Yes, but his diagnosis is lack of organizational priority and flawed minor league coaching. There are only 2 starting offensive players that came out of the Astros farm system (on opposite ends of the approach spectrum no less)...everybody else learned how to hit somewhere else so it can't really be the minor league coaching that is the problem.
Concluding that there is some organization wide deficiency 4 games into the season is garbage and belongs in a Chron blog comment or AD, not here.
Agreed.
If you want an example of organizational philosophy and player development, I can tell you about two guys in particular:
1. Morgan Ensberg
2. Tim Redding
Ensberg had a great idea while being a cleanup hitter... "I'll take a walk!" so he saw a ton of pitches. This he developed over time but as he progressed to the majors, guess what happened? Well, pitchers at this level have a keen ability to put a ball right on the black consistently. What looked like a ball in the minors because the accuracy wasn't as keen down there, became a strike up in the majors. So as you progress and as you learn what role in the lineup you're supposed to have, you adjust. We keep saying this over and over again and it bears repeating over and over again: baseball is about adjustment at the major league level. So Ensberg over time continued to try and employ his patient OBP game at the cleanup spot and he started to get hurt quite a bit as a hitter. So much so, he eventually convinced himself he was a two hole or even leadoff guy. And now, he's basically out of a job. So just because you learn patience, that does not translate into success. What the Astros hitters in the minors are taught is eggszactly what pravata provided and it is conducive to being a solid major league hitter and not go the way of Morgan Ensberg, who eventually became known around here as "Pigeon Shit". That was because he would not swing the bat any more and he may as well be a statue if he was going to do that.
Redding was also learning from the organizational philosophy of tight Pitches per Innings ratios. But Redding had a huge problem with the organizational philosophy and decided he was going to do it his way: High K rates. And he opened the eyes of the stats people who monitor minor league performance that way (and really, this is a really bad idea to begin with, stats in lower minor leagues are meaningless in a way). What stats the Astros look for in the lower minor leagues is PPI and other things. Basically, teach kids to be in and around the strikezone, no fear throwing strikes, use your fielders. Things that Redding did not want to follow. So at a given time, Redding was annointed by many as the kid who was going to be greater than any of the Astros prospect pitchers because he had ungodly K rates in the minors. Neyer even said he was going to be greater than Oswalt, who was learning how to manage innings under Hooton and Maddux before he came up to the majors. Redding came up alright and proceeded to throw four seamers the way he wanted to pitch and instead of strikeouts, he was shocked that major leaguers spoiled those pitches and basically just waited the kid out until he threw a fatter pitch.
Redding struggled. Ensberg had success and then struggled. Redding has learned his lesson and has taught himself how to be a pitcher now, basically going back to the Dewey Robinson/Vern Ruhle pitching bible. Ensberg is probably somewhere in the Rays minor leagues trying to prove he can be aggressive and patient at the same time.
So sometimes it's the player. You can lead a horse to water, but...
