St. Louis Cardinals: Batters have a problem with their swing

The St. Louis Cardinals are presenting a regular, repetitive problem when they are at the plate. One would think that a hitting coach would correct this.

Let’s face it, John Mabry is no hitting coach. Nope. And yet he is still the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals despite dropping batting averages, dripping OBP, and plummeting walk ratios.

I’ve had it with this garbage but even more so I am tired of the St. Louis Cardinals batters being so far ahead of pitches because of their over-aggressiveness. True, sometimes this aggressiveness leads to home runs (see Matt Carpenter in Thursday’s game), but at the same time it has Cardinals batter whipping their heads through the zone far in advance of the pitch.

When a batter pulls his head through the hitting zone in advance of the pitch crossing the plate, the batter swings and misses at unstoppable rates. Hitting is tough, I agree; the magic happens when a player keeps his head in the zone and allows his hips and hands to go over the plate simultaneous with his head.

It seems that the St. Louis Cardinals are constantly looking for home runs and this is why they are pulling their heads too quickly.

Dexter Fowler is notorious for this flaw. Fowler seems to be looking for a fly ball long before his bat has made contact with the ball.

He is not alone in this flaw either. During his tough times at the plate Marcell Ozuna was also pulling his head through the zone too quickly.

My own son plays baseball for his high school team. This is precisely the opposite problem than the one he experiences. He is typically late through the zone. The solution? He has learned to choke-up on the bat and open his stance so that his front hip is already through the zone. This allows him to speed his process.

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The St. Louis Cardinals need to learn some quick alterations to their batting approaches similar to the illustration above. Carpenter should try to close his front leg more to help him stay back ion pitches and push more to the left side of the field. Fowler should do work off the tee to force him to learn to keep his head in the zone. And so on.

The issue here is, yes, a batter problem but is one that a hitting coach should suggest solutions. This might be happening but with the continuation of these behaviors, I find it difficult to believe that it is happening. Add these observations to Ozuna saying that he watched video himself to correct his stance and it seems that Mabry is cashing a check without putting forth the effort to actually earn said check.

The time has come for the St. Louis Cardinals to makes corrections at the plate. Keeping their heads in the zone and simply hitting the ball would be a great place to start. After that, dismissing Mabry would further improve the hitting and that is something this club could use, especially after losing 11-3 at the hands of the Brewers.

Next: Five manager alternatives

Other than a basic lack of hitting fundamentals and a pitiful hitting coach, the St. Louis Cardinals have plenty of promise, they simply need to live out this truth.