it was making me nervous. Blinking and opening them up wide in that 'who, me, I'm not tired' move. Makes me wonder if there's not something there that's bothering him. You sure did .....

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed it. Now if they only do something about it.....