Move Martin down to 3rd and just give him a chance to look at a couple of batters before he has to go up there and hit plus the way the bottom by order is getting on base you need somebody who is seeing the ball well right now Ezell can get a hit or a walk and keep the inning going. Sometimes that can break you out of a funk…
That would be a good idea. Move Heston down a little too! Ezell- Fletcher- Martin - Heston -
Change something.
I would be shocked if DVH changed the batting order.
He said he wasn’t touching the lineup because we’re winning and I don’t blame him.I just know that sometimes seeing the game from a different position can help you. He just needs to relax and let the ball come to him he’s trying to crush every ball 500 ft. Pitchers will make mistakes take advantage of those and if not just take your walks.
Dave Van Horn said after the game he is not changing the lineup while they are winning games.
I am really concerned about Casey Martin and HK. They are really in a funk. What’s depressing to me is that they are failing on the fundamentals of hitting. If they were freshmen just coming into the program, they would be sitting on the bench. They both swing at bad pitches. The book is out on them. So, opposing pitching coaches are pitching them away from their strengths. What they are failing to do is adapt. Instead of swinging for home runs they need to adapt their swings, go the other way at times, produce some singles and then get back in their groove.
I saw this coming with Kjerstad in the preseason. He was getting eaten up on the high fastballs and inside breaking pitches in the scrimmages I saw and striking out quite a bit.
I didn’t see it coming with Martin. Teams are using his aggressiveness against him a little bit.
The good news for Arkansas is that it is happening in the preseason and there is some time to work out the problems before the meat of the schedule. The bad news, as you said, is that there is a book on these hitters now. I think that is one of the biggest contributors to the “sophomore slump.” There isn’t much film on freshmen, but there is by the time you’re a sophomore.
Matt what is really weird with kjerstadis they couldn’t get him out in the fall hit5-6 home runs
Guys, as Clay said in another thread - that’s baseball. Even really, really good hitters have dry spells - times when they are out of sync, swinging at pitches out of the zone, etc. It just happens.
Look at Bennintenti’s first year here. Look at the first half of Fletcher’s season last year. No real “explanation” for it - it’s just the human aspect of sport.
In the immortal words of former Ranger Manager Ron Washington:
So do we have a different lineup tomorrow?
Would like to see Ezell lead off and Washington take over for Nesbit. Maybe drop kjerstad and Fletcher as well. Just to shake things up
We scored seven runs, and HK had three hits. Should have been enough to win even with the wind tunnel out to right field, but the bullpen imploded.
Yesterday we scored 4. Against lesser pitching talent. LA Tech scored 12 against better arm talent. As for Kjerstad, he hasn’t had a lot of power. Good to see him get on base though
The starting pitcher yesterday was much better than the one today.