Quote:
Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5
Frankly, his biggest problem is missing pitches he should hit. He swings and misses on center cut fastballs early in the count far too often. If he starts obliterating those pitches, he won't have to deal with the borderline pitches later in the count.
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The problem then may therefore be
precisely that he's
trying to obliterate those pitches instead of hitting the ball where it's pitched.
New Reds' Manager Terry Francona should sit down with Cruz and ask him whether he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as Ricky Henderson and Lou Brock in twenty years or whether he wants to be forgotten as just another Willie Mays or Hank Aaron wannabee who flamed out early trying to be something he wasn't. Cruz should be hitting low line drives and using his speed to stretch his hits into extra base hits. Maybe Francona should take a cue from the manager of the
Major League movie and fine Cruz every time he hits a high fly ball.
What's Ricky Henderson doing? Maybe the Reds should hire Henderson as a hitting coach. Henderson knew that a fellow had to get on base first before he could steal the next one. That's something Cruz needs to learn.
