#1 Offseason Priority: Fire Brook Jacoby

Quick Sunday morning rant here, and then I’m gonna go watch some NFL football until I turn out my bedroom light tonight. Sunday is an excellent day to forget the sport of baseball even exists. And one quick note, has there ever been a September where things felt more like scrimmages each night? I mean these games more then ever before feel like Spring Training games to me in Cincinnati. Even when we win, I have that feeling like; “oh well the other team wasn’t really trying”. The rosters feel like they’ve been expanded to 60 players, not 40.

And my rant is about the Reds hitting coach, Brook Jacoby. If this guy isn’t fired I need to find a new team next year. He’s taken our stable of young hitters and instead of progressing and moving them along like he should at the MLB level, he’s made them all worse! We get a top flight prospect at Louisville and he comes to the Major Leagues and every single one of them has problems with pitch recognition, taking the ball the other way, and generally develops into a .212-.250 hitter with holes in their swing. In comparison, the Dodgers have Don Mattingly as their hitting coach. Don Mattingly > Brook Jacoby.

Now why could this be? Well, I’m going to blame the coach on this one, not the players. Jacoby was a .270 career big league hitter in 11 seasons. I owned a few of his baseball cards when he was a Cleveland Indian. He was honestly nothing special. I have as much business teaching hitting philosophy to big league hitters as this guy. If he’s not sacking groceries come January or February I’m going to be going fucking bat shit on this blog about it. I’m sick and tired of getting guys to the show only to have them flame out because our hitting coach can’t get them over the hump after they leave Louisville. I’m tired of seeing prolonged slumps because the way our organization teaches hitting at this level has a lack of a good mental approach when someone steps to the plate.

So I’m starting the campaign and I’m going to market it hard! FIRE BROOK JACOBY!!!!!!