A few guys around the league are probably wishing they could turn back time and grab the magic they had just seven months ago. Times were simpler then, they’d go up to bat, hit the hell out of the ball, and everyone would clamor over how great they were. Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, and Hunter Pence finished 1-2-3 in Rookie of the Year voting last season. By April 15 each had been benched, victims of the ever looming Sophomore Slump.
A lot of people don’t believe the existence of such a curse, linking it in likeness to the Lochness Monster or Big Foot, something created by the overeager imagination. Unfortunately, it’s not some mythical beast lurking around the clubhouse that has failed to rear it’s ugly head. It’s real, too real. Just ask Joe Charboneau. If you find yourself scratching your head and asking ‘who?’, there’s a reason for that…
The Sophomore Slump.
Charboneau captured the AL R.O.Y. award with the Indians in 1980 after hitting .289 with 23 homers and 87 RBI. The next year he slumped so badly that he only saw 25 at-bats after May, and finished the season hitting .210, with 4 homers and 18 RBI. After hitting .214 with 2 homers and 9 RBI through May of ’82, he was demoted to the minors and never saw big league action again.
Now don’t get me wrong. No one is suggesting that any of these players are going to fall out the league, but on the same token, they aren’t immune to it either.
There’s so much that can wrong after having such a great debut. First of all, they obviously were in great health which leaves room for decline. Also, to have their season viewed as a slump, they had to have performed at a very high level, which again, leaves a ton of room for decline. But first and foremost, in their second effort they no longer have the factor of the unknown on their side. They now have to make adjustments to cope with the adjustments opposing pitchers have made to deal with their skill sets.
“Youth has just about everything to do with it.” Brewers manager Ned Yost explained after benching Braun in the midst of his slump. “They’re going to play through it. You just hope it doesn’t last too long… You force it instead of just relaxing and letting it happen like you did last year.”
In other words, these guys are pressing. Well, at least Braun and Pence are. Last season as a rookie Braun wasn’t exactly the most patient hitter on the planet, and at times approached the game with a hack and wack approach, but he still took the occasional walk. While batting .324/.370/.634 with 34 homers and 97 RBI, he took 29 walks while striking out 112 times in 451 at-bats.
This year that ratio is even more disproportionate. In fact, Braun didn’t even take his first walk until April 18th. He’s down everywhere else too, though. His line of .222/.240/.375 with 3 homers, 10 RBI, 2 walks and 17 SO pales in comparison to his production of just a year ago.
Pence is in the same boat. He took just 26 walks in 484 plate appearances last season while hitting .322/.360/.539 with 17 homers, 69 RBI, and 95 SO, yet even his impatience has become non-existent. That is to say he’s just going up there and swinging at everything. Entering the weekend he had just two walks in 59 plate appearances and was hitting .161 with no homers, two RBI and a .436 OPS. It has gotten so bad that scouts have suggested that there is no reason to throw this guy a strike.
In his defense, he broke out Saturday with a 3-for-4 performance with an RBI double against Colorado, but his line still sits at a paltry .212/.243/.303.
Tulowitzki, on the other hand, will take a walk, but he’s in worse shape than the other two. His glove work is still among the finest in the league, but it appears that his long swing has been exploited by rival pitchers. His production from 2007, when he hit .291 with 24 homers and 99 RBI with an .838 OPS, has decreased to his current state of .176/.256/.257 with zero homers, 9 RBI, 7 walks, and 13 SO, to go along with just six extra base hits.
The good news is that Tulowitzki’s problems are curable. Rockies hitting coach Alex Cockrell believes that the problem is due to how Tulowitzki’s front foot lands, a correctable error. The bad news is that he has to tinker with his mechanics, which could take a while. I’m sure that Colorado will do whatever it takes to make sure that he gets his stroke back, if he has to do some yoga to get centered and calmed down, then that’s what they’ll do. Out of all the players, he’s the one that I’m not concerned about.
It could be worst, at least these guys are still out there taking cuts. LA Angels outfielder Reggie Willits and Chicago White Sox’s third basman Josh Fields are teeing off on minor league pitchers due to roster jams, despite both finishing in the top seven in ROY voting last season.
I’m sure these guys will back bounce eventually, it’s just a matter of when.
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I am extremely worried about Ryan Braun. He’s just looked awful, like he’s a one-year wonder. Granted, he was far too talented last season to suggest that he is done, but a lot of guys have had a great debut to become a marginal player the rest of their career. He is weak defensively, he doesn’t take walks, he strikes out far too much, so it very well could happen.
Braun had a big game today
Yes sir he did Tim, 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and a double and, most importantly no strikeouts and a walk. Which puts him at .247 for the season. It’s going to take a few more games like this before I am back on the horse with him, but he’ll swing his way out of it.
Nick:
I’m glad you posted this. I’ve been wondering about the last time a pitcher with Chamberlain’s potential was protected like this and I can’t think of one. The Mets tried all kinds of permutations with Pedro Martinez last year, but that was after a return from a long stint on the DL. I can see the logic of trying to keep a flamethrower like Chamberlain from doing himself in, but the willingness of the team to juggle the rest of the staff around a rookie seems unprecedented. It makes me wonder whether the Yankees know something about Chamberlain’s physiology - something fragile about his shoulder strucutre, perhaps - that is making them handle him with extreme care.
The other two kids - Hughes and Kennedy - have got be feeling extreme pressure to carry the weight of the pitching staff. In my opinion, it’s really not fair to expect that from these two. Their performances are telling - now that they are going around the league a second time, they are having a much rougher time of it. Wang and Pettite will win a fair share of games but Mussina is a crap-shoot. I think the Yankees need to look for a third starter. Maybe they’ll take Aaron Heilman, who was starter in college and wanted to be one in the majors, off the Mets hands.
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