When Lightning Strikes Twice

Well, that certainly didn’t take long.  No sooner had I given my considered opinion on the Cubs hiring Rachel Folden as a rookie-league hitting coach, the Yankees follow suit with the hire of Rachel Balkovec as a hitting instructor in their minor league system.  And for the second time in two days I find myself offering two, as opposed to three, cheers.

The 32-year old Balkovec has a master’s degree in kinesiology (which Clare has her bachelor’s in) and another master’s in something the NYT called “human movement sciences.”  Somehow, I doubt if that involves a “see ball, hit ball” approach.

Meanwhile, Folden was quoted in today’s Tribune saying, “A good, efficient swing is a good, efficient swing, no matter what sport [softball or baseball] you’re playing.  I don’t think there’s a difference.  How you approach might be a little different, just based on who is throwing that day and just like it is in baseball.  But I don’t think there is anything that needs to be taught differently.  Efficiency is efficiency.”  Except when it isn’t.

The background of both these new baseball hires and Folden’s comments especially remind me of what a hundred years ago was called “scientific baseball,” a philosophy whereby players were pretty much expected to go by the book every time: always bunt the runner along, always look to steal, always think squeeze with a runner on third.  This isn’t scientific as much as it is robotic.  Or maybe you say “efficient.”

To me, the ideal MLB pitching or hitting instructor has career stats to back up a particular coaching approach.  Obviously, women don’t and can’t have this “cred” until they get to play in the big leagues (though it would be interesting to see if any MLB team would let Jennie Finch or Jessica Mendoza apply their softball expertise to baseball).  Consciously or not, Foldon and Balkovec are approaching their new jobs the way Walt Hriniak did.  Don’t remember Hriniak?

Well, once upon a time, from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, he was the acknowledged hitting guru of major league baseball.  As hitting coach for the Red Sox (four years) and White Sox (seven years), Hriniak taught an approach that among other facets featured the top hand coming off the bat at the end of a swing.  Carl Yastrzemski, Wade Boggs and Frank Thomas loved Hriniak, Ted Williams didn’t.  (Sammy Sosa may or may not have been traded by the White Sox to the Cubs in part because he refused to follow the Hriniak method).  Did Hriniak turn Yaz, Boggs and Thomas into HOFers?  You can argue that question until the cows come home.  It is worth noting the Sox brought back Hriniak to work with Michael Jordan, he of the career .202 minor-league batting average.

I definitely want to see women in major league baseball; my daughter would be a perfect fit.  But I also think there’s a danger of turning hitting instruction into pseudo-science.  I’ll always contend that Bill Robinson had the right idea as a hitting coach.  As a hitter, Robinson was a bust until the age of 30, after which point he collected most of his career 166 homeruns and 641 RBIs.  As a coach, Robinson believed, “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual.  If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.”

That approach allows for a Tony Batista, Mike Easler or Kevin Youklis.  I doubt the drive for efficiency will allow for much of anything beyond robot hitters.