BINGO BINGO BINGO. And if this is something easy for us fans watching on TV to see...well then. Where is the discussion on this from Stoney, or Farmer. Where is the discussion on this from Scott Merkin, Cowley, or any other reporters. Why does this seem to be something only we on this board are noticing, its freaking obvious. Fields needs to learn and practice, not strikeout over 200 times this year and be given an automatic shot again next year. The guy needs a lot of help its obvious. The swing clutch, the inability to hit anything 90+ MPH or belt high, the man simply does not belong as a starting players for any MLB team. Homers, Hits, anything that he does aside is all a band-aid on the problem. Poor mechanics and Poor approach will kill his career, dont let a week or two fool you, this guy has a lot of work to do (not at the ML level), before he should even be considered an everyday player.

You must not have been watching the game last night.

 

edit: already been said by other posters

Edited June 2, 200916 yr by lostfan

CQ needs to come back so Josh can emulate his batting stance alot easier.

CQ needs to come back so Josh can emulate his batting stance alot easier.

 

Josh needs to follow CQ's example and practice his swing "everywhere".

Josh needs to follow CQ's example and practice his swing "everywhere".

In that commercial, Josh Fields is the most uncomfortable, awkward "actor" in the history of the universe.

If you're ever at a game, watch Fields take a couple of cuts in the on deck circle. Its very short. He, like a lot of players, can't bring it to the plate for some reason. He's dropping his shoulder which also will lengthen and slow down your swing. Its not something that is uncommon. You can't be thinking about mechanics while hitting or you will not hit. He isn't to the point where that short swing becomes "his" swing. He may never get there.

While I agree that Josh's swing looked messed up last night, the thing that I have noticed about him over the past few weeks is that he seems to be consistently "just under it". They say you get an average of one good pitch to hit per at bat, and Josh has fouled that one pitch straight back time and time again. His timing has been right there on those pitches, but he's not centering it. He's below center constantly.

His bat load is also causing him to "chili dip", with his back elbow being too far down, causing the bat to start in the swing too low. At least, that is what I think I am seeing.

 

That, and his inability to catch up to good heat, are both caused by that bat load.

 

which by the way, he wasn't doing as often during his little hitting streak. He kept the back elbow higher, didn't hitch down as much in the bat load, and got the bat going sooner. Less power, but way better contact.

 

Fields loading motion (IMO) is only going to be cured if he starts bringing his hands up and behind his head. His hands are just too busy when he holds them around the chest

Fields loading motion (IMO) is only going to be cured if he starts bringing his hands up and behind his head. His hands are just too busy when he holds them around the chest

If you saw him hit in the last couple weeks (yesterday aside), he kept that back elbow up higher. That also means his hands were a little higher. He looked tons better.

 

While I agree that Josh's swing looked messed up last night, the thing that I have noticed about him over the past few weeks is that he seems to be consistently "just under it". They say you get an average of one good pitch to hit per at bat, and Josh has fouled that one pitch straight back time and time again. His timing has been right there on those pitches, but he's not centering it. He's below center constantly.

He's dropping his shoulder which will make even the best hitters pop it up or just swing under it.

If you saw him hit in the last couple weeks (yesterday aside), he kept that back elbow up higher. That also means his hands were a little higher. He looked tons better.

 

Yeah, yesterday was a big regression to his bad mechanics. Its funny to say, but maybe he should work on his swing everywhere

If you're ever at a game, watch Fields take a couple of cuts in the on deck circle. Its very short. He, like a lot of players, can't bring it to the plate for some reason. He's dropping his shoulder which also will lengthen and slow down your swing. Its not something that is uncommon. You can't be thinking about mechanics while hitting or you will not hit. He isn't to the point where that short swing becomes "his" swing. He may never get there.

Anderson was having that same problem.

Fields loading motion (IMO) is only going to be cured if he starts bringing his hands up and behind his head. His hands are just too busy when he holds them around the chest

Yup, I think he needs to bring his hands down on the ball instead of keeping them down, loading them up, then bring them to the ball.

Way to steal what Hawk was saying last night...

All Hawk talks about is how he drops his back shoulder and swings with 1 hand. He never talked about Fields' load before the swing.

Edited June 2, 200916 yr by BearSox

All Hawk talks about is how he drops his back shoulder and swings with 1 hand. He never talked about Fields' load before the swing.

 

Yeah he did. Him and Stone spent about 15-20 minutes talking about it last night, showing the loading motion in slow motion and breaking it down

Yeah he did. Him and Stone spent about 15-20 minutes talking about it last night, showing the loading motion in slow motion and breaking it down

 

I missed that part. I usually just speed up the DVR inbetween pitches, so I miss a lot of what they are talking about.

 

When did they talk about his load during his swing? Was it after his last AB?

He needs to look at some 2007 tape. At least he was hitting home runs back then. He's literally a singles hitter at 3B right now.

I missed that part. I usually just speed up the DVR inbetween pitches, so I miss a lot of what they are talking about.

 

When did they talk about his load during his swing? Was it after his last AB?

 

I dont remember what inning it was. Josh didnt spend a lot of time in the batters box last night so it could have been the following inning or a couple batters down the line. They showed his swing from the side and zoomed in on his loading motion

Yeah he did. Him and Stone spent about 15-20 minutes talking about it last night, showing the loading motion in slow motion and breaking it down

 

Hawk did the most talking. Stone asked him to explain specifically some of the phrases he was using, and they used a slow mo sequence to get into details. They really did spend A LOT of the game talking about the mechanics of Josh's swing.

Anyone else pretty disgusted with Josh Fields' swing mechanics....I mean wow does this guy look like the epidemy of the go back to the minors to work on it type guy or what. I mean not only can he never hit any fastball above 90 MPH...PERIOD, but his little stupid clutch/hitch before he swings is pathetic. Its like the worst part of a swing I have ever seen. Then of course he cant hit anything thigh high or above, becuase well lets face it, the damn swing clutch slows him down. Then you see his right hand, fly off the bat as he wraps his bat around his body with his follow through with only 1 hand. Seriously, WTF is wrong with this guy. He seems like the exact opposite of the type of hitter Ozzie and KW have been preaching for years now. Honestly, go away Josh Fields it looks like you have a lot to work on in the minors still! I cant be the only one who sees this.

 

incredible, yesterday in the eating crow thread I posted:

"as long as Fields has that "windup hitch" in his backswing he'll never catch up with a good MLB fastball, which he misses consistently, even when right down the pipe. If only we had a hitting coach to correct such minor flaws"

 

I considered starting a thread on this when I watched him whiff at 90mph down the middle fastballs repeatedly, but decided to bury it in the Crow thread that mentioned his possible resurgence...to open this up and see "my thread" just shows how many see this glaring issue.

 

As a hitting coach for my 7yr old's baseball team , I'm pretty qualified to see Josh could explode if he shortened the path minus that flaw which most guys remove before leaving high school!

Um.......Joeynach........Josh's swing in his last 10 games have given him 12 hits in the last 35 ABs, according to Yahoo Sports.Com.

 

It may be ugly/girly/whatever....but it's working, with the exception of tonight.

 

Who knows?????? If it ain't broke...

 

No, it's broke. Because if he corrected the hitch, instead of a power hitter with a great stance, strong hands, who has only 2 HRs and a 238avg to show for it, he could be a 290+ guy with 25+ HRs every year......

One misconception, IMO, is that having a hitch is bad. Look at Babe Ruth. He had quite actually a big hitch. However, his hitch wasn't really wasted movement like Fields' is, and was used as a timing mechanism and something to help him get his bat cocked and ready.

 

I know it's a bad example because it is Babe Ruth, and his style could never be duplicated, but there have been other great hitters with hitches. Lou Gehrig had one I believe, and Jimmie Foxx had a huge hitch.

 

In fact, most hitters likely have a hitch. It's just a matter of how big and if it is detrimental or not.

Edited June 2, 200916 yr by BearSox

One misconception, IMO, is that having a hitch is bad. Look at Babe Ruth. He had quite actually a big hitch. However, his hitch wasn't really wasted movement like Fields' is, and was used as a timing mechanism and something to help him get his bat cocked and ready.

 

I know it's a bad example because it is Babe Ruth, and his style could never be duplicated, but there have been other great hitters with hitches. Lou Gehrig had one I believe, and Jimmie Foxx had a huge hitch.

 

In fact, most hitters likely have a hitch. It's just a matter of how big and if it is detrimental or not.

Gordon Beckham has a fairly large hitch that he put in his swing after he left Georgia, its actually made him better.

-Try to deal for Scott Rolen. Rolen is injury prone, but he played 115 games last year and hasn't missed any time this year. Rolen is due $11M option next year which the Jays really do not want to pay, and over the offseason the Jays were rumored to have been offering talent simply to take on that contract. My idea would be to see if the Jays will take back Contreras' contract for this year and eat about $5M next year in return for Fields and a package of pretty good prospects but not our great prospects. That way, we'd have Rolen this year while only adding $1M to the payroll, and we'd also get him at $6M next year. The Jays would save a total of $7M by doing this and would pick up some talent. Then we could bring Juan back at $1M again for 2010 or find another suitable backup for the same price, which would give us Rolen/Uribe as a 3B for $7M in 2010. The main reason I would really like this deal is because it would buy us another year for Viciedo's development without us having to sign a 3B for a 2-3+ year deal over the offseason. I'm sure other 3B will sign for a lot less over the offseason, but I still don't see a guy like Crede or Beltre signing a 1-year deal unless it has vesting options that could guarantee it for much longer (ala Maggs' contract with Detroit, except much cheaper annually).

 

No to Uribe, but I really really really like the idea of trading for Rolen. However, I don't see the incentive for the Jays to trade him in season when he's really helping them compete in that divison. Bautista has been hitting really good for them, but do they think he can keep it up and play solid D at 3B?

 

The only way I see them trading Rolen this year is if they continue to scuffel for the next month and really fall behind in the East and decide to get rid of some of their older more expensive players.

 

However, Rolen would look sexy at 3B in a White Sox uni right now. He's not the player he once was, but he can still for a good average, has some pop left, and is still a stud defender. Plus, he's quite the athlete and can still swipe a few bags here or there. And, he's a savvy baseball player as well.

bump... I want to hear more opinions about the idea of trying to trade for Rolen.

Josh looked pretty good yesterday, still doing the bat load, but changed his overall timing mechanism and bodily approach to the pitch. Looked solid.