Goold post on Walker making significant changes

[Goldfan]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

[sikeston bulldog2]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Still doest stop the inate desire to buckle at waist and swing eagerly at the low and away slider.

[Cranny]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

[Goldfan]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

This is in the great tradition of offseason propaganda:
Carp Hot Yoga
Noot underwear speed swing vids

Cranny to be clear….I’m fan of the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Team that nurtures and promotes real talent, strive to win WS, and doesn’t blow smoke up fans behinds.
These perpetual ML tryouts for players who are obviously not worthy damage the team and fans faith in those that work for this org and cloud whether this group really cards about winning.
JW needs to stay at AAA a full season and dominate showing he deserves another chance in St.Louis. This “oh Look I was standing like a statue” nonsense is little league level…..

[sikeston bulldog2]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

Who are you. Who. Who. I really want to know.

[Goldfan]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Still doest stop the inate desire to buckle at waist and swing eagerly at the low and away slider.

Yes, have they fixed that too???

[Bomber1]

Walker would do well to study videos of George Hendrick.
Hendrick had a flat quick swing and a closed batting stance.
It allowed him to cover the outside edge and drive balls with authority.
And he was quick enough with his hands to turn on balls in the middle of the zone - or pull his hands in and let his short level swing pull the ball.
This is EXACTLY what Walker needs to do.
He naturally makes hard contact, so he does not need to cheat on inside pitches - and yet that is exactly what he does.
And because is too often looking middle in with his overly open stance, it leaves him susceptible to every pitch which breaks away.
In other words, Walker does the precise opposite of what he should be doing - and is doing so at the urging of the Cardinals.
The best thing that could happen for him is to be traded to an organization with competent coaches.

Good post Melville.

[Melville]

Here is what the assessment was at Driveline :

Walker's assessment at Driveline determined that his back hip was collapsing on his swing, which caused him to drift forward and sap him of his power. He was put through drills with resistance bands and swing training that help him keep his hip back, and Walker said he feels like "I can crush anything they throw at me."

Interesting reading various posters giving their thoughts (two cents worth ) on Walker's issues and his fixes but I don't think I read any of the CT posters discussing what the data showed at Driveline.... His back hip collapsing which caused the other things as outlined above.

Nice try by a lot of people but not the main culprit .

for those who wish to catch up on best and latest technology of analyzing baseball players please watch this video. The system uses 14 Optitrack cameras and 18 high-speed Edronic cameras and more to analyze a player .
Watching this will give you some insight as to what Walker was doing at Driveline .
Enjoy and learn some new things as I certainly did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jWZ0q8_0B0

Hardly a surprise that Walker "collapses his hip" - since that is pretty much what The Marmot and Super Slo Mo ordered him to do after his rookie year.
When a young player is ordered to radically alter his swing in order to increase launch angle and reduce ground balls, of course the back hip will drop down and thereby weaken the foundation of the swing.
Driveline charges Waker to tell him that which everyone who understands this game has seen hundreds of times over the past 2 seasons??!!??
Want that back hip to stay grounded and rotate with authority through the swing?
Have him stand more upright - just like Hendrick did.
Anyone with even a basic understanding of physics knows the foundational scientific concept that length creates leverage and leverage increases force.
It worked for Hendrick.
No question that approach would best fit Walker's most important asset - the ability to hit the ball very hard when he makes contact on a level swing.

[Melville]

Those are two of the most interesting, well thought out posts I have seen here in a long, long time.
Thank you both.
(And Melville. Of course I saw Hendricks play.
I’m as old as dirt:)

Kind words from a high-quality poster.

[sikeston bulldog2]

Here is what the assessment was at Driveline :

Walker's assessment at Driveline determined that his back hip was collapsing on his swing, which caused him to drift forward and sap him of his power. He was put through drills with resistance bands and swing training that help him keep his hip back, and Walker said he feels like "I can crush anything they throw at me."

Interesting reading various posters giving their thoughts (two cents worth ) on Walker's issues and his fixes but I don't think I read any of the CT posters discussing what the data showed at Driveline.... His back hip collapsing which caused the other things as outlined above.

Nice try by a lot of people but not the main culprit .

for those who wish to catch up on best and latest technology of analyzing baseball players please watch this video. The system uses 14 Optitrack cameras and 18 high-speed Edronic cameras and more to analyze a player .
Watching this will give you some insight as to what Walker was doing at Driveline .
Enjoy and learn some new things as I certainly did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jWZ0q8_0B0

Hardly a surprise that Walker "collapses his hip" - since that is pretty much what The Marmot and Super Slo Mo ordered him to do after his rookie year.
When a young player is ordered to radically alter his swing in order to increase launch angle and reduce ground balls, of course the back hip will drop down and thereby weaken the foundation of the swing.
Driveline charges Waker to tell him that which everyone who understands this game has seen hundreds of times over the past 2 seasons??!!??
Want that back hip to stay grounded and rotate with authority through the swing?
Have him stand more upright - just like Hendrick did.
Anyone with even a basic understanding of physics knows the foundational scientific concept that length creates leverage and leverage increases force.
It worked for Hendrick.
No question that approach would best fit Walker's most important asset - the ability to hit the ball very hard when he makes contact on a level swing.

The given in the debate is his ability to hit the ball hard often. To get to a consistent performance is the trick.

[Melville]

Walker would do well to study videos of George Hendrick.
Hendrick had a flat quick swing and a closed batting stance.
It allowed him to cover the outside edge and drive balls with authority.
And he was quick enough with his hands to turn on balls in the middle of the zone - or pull his hands in and let his short level swing pull the ball.
This is EXACTLY what Walker needs to do.
He naturally makes hard contact, so he does not need to cheat on inside pitches - and yet that is exactly what he does.
And because is too often looking middle in with his overly open stance, it leaves him susceptible to every pitch which breaks away.
In other words, Walker does the precise opposite of what he should be doing - and is doing so at the urging of the Cardinals.
The best thing that could happen for him is to be traded to an organization with competent coaches.

Excellent point.

You must have seen Hendrick play.
Anyone who did can see the similarity between the two players - build, swing, hard contact, etc.
By the way, Hendrick struggles badly his first 2 seasons playing MLB ball at age 21 and 22.
Oakland traded him after he hit .185/.206/.306.
With that change of scenery - and a new coaching staff - he broke out.
George played 18 years and only reached 25 HR twice.
But he went to 4 ASG.
Walker should learn from that.

Hendrick started closed and stayed closed on everything except the inside strike. Then he was mostly neutral. He practically hit against a stiff front leg post and went opposite field often.
It's an interesting comparison and has it merits. I doubt it is an approach that will be taught or trained for anytime soon and just as important any player adopting a practice that decreases the HR potential.
Not debating right or wrong but do you see a player embracing that approach?

Walkers stance starts open. Doesn't necessarily stay
His most often landing spot is neutral. An issue of inconsistency. Too much movement for a strong man not needing it, JMO, he lost balance and consistency.
Load, stay short. Balance will decrease his chasing of the outside off the plate

Everyone here thinks we have an answer. Mine is as much garbage as anyone here, perhaps more. There are skills in the guy. He hits despite low confidence, poor balance and very little buy in to a process.
That's where it starts or may sadly end for him and the team for he could be a difference maker.

"Not debating right or wrong but do you see a player embracing that approach?"
That is the key question, isn't it?
Would a team allow Walker to take advantage of his best asset, at the expense of reducing his HR total?
Super Slo Mo and The Marmot refused to permit it.
Will Bloom be smarter?
We shall see.
If he isn't, odds are Walker will be unlocked by some other organization if and when the Cardinals give up on him.

[Cranny]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

Who are you. Who. Who. I really want to know.

Just a fan, SB, who gets tired of another fan constantly bashing the Cardinals at every turn.

[WLTFE]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

+1...seeing is believing....in Section 148 he was the player we were most disappointed with...hope is not a plan...it is lazy way to run a business..

[Goldfan]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

Who are you. Who. Who. I really want to know.

Just a fan, SB, who gets tired of another fan constantly bashing the Cardinals at every turn.

Cranny’s fan obligation
To praise every move by the owner, FO, manager and players.
Demonstrated by Cranny himself backing, trumpeting, and skewering ANY poster who dare have a difference of opinion with the last FO as they ran the great Cards organization in to ground…..to the point where its in total rebuild now with winning years off in the distance.
So who is the fool??
The blind ownership homer
Or the fan who saw the obvious downfall and wrote about it

[Cranny]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

Who are you. Who. Who. I really want to know.

Just a fan, SB, who gets tired of another fan constantly bashing the Cardinals at every turn.

Cranny’s fan obligation
To praise every move by the owner, FO, manager and players.
Demonstrated by Cranny himself backing, trumpeting, and skewering ANY poster who dare have a difference of opinion with the last FO as they ran the great Cards organization in to ground…..to the point where its in total rebuild now with winning years off in the distance.
So who is the fool??
The blind ownership homer
Or the fan who saw the obvious downfall and wrote about it

Goldfan - When the Cards do something good, I laud it. When they do something that doesn’t make sense, I call them out for it. That’s a far cry from the constant bashing you do.

[sikeston bulldog2]

What a revelation by JW and driveline…..loose and relaxed at plate until ready to explode through ball….amazing cutting edge never seen before teachings

Guess one is either a fan or not Goldfan. What are you?

Who are you. Who. Who. I really want to know.

Just a fan, SB, who gets tired of another fan constantly bashing the Cardinals at every turn.

As a fan you have an inherent responsibility to hear the opinions of other fans. Your level of acceptance is a personal recognition. Anything more is out of the lane.