Too many trying to hit 5 run homers. The team has wandered.

[CCard]

Square up the balls and hit line drives. Leave the home-runs to those that can actually hit them with regularity. Too many swing for the fences and not enough get on base and make the pitcher go to the stretch. As for the pitching, well, that's only going to be solved by the front office and ownership mostly.

[scoutyjones2]

Square up the balls and hit line drives. Leave the home-runs to those that can actually hit them with regularity. Too many swing for the fences and not enough get on base and make the pitcher go to the stretch. As for the pitching, well, that's only going to be solved by the front office and ownership mostly.

No one hits them with regularity on the Cards....that's part of the problem

22nd in MLB for HRs, 26th in SLG

No threats

[CCard]

Square up the balls and hit line drives. Leave the home-runs to those that can actually hit them with regularity. Too many swing for the fences and not enough get on base and make the pitcher go to the stretch. As for the pitching, well, that's only going to be solved by the front office and ownership mostly.

No one hits them with regularity on the Cards....that's part of the problem

22nd in MLB for HRs, 26th in SLG

No threats

LOL...You're being silly. The home run derby king has 22 and will eclipse 30 at the least. Burly will be mid 20's maybe. Herrera should be better than he's shown, he has the power. Other than that though, the rest are suspect for sure.

[StlMike1969]

You know I am no expert on the mechanics of hitting a baseball for desired results. I barely made it out of little league, but I have always been a student of the game. I have stood in a batting cage and seen what a 96 MPH fastball looks like and tried to square it up. I understand that to get any kind of result you really need to meet opposing force with an equal or greater opposing force to get positive results. Point being it is not easy to do what they do. With that said these guys spend decades training their muscles to swing a 32 oz bat with enough opposing force to redirect that 96 mph ball in a certain direction with velocity. They need not try to focus on their mechanics of the swing, just make it happen at this point. The real challenge for them is to make sure the meat of that bat meets the ball at the proper placement. To do that means they need to see the ball and gauge where it will be when they intend to strike it. There in lies the greatest problem most of these players have. They let their lead shoulder pull their heads up and therefore their eyes away from the point of contact. Night in and night out you watch these guys and when they are at the point of contact their eyes are looking out in the outfield or down the line. When you see the sweet swings, we all see it and recognize the hitter has his eyes and head dead focused on the point of contact. They see ball and hit ball. The coaches need to be instructing this one fundamental above all else and this team would most likely be in the top 5 offenses. The talent and potential is there. Walker may be the only guy on the team capable of 40+ HR's in a season. However there are at least 6+ others capable of 25 in a season. With that added power would also come inflated batting averages which I personally hold in higher regard than the home run. If the team had 6 guys hitting .275+ think of the amount of extra base hits, doubles and triples this team would have and as a result increased scoring. They would be wearing out opposing pitchers.

To sum it up I agree with the OP that there is just too much focus on swinging for the fences and not enough of just making good contact.

[butsir01]

Amen!

[dugoutrex]

carbon copy of last year

[JuanAgosto]

The team had success when focusing on contact and playing small-ball. But much like the last couple years, that aggressive style has faded. Now guys are swinging for the fences and looking to pull way too much. And the tendency to guess (wrongly) at pitches is mind-boggling. We have WAY TOO MANY guys striking out looking.

[Pura Vida]

It seems when they are first pitch swinging and not working the count, they lose! Looks more like 26 individuals, not a team. I don't feel this group will recover...but I hope they do.

[-ocaj]

About time to pluck some low hanging fruit!

[RamFan08NY]

Square up the balls and hit line drives. Leave the home-runs to those that can actually hit them with regularity. Too many swing for the fences and not enough get on base and make the pitcher go to the stretch. As for the pitching, well, that's only going to be solved by the front office and ownership mostly.

No one hits them with regularity on the Cards....that's part of the problem

22nd in MLB for HRs, 26th in SLG

No threats

LOL...You're being silly. The home run derby king has 22 and will eclipse 30 at the least. Burly will be mid 20's maybe. Herrera should be better than he's shown, he has the power. Other than that though, the rest are suspect for sure.

If Hererra "should be" a threat that means he isn't. The OP is absolutely correct. They have 2 hr threats on the team. JW and Burly.

[TopofthePerch]

Sorry I just think they aren't putting good swings on the ball for whatever reason. I hardly doubt every player is just swinging for the fences. I think this is said by a fan literally almost every time they are slumping.

[JuanAgosto]

Sorry I just think they aren't putting good swings on the ball for whatever reason. I hardly doubt every player is just swinging for the fences. I think this is said by a fan literally almost every time they are slumping.

Watch the games and pay attention. You will see some of the wild swings being mentioned. As well as the ridiculous guessing at pitches.

[TopofthePerch]

Sorry I just think they aren't putting good swings on the ball for whatever reason. I hardly doubt every player is just swinging for the fences. I think this is said by a fan literally almost every time they are slumping.

Watch the games and pay attention. You will see some of the wild swings being mentioned. As well as the ridiculous guessing at pitches.

Cool that doesn't mean they are all swinging for the fences though. Most players are just looking to hit the ball hard. If they are pressing and their mechanics get off then they aren't going to look good. Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in any sport. If you watch the nasty stuff pitchers throw they make a lot of guys look stupid. This isn't exclusive to just the Cardinals. It's more complex than everyone is just trying to hit a home run.