SHILDT SAYS: Discussing Luis Arraez and Hitting .300 in Modern Baseball
Padres’ manager Mike Shildt recently mounted his “soap box” in a discussion that started about Luis Arraez and talked about how changes in baseball have moved away from some of the traits of the game’s history and all-time great players.
Shildt’s strongest point came at the end of a discussion about Arraez and the paucity of .300 hitters in the game.
“Luis created himself to be an outlier,” said Shildt. “One of his mentors was Rod Carew, who, if he was coming up now with this exit velocity approach … if he wasn’t in the exact right organization, he would have a hard time competing and being a big league player. And he’s a Hall of Famer. That’s my two cents on that.”
Shildt’s discussion of Arraez included a tribute to Tony Gwynn and a criticism of what baseball has become on both the hitting and pitching side of the ledger.
The discussion began when Shildt was asked if it was harder to hit .300 in modern baseball.
“I think in some cases it’s harder and in some cases it’s easier,” said Shildt. “I loved what Tony Gwynn said about the fact that he hit a lot. He studied his craft. He was ahead of his time in the use of technology and taping games, his swings and the tendencies of pitchers … completely.
“The thing is, more guys now could probably hit .300 if they put the time and dedication into it. Arraez does that. So, is it harder based on the way the guys are throwing now, yeah. Is it harder based on the way the defense is positioned now relative to the algorithms, yeah. But understand, guys are over-shifting relative to the tendencies of how you are hitting the ball. And then you have a guy like Arraez, who is intentional about being that ‘sprinkler.’
“I remember teaching kids a hundred years ago and showing Tony Gwynn tapes at the academy I ran … talking about how you have your batting practice — you start by going to left, then left-center … heck, he’d hit balls off the side of the batting cage to get a feel for that. And then you go, ‘Okay, there’s a big ol’ field out there.’
“You look at all the distribution of his spray chart and you realize and you watch. They can’t over-correct on the field and defend an area. So, when you have the ability to hit the ball in all the different areas, you’re going to hit.
“Big picture — our industry hasn’t taught that anymore. It’s not valid anymore. It’s not practiced any more. You look up and, you can’t quantify this, but it’s a shame probably how many amateurs and lower-level professional players have been excluded from continuing to play because they don’t meet a measurable — they don’t meet an exit speed, or an exit velocity or a bat speed or any of those things like a launch angle.
“This game is now basically recruiting blindly. They’re just getting hits. Somehow, that became out of vogue in our industry in general.
“It’s the same thing with the pitching. The guys that just actually get outs, ehhh, it might not play at this level. We can’t find out, we can’t check, we can’t give them the opportunity. Oh, this guy who throws with this big arm and has this special shape. I get it, his stuff plays. We’re going to give those guys the benefit of the doubt.
“But it’s interesting. You draft a guy like a Kyle Hendricks and guys like that — they find their way to the big leagues … the guys who throw strikes and put the ball where they want. And now those guys still play and still work every night. You look up and how do most innings that that aren’t great? They start with a walk.”
Shildt then returned to Arraez and what he brings to the Padres.
“I didn’t know a lot about him,” said Shildt. “Quite candidly, I’d seen him from the other side when he was with Minnesota. It was interesting, at least for me, how you see guys a lot and then you based on seeing him more. But I didn’t have a lot of history with him.
“Right after the trade happened, we had a good conversation about what we can expect from him. Of course, I trust the thoughts of (Miami manager) Skip (Schumaker) on Luis and he was dead accurate. What I’ve learned is that all the positive things I heard about Luis are valid. You can probably add a step above that. He’s a professional at every turn.
“It’s all of it about Luis. This guy is a wizard with the bat. He’s going to be able to see the game and be able to tell you what he’s going to see. And he can tell you what he’s going to look to do. Then he’s going to bring energy. This guy really wants to compete and win. He couldn’t be more spot on.
“I think Luis has definitely elevated us for sure. I felt like we were in a good spot with our energy and then he improved that with the team. The guys are into the competition and the preparation as we expect, but we don’t take for granted. I feel like that has been in a good place all year. Any time you bring in a guy who has won two batting titles, it’s going to make people feel better about what we’re doing … including myself. So it’s a nice add.
“Specifically with Arraez, this guy is a good energy guy. And, so, it’s common sense, right. If any of us walk into a room where people have good energy … you want to stay in the room, right, and be a part of that. And that’s the room we created before Luis and now it’s one that he’s only contributed to.
“I’m a big believer. This guy shows up before the game with good energy, excitement. He wants to compete. He wants to play. Like (batting coach) Victor (Rodriguez) said the other day on that winning at-bat against the Dodgers, Arraez was literally running to the plate for it. That’s contagious. So that’s good energy. As many positive, good energy people as we have, they’re grateful for the opportunity to be in the big leagues and are excited about it, the better we all are.”
