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General | General | 11/1/2022

The Lead Off: November

Clint Hurdle

Photo: Perfect Game

No way it’s November! 🎃💀👻

It’s Halloween Eve and I’ve got a few things to share this month.

In order of importance, let’s start with Halloween. I’ll send you our family Halloween photo next month as the Hurdle family OWNS Halloween.

We’ve been doing this as a family for 16 years. It started with my older daughter Ashley in 1987. I’ve been dressing up for Halloween for 60 years.

Here is a throwback photo from our last Halloween in Pittsburgh.

You get the idea….😜

Let’s move on. Next topic.

MLB Playoffs! Wow. How much fun was that...Many early opinions on the format and at the end of the day, I liked it and I thought it worked well.

Dodgers - Mets - Braves maybe not so much. Three teams with over 100 wins bounced early. Padres took down two of them while finishing way behind LA.

The Phillies finished 15 games behind Atlanta and the NY Mets!🤔😳

As the Beatles sang…"Money can’t buy you love ( or playoff wins!)"

And the Astros busted the broom out on the Mariners and the Yankees. 🧹🧹🧹

(The 2007 Colorado Rockies swept their way into the World Series as well - I was there!😎)

Which brings me to my next topic…

3-2-1 CONTACT!

Can we get a little more contact on offense?????😳🤪

Wow 😮 I’ve never seen so much walking back to the dugout...Truth - hitting has never been harder. I’ll give the pitchers and the pitching coaches their share of credit and I’ll also ask the question, “Can we teach contact?” It’s not “old school hitting” vs “new school hitting”… it should be called “being in school hitting."

Yes there is a big spike in velocity and spin. You don’t match velocity with effort!

Hitters are trying harder and working the barrel uphill more than ever before and have become more vulnerable to spin.

Strikeouts matter. If your team strikes out 12 times in a game, it means you watched the other team's pitcher and catcher play catch for 4 innings!!!! That makes offense harder. Putting the ball in play makes the other team play defense.
They have to catch it clean and throw it accurately. You make them play baseball.

Here a couple of comments…

“Kids and players are getting 'lessoned up' to chase a metric. That's what they think hitting is. The game has failed these kids, so what we need is a higher level of hitting practice.”

“Another way to teach hitting is teaching how to play the game versus training toward a metric. Kids and players aren't being taught the game, they're being taught a swing. They will learn the game without realizing they're learning.”

Just my opinion.

Last topic!

Is the Fall Classic classic?

This is my most favorite time of the sporting year. No doubt. I love watching the World Series. I can remember skipping school to watch my beloved Tigers play the Cardinals in 1968.

World Series day games aaaahhhhh!

I’ve been blessed with three trips to the World Series. That's right. Uniquely enough…

Once as a player - 1980, Kansas City vs. Philadelphia
Once as a coach - 2010, Texas vs. San Francisco
Once as a manager - 2007, Colorado vs. Boston

Very small group of men have been to the World Series as a player, coach and manager...

You know what’s a smaller group?

My team finished second all three times!🤬😱😰

HaHa! 💩

So here’s to the Phillies and the Astros. The two teams that have played the best team baseball in their respective leagues when it mattered most. Yes...they both pitch it extremely well and one team catches it extremely well, however, both teams have lineups that battle you every turn they have at the plate! They make CONTACT!

So yes 🙌 The Fall Classic is still Classic.

The fans for both these teams will let you know.

Everyone HITS!

Make a difference today
Love, Clint

PERFECTGAME.TV

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