OnlyBucs

The Pirates broadcast team talk about Marte being one of the strongest guys on the team and having the fastest hands but they also say he does not have a home run type swing.  So here's a question for discussion.  In your opinion, should he stick with what he does now or try to hit more home runs via changing his launch angle. 

Keep what he is doing. I like his game just as it is.

4C6D654C676F080 wrote: Keep what he is doing.  I like his game just as it is.


I'll second that! Tamper with his swing in order to produce more power and there may be unintended consequences. I like his swing producing line drives and ground balls because it plays into his exceptional speed. He's not going to beat out any popups, but every ground ball he hits has the potential to result in him getting on base.

Marte is a career .287 hitter. And now that he's hitting 3rd, that high frequency of hits should result in a lot of RBIs. He's also tied for 2nd on the team in HRs. I'd rather have a guy in a position to drive in runs who frequently gets hit than a guy with HR power but a low BA (i.e., infrequently gets hits).



When Clemente set his career high in HRs with 29 in 1966 (MVP year), his average "fell" all the way to .317. He said at the time that he could have always hit more HRs but felt it was better to get more hits overall. I'll trust Clemente on this one.