Chris Duncan

[Hungary Jack]

Anyone here seen take many AB's this spring? Is he developing into a more patient and selective hitter?

My reason for asking is that thus far this spring he has 9K, 6 BB in 36 AB (after his 0-4, 2K game vs. Twins). Granted this is a very small sample size using ST data, but I got the feeling later last season that Duncan might improve considerably as a hitter in terms of pitch selection. I am wondering if there is any indication of this in ST.

I try not to get too excited about Duncan, but lefties with outstanding power don't come around too often. He could be a major force, or he could be a farce. I am hoping for the former.

[Leroy]

I haven't seen him at all this year, but he came a long way in that regard later in the year. But yeah, who knows with him?

[Brodie]

He is facing Lefties in ST, that could be a good sign, or a unhealthy outfield

-Brodie

[fewgoodcards]

Anyone here seen take many AB's this spring? Is he developing into a more patient and selective hitter?

My reason for asking is that thus far this spring he has 9K, 6 BB in 36 AB (after his 0-4, 2K game vs. Twins). Granted this is a very small sample size using ST data, but I got the feeling later last season that Duncan might improve considerably as a hitter in terms of pitch selection. I am wondering if there is any indication of this in ST.

I try not to get too excited about Duncan, but lefties with outstanding power don't come around too often. He could be a major force, or he could be a farce. I am hoping for the former.

he did have an OBP 70 points higher than his batting average last year. that is pretty good and shows good pitch selection to me.

[hicard]

I hope he's been hella practicing on fly balls!

[vinsanity]

I actually saw part of the game sunday and he laid off a good breaking ball. It was a strike, but he didn't go flailing at the first strike just cause it was a strike.

I liked it

[DynamicDynamite]

from everything Ive been seeing Duncan is improving mightily... might knock a few homeruns off, but I think if he can continue to hit around .290 and 20-25 home runs then its a good move

[Hungary Jack]

from everything Ive been seeing Duncan is improving mightily... might knock a few homeruns off, but I think if he can continue to hit around .290 and 20-25 home runs then its a good move

I may have had too many glasses of Soave (2005 Allegrini is an excellent value at $11) last night, but I think Duncan might hit even more home runs if he learns to lay off the breaking balls. This plus hitting in front of Albert could translate into getting more pitches to hit. If pitches have to start coming to him, I think he's capable of 40HR in 500 AB. He has got LOTS of power in that bat.

[skmsw]

Here in a nutshell is why I did not "believe" in Duncan last year, and why I expect him to give back a lot of his OPS this year:

I think Duncan already is a relatively patient hitter. I'm not watching him to look for improvements in pitch recognition, waiting on good pitches, working the count, drawing walks, handling breaking pitches. I think he already does those things reasonably well. Seeing him do that now does not tell me much, because I think he's always done that someplace in the adequate range. Not that he is or ever will be an on-base machine, but he already is someone able to wait for a good pitch, and add 50-75 points to his OBP via walks.

My concern is that at his historic baseline, he doesn't make good contact too often. By properly working the count, he gets a good pitch to hit. But with that long, heavy-uppercut swing of his, he gets his pitch but then misses it a lot.

I don't mean he gets fooled, or can't hit a curve, or swings AND MISSES too often. I'm not complaining that he strikes out too much (in general that really does not bother me), or that he can't hit breaking pitches (I'm not convinced that's true). I'm complaining about the times he gets hittable pitches but pops out or taps out instead of driving the ball. I think that with his swing he'll be susceptible to that.

Last year when he got a good pitch to hit, he did, for him, an uncommonly good job of hitting it well. Maybe he's just flat-out become that good. But with that long, heavy uppercut swing, this year I expect to see fewer line drives and more pop-outs, and I expect to see fewer of his fly balls sail for homers.