Hitting coaches and swing coaches aren’t the same thing.
I heard those exact words, or variations thereof, a number of times this season while talking to coaches. More often that not, the words were accompanied by an opinion that too many hitters — especially young hitters — are overly focused on honing a perfect swing, whereas what they should primarily be focusing on is… well, actually hitting the baseball. That’s not to discount the importance of good swings — every hitting coach understands their value — but much more goes into squaring up pitches within a game environment. As San Diego Padres special assistant Mark Loretta put it in yesterday’s Talks Hitting interview, “Obviously, you have to swing to hit the ball, but swinging isn’t hitting.”
Here is what three MLB general managers had to say on the subject, primarily as it relates to player development.
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Ross Fenstermaker, Texas Rangers GM
The Texas Rangers named a new general manager on November 4, promoting Ross Fenstermaker from assistant GM/player development and international scouting, a role he’d held since October 2021. A University of California Davis graduate, Fenstermaker has been with the organization since 2010, initially coming on board as a baseball operations intern.
Given his PD experience — and with swings in mind — I asked Fenstermaker about the advancements the Rangers made in that area over recent seasons.
“More than anything, we’ve systematized a lot of our processes, things that we are ultimately trying to have our players achieve,” Fenstermaker told me at this month’s GM Meetings in San Antonio. “We’ve altered some of our key performance indicators and reoriented our players toward things that we value, things we know are leading indicators of future major league success. I think we’re constantly evolving our processes.”
“At times there have been pursuits of bat speed and bat speed development programs,” he continued. “There have also been feedback loops related to swing decisions and quality of approach. Ultimately, we are emphasizing the things that we want to value. At the end of the day it’s about run creation, so we’re always stress testing what we’re emphasizing — whether or not it is leading to the intended goals, which is to create runs and create major league players.”
Which brought us to the question I had in mind, not just for Fenstermaker, but for other GMs as well:
How do you balance hitting coaches vis-a-vis swing coaches — often two completely different animals — within player development?
“That’s a great question,” he replied.” I think a lot of coaches can do either, and many can do both, but it’s challenging. You’ve got swing technicians that can really break down the mechanics of the swing, the way the body works, the way the body moves. Then there are more of the hitting coaches, which I would say are maybe a little bit more psychological in nature. They’re approach oriented, game prep, making sure that the player is ready to not only swing at their optimal abilities, but also perform when the time comes, be able to combat that pitcher that evening.”
His response having served more as a synopsis of the differences than the type of answer I was looking for, so I followed up:
How much do you want that balanced — hitting coaches versus swing technicians — throughout the system? Moreover, does it vary between levels, from Rookie Ball up to Triple-A?
“I think you want to blend,” Fenstermaker said. “Each player is different. They’re probably going to need a little bit different approach, and we have very specific, individualized player plans. At the foundational level, you want to really refine players’ approaches as best as possible, knowing that swing changes, or swing enhancements, along the way are going to happen, whether that’s just natural physical maturation and development or if it’s something more hands-on. It might be something larger scale that you need to undertake. But yeah, I think it’s a blend, and ultimately it depends on the individual — top, bottom, bottom to top.”
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Ben Cherington, Pittsburgh Pirates GM
“We’re trying to do both,” Cherington said of the hitting coach/swing coach balance. “We have people who are focused on both of those things. We have people who are focused on assessing the movement and designing the training environment that we think will help improve the way that guys are moving, as well as connecting the work in the weight room to the cage. Then we have other people who are focused more on, ‘How do we get ready for the game and how are we going to beat this pitcher?’
“The key is that those people are connected and collaborating with each other, because they do intersect. There is a relationship between the choices you make — the swing decisions and the approach — and how you’re moving, and where your swing is. You can’t work on one in isolation. You have to talk to each other.”
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Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants GM
“I think it’s important to have direction, overall, for the group,” Posey told me. “We want to have an identity of who we want to be, and what our approach is. Some of that will play out year to year, based on who is in the lineup. But yeah, that’s an interesting question about hitting coach or a swing coach. I personally think, from my experience, that it is extremely important for a hitting coach to be that guy who is always moving up with the energy they are bringing each day. It’s such a long season. To be able to come in after a tough stretch and keep the guys motivated and sticking to the plan is important.”
As with Fenstermaker, a followup for Posey was in order. I asked the All-Star-catcher-turned-executive if players coming up through a minor league system can sometimes over-focus on their swings, and not enough on being “a hitter.”
“I think thats’ a possibility,” Posey replied. “That would be true now [and] it would be true 15 years ago when I was coming up. It would be true probably as far back as you want to go. One of the messages I want our players to understand is that you should be your own best coach. There is accountability that comes with that. We have so many different voices giving direction, and it’s a good thing, but sometimes there is a tendency to let those voices be crutches. You need to make it known, ‘Hey, you need to be accountable for what you’re doing.’ All these coaches. and voices, are a resource for you — they’re different opinions and you can take it in and filter it — but ultimately you need to be responsible for your own career. That’s not to minimize the importance of coaches. I understand that coaches are very important.”
