Monday, October 10, 2022

Aroldis Chapman's Next Gig: The Raging Water Cannon Ride at Tidal Cove Miami, Florida

Posted by Doug K. at 7:09 PM

 


An Above Average Graphic by Above Average

15 comments:

Publius said...

He should never pay for a meal in Chicago. But he should be refused service in New York.

October 10, 2022 at 7:15 PM
TheWinWarblist said...

Blogger TheWinWarblist said...

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October 10, 2022 at 7:45 PM
Carl J. Weitz said...

Good riddance to AWOLdis Chapman!

October 10, 2022 at 8:42 PM
Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside said...

Can we talk about Cole getting the start? It just reminds me of childhood… my sister being the biggest bitch, and it was easier for us all to play along with whatever she wanted to avoid the dramatic pout. I guess Cole could only win game 1, and nothing about his personality says he could ever win Game 2. So, right decision, he gets the start.

October 10, 2022 at 9:09 PM
Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside said...

Added thought… it’s fitting that Cole is Up Next Tuesday.

October 10, 2022 at 9:10 PM
Rufus T. Firefly said...

Nice sendoff.

October 10, 2022 at 10:17 PM
Hinkey Haines said...

In a positive development, it’s been 6 full days since Gerrit Cole has given up a home run.

October 10, 2022 at 10:42 PM
AboveAverage said...

Eagerly . . . awaiting the lineup . . .

October 10, 2022 at 11:04 PM
Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...

Group:

I have access to the Washington Post's website. They had a story about Aaron Judge and his hitting coach. I had never, ever seen this before.

Link, if it works for you all:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3932285159851204335&postID=6044660683064701051

BUT:
I am posting below an excerpt. I do not do this regularly, and I don't see this stuff on IIH - so maybe there are legal rules against this? If so, I'm sure someone will take it down.

If not, please enjoy

-----

For years he has relied on his quirky personal hitting coach, a St. Louis-based teacher named Richard Schenck, with whom Judge’s agent connected him before the 2017 season.

After Judge hit .287 with 39 homers in 2021, he decided he wanted more regular work with Schenck, thinking the numbers could improve. So the pair mapped out a meeting schedule throughout the season in which the 5-foot-9, 240-pound teacher and the 6-7 superstar would meet at local facilities before or after games, hitting hours ahead of first pitch or late into the night to hone a swing that has allowed one of the sport’s more unusual bodies to generate all of the power it promises.

That unlikely partnership in some ways speaks to Judge’s dedication to success. He is open enough to consider the help of, as Schenck put it, “a fat old man” who was 62 when they first worked together. He knew Judge was skeptical, but he also sensed desperation. Judge was coming off a disappointing 2016 debut with the Yankees. Then, as now, he was willing to listen to whatever might help.

He gave it a shot when Schenck put a ball on a tee for himself and one for Judge and told them they would be competing, as silly as that may have seemed. The two swung, side by side, and Schenck’s bat beat Judge’s to the ball every time.

“How can a 62-year-old man hit the ball before a 24-year-old athlete?” Schenck remembered. “That got his attention. After we tried it three or four times, he finally looked at me and said, ‘What on Earth are you doing?’ ”

The explanation was simple to understand but difficult to implement. Since his college days, as seen on video from the Cape Cod League, Judge’s swing has looked similar to how it does now: hands low, hands back, front foot down, hands through. By the time he got to the majors, the stride was shorter, his hands even lower.

Schenck taught him that his load — the process of pulling his hands back to gain momentum before throwing them forward — needed to be quicker, that he wasn’t squaring up pitches when he decided to swing at them because his hands weren’t ready to swing when he decided to do so. Missing pitches he thought he could hit undermined his trust in his pitch selection. When everything was on time, he could trust his eyes completely.

The difference was, and still can be, inches. So is the difference between feeling like his bat is on the path he wants and even a bit off — as he thought it was in the days between hitting No. 61 and hitting No. 62. He grew frustrated with his bat path during the last week of the season. Between games of a doubleheader, he texted Schenck to say so.

Schenck reminded him what he needed to do, that he needed to swing as if hitting to the opposite field and let his lower half take care of pulling the ball on inside pitches. A few hours later, he pulled No. 62 into the left field seats at Globe Life Field — quick adjustment made, the swing he wanted restored. Perhaps staying in sync will not be as easy next year as it was during this charmed season. But Judge seems to have learned how to correct for fluctuation.

“He’s a big man, and he does have a tendency to get hot and cold, hot and cold, and I’ve often wondered if his ... long arms, long legs is a detriment to him,” Schenck said. “Then I see him when he’s so good and I think, ‘No, I don’t think it’s that.’ The game is hard. The pitchers are so good. You’re just not always your best. Although this year …”

October 11, 2022 at 6:57 AM
Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Incidentally, I went to the WashPost site to read all the negative stuff about the Commanders football team. I have hated the Redskins since I moved to the DC area since 1979. Reason: When I got here,, NO ONE was a football fan.

Then the Redskins got good. The fans came out of nowhere to cheer. I identified them as a bunch of front-running, fair-weather nightmares.

That's how I stumbled across the Judge story posted above.

The Commander stuff was rewarding. In the reader comments below one story, many of the posters referred to the team as "The Commodes."

October 11, 2022 at 6:59 AM
JM said...

I just read that article this morning, and I had never heard of Schenck, either. Interesting piece. A background story that seemed to fly under the radar.

October 11, 2022 at 7:03 AM
Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside said...

Can we get a strikethrough on Chapman in BTRs masthead comment?

And maybe one for Hicks this afternoon?

October 11, 2022 at 7:44 AM
Der Kaiser said...

Well, that solves the mystery of how one of the Yankees' homegrown players has actually managed to improve since reaching the majors: with coaching from outside the organisation. There's not the slightest difficulty imagining how Judge's career would have gone if he had relied on the Yankee coaches, because we've seen what has happened to all the promising young players who came up with him.

An interesting read! Thanks for the excerpt, Joe!

October 11, 2022 at 7:54 AM
HoraceClarke66 said...

Exactly, Kaiser! And yes, thanks for that, Joe FOB!

I'm sure that Judge has already received an admonishing note from the front office; "We have one hitting philosophy, and one hitting philosophy only on this team: HIT STRIKES HARD!"

October 11, 2022 at 10:51 AM
HoraceClarke66 said...

And it's a funny coincidence: After being disappointed in HIS 2021 performance, Giancarlo Stanton sought out Priscilla Quintana for extra bench-pressing work. The results speak for themselves.

October 11, 2022 at 10:58 AM

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