I'm as big a prospect homer as anyone here, and I'm concerned this season is a one-time wonder for CJ. Keep in mind PENCE!!! had that big rookie offensive campaign that he has failed to come close to duplicating. I don't recall scouts thinking CJ would be even as good a hitter as Pence. Too he's no great shakes defensively.
Light switch.
There is a saying amongst baseball men (scouts, directors of operations, GM, etc.) "Sometimes, the light switch suddenly turns on for a player and there is no looking back". I wonder if a combination of Jeff Bagwell's "Yoda-ish" tutoring/mentoring/butt-kicking ways and Johnson's makeup (hard working, no nonsense, doesn't give himself any excuses, doesn't like to be babied) kind of meshed. Johnson went from "good prospect" to "Who is this guy?" just about the time Baggy took over as hitting coach. Baggy made it clear, he preached "approach" more than "mechanics". What I see from Johnson is that he is:
1. Aggressive - he is not scared to swing the bat... that is good for the lineup position he maintains on this club
2. Knows his strikezone - he isn't guessing as much as seeing the pitch travel as far as it can before he swings. He knows it's a strike when it is thrown on the outside part of the plate. Guess what? He is doing eggszactly what Baggy was known to do - take the outside part of the plate and hit it where it's pitched. But he's not just hitting it, he is smoking those line drive gappers to right and right-center.
3. Can turn on an inside pitch - it is important for a player who is letting a ball travel into the zone to have a quick bat. A quick bat coupled with strength will equal power to left for a right handed batter. Think of a young Scott Rolen if you will. What has impressed me most about CJ is the ability to turn on inside pitches. If I were a pitcher and I saw he was letting the ball travel and hitting my outside pitches hard to right, then I'd bust him inside. The guys who frustrate you the most are the ones who let the ball travel even if it is inside, then turn on it with a nano-second blink of an eye and hit it a very long way. Example would be a homerun he hit against the Jakes (or Reds) this last homestand. It went up to the train tracks to about the same place Pujols and Jeff Kent hit their memorable homeruns.
So if Baggy plus CJ plus a light switch going to "on" means we have a good #5 hitter, then things bode well for the Astros. What is more important is if Hunter Pence will ever develop such a consistent approach as CJ is exhibiting. If so, then having a solid #3 is also a huge part of the equation of a winning ballclub. That means that finally there is someone in the Astros organization that is telling young Mr. ThunderPants that "grip it and rip it" is no way to have a major league career son. I felt that was what Cecil Cooper prescribed for Gunther and everyone agreed to let him do so.
Thank goodness Baggy is now calling "BS" on all of that. Anyone think this offense clicking is *NOT* a product of a very good coach teaching these very happy to get information from a potential Hall of Famer bunch of kids?
