Aggression Isn't The Answer

Keith is chasing waterfalls today even though TLC told him not to. So I, The Colonel will be filling in with a guest lecture.

Today I would like to talk about aggression and baseball.

And not the type of aggression that gets Cole Hamels accused of being "fake tough".

I'm talking about aggression and approaches at the plate, specifically the San Francisco Giants.

First let's take a look at what aggression actually means according to the dictionary: "any offensive action, attack, or procedure; an inroad or encroachment" an aggression upon one's rights." What a perfect description for the mess that is the Giants offense right now and the past 5 years. In fact, let's break down that entire definition.

Any offensive action: The key word here is "any". I say that is the key word because Bruce Bochy always talks about how players need to be more "aggressive" at the plate and the players will swing at literally ANY pitch that is thrown to them. I don't claim to be a baseball expert, but I'm pretty sure if you swing at any pitch thrown you're going to have a pretty crappy offense like the Giants.

Actually I'm pretty sure you want to take the opposite approach to hitting. Once again I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure you want patience at the plate and not aggression. It would seem to me instead of taking "any offensive action" you would want to just be patient at the plate and wait for a good pitch to hit. Once again though, I'm not an expert.


Attack, or procedure: A procedure is explained as "a particular course or mode of action." All the Giants hitters have one particular course when it comes to hitting and that is being aggressive. If you look at where the Giants stand right now, they're a middle of a pack offense. They owe that standing right now to their hot start in hitters parks at Arizona and Colorado. At their current pace they're due to land right back at the end of the line when it comes to offense.

What is particularly nerve wrecking is the team's 90 wRC+. wRC+ is the runs created stat and the league average wRC+ is 100. The Giants as a team will never create runs with their current approach at the plate. By swinging at everything at the plate opposing pitchers don't have to throw strikes at the Giants. By not throwing strikes at the Giants hitters, this team can't even get a good ball to drive for more than a single. By just hitting singles the Giants aren't creating runs.

Inroad or encroachment: Inroad is described as "a damaging or serious encroachment". Damaging is the serious word in that definition. The Giants are damaging their own chances at reaching the postseason with their aggression at the plate. Yes their pitching is good, but you need a little bit of offense to compete. The Giants will never get even a little bit of offense with their current approach. In fact they'll get zero offense like they did last night in Los Angeles.

An aggression upon one's rights: With the Giants current course of action they are encroaching on my rights to watch them.

The Giants right now are just terrible to watch. I already went into detail about their offense, but I haven't even began to describe their defense (a mess) their bullpen (imploding besides a couple of guys) and the fact that Lincecum has been terrible and Vogelsong and Zito are mediocre. Besides Cain and Bumgarner, this team isn't worthy of watching at the moment.

But stay aggressive at the plate boys, I'm sure it won't work out.

The Colonel is a frequent patron of the Mos Eisley Cantina, a amateur psychologist masquerading as a lawyer, and a historian on the Ottoman Empire and Bourbon.