Enough With Lenny

Lenny Harris might be a good hitting coach. I don't really know. But it certainly seems like he hasn't done much to help, as the team's plate patience seems to have eroded post-Page. At any rate, nats.com has a puff piece on Austin Kearns, crediting Lenny with a minor adjustment or two that's helped Kearns to get on track. He hit his 10th homer of the second half today, doubling his first-half total. And coming into today, he's hit an excellent .283/ .387/ .451. He had a terrible first half, burying his chances of putting up overall numbers, but his second half has been right where we expected him to be; it's just hidden.

The piece credits Harris for shortening the team's swings, since they were trying to hit too many homers. As evidence for his success, it points out that "The team is hitting over .260 since he came on board."

First, I'd point out the complete and utter folly of using batting average to measure how well a team is doing offensively. The object is to score runs, not win the batting title or have the most hits. Second, is .260 really an accomplishment? The NL average is .266. And a .260 batting average would be tied for fifth worst in the league. As it is, the Nats are fourth worst. That's something to crow about?

The next sentence is kinda funny too. Beware the passive voice! "Harris, who is credited for helping Dmitri Young become one of the league leaders in hitting and helping Wily Mo Pena learn to hit to the opposite field, acknowledged that it bothers him that the Nationals are last in the league in runs scored this season, but believes it will get better."

While it's true that Dmitri's hot streak coincided with Page's leave, it started instantaneously, almost as if Harris worked his magic in one night. I suppose that Harris had some role on it, but let's not forget that Young was also coming back from leg and foot problems. He wasn't healthy at all until after Page left. Harris certainly got lucky in his timing.

I, too, love the Wily Mo learning to hit to the opposite field line. He's had a few hits to the opposite field, mostly, it seems, on pitches that have fooled him. The balls went to the opposite field, not because he was looking for a sharp single, but because he's damn strong, and those little shots that would be flares or grounders to the second basemen are going over or through him. Luck? Design? Maybe it's Lenny's residue. And I really love the idea that what's made Pena so good is not his 8 homers or his .531 slugging average, but those 3 or 4 dinky flares the other way.

If that's the height of Lenny Harris' offensive strategy, no wonder the team's in last place.

If you missed it back in July, I took a look at the team's results with Lenny and Mitchell, and pointed out that the team's walk rate and plate discipline plummeted with Harris. If I were to update the numbers, the larger sample of games would make the numbers slightly more favorable for Lenny, but the overall trends -- at least from the few things I spot-checked -- remain.