the guy still doesn’t K… at all.
and i’m sure part of it has to do with the mini-slump he’s been in. Hitters hack at everything to break out of a slump. Once he gets going again, I’m sure it’ll be a non-issue.

on a similar note, I still think we need to get Hatcher out and someone more patient in

Kotch needs to stay as far away from him as he can, and turn his iPod up real loud whenever Hatcher tries to talk to him.

Kotch.s goatee and how it was making him look like a caveman.

I was way off.

If you watch any of his frequent post-game interviews, he says he always tries to put the ball in play, and try to find a hole. That is his plan when he steps up to the plate. I don’t think an opposing pitcher particularly wants to walk a guy hitting in the two hole with Vlad and Hunter up after that so that could be a contributing factor. Plus Casey “sees” the ball better and has more plate dicipline than most of the guys on the team, a thing he uses not so much to force a walk but to wait for that perfect ball to hit. He hits more to power than people realize and he is more likelly to strike out or get a hit than walk much.

I’m guessing you missed seeing Kotch go 5 for 5 the other night? You may have missed it because of Mathis’ grand slam…

and now he will have to adjust his game back to the league…

yeah, he doesn’t strike out, but so what? A .330 OBP is right around G.A.’s career average. This guy used to put huge BA/OBP differentials, and it was one of the biggest assets to his offensive game. It was what was going to ensure that his yearly OPS was always well over .800, and now he’s walking as often as perennial hackers like Kendrick and Anderson.

He has good plate discipline, but I can’t stand the idea that a guy with as much talent as him, and as good an eye as him is now being ruined by our hack of a hitting coach so badly. Fucking Kevin Youkilis, who was never in the same LEAGUE as Kotchman in talent, is out there overshadowing what should be one of our great position players. He needs to come around and start drawing the walk again because .330 ain’t cutting it.

We’ll put Mark Trumbo (I think thats his name) at first, then lets go win!

:) ;)

People whine about our first half MVP on the MLBs best team.

Go be Royals fans.

(Damn it, I’m going to trade somebody before the deadline :) )

... Casey wouldn’t be hitting second.

than last year. Kotchman swung at 43.5% of the pitches last year compared to 49.2%. That’s a pretty good jump, but I’d like to see what his situational stats are related to where he bats. Remember, he spent the first half of the year down in the batting order and only recently moved up to the 2 spot (which is a whole other posting). I’d like to see if his approach has changed with his new spot in the batting order. If he’s taking more pitches, less pitches, or staying at the same rate.

Another interesting stat is he’s making a little better contact over last year (90.6% vs 88.5%). By swinging more often and making better contact, his walks are going to go down, as well as his strikeouts (which they are 6.3% compared to 9.7% in 2007).

I don’t really have a point to make, just throwing those stats out there. I like Kotchman. I think he’s a Mark Grace-type player…which is good, and I hope he has a long career with the Halos. And I think I’d rather wait until the end of the year before looking at his stats and making any kind of career judgement about his ability to get on base.

He has more protection this year. Less walks…

My men on base situations?

He may be more aggressive. He’s struck out less. I don’t think you can read much into it.

Overall I think he’s been more consistent this year even if he hasn’t had a crazy hot streak.