[Brandon Warne] Source: The #MNTwins are bringing Matt Borgschulte back as a big-league hitting coach. He spent 2022-24 on the big-league staff with the Orioles, and had been with the Twins in minor-league hitting coach roles between 2018-21.
October 14, 2024
[Brandon Warne] Source: The #MNTwins are bringing Matt Borgschulte back as a big-league hitting coach. He spent 2022-24 on the big-league staff with the Orioles, and had been with the Twins in minor-league hitting coach roles between 2018-21.
11 comments
From an interview with Borgschulte and his former Orioles co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller on their philosophy. Fuller said this quote but Matt agreed with it fully:
“We have the Big Three here that we really want to ingrain. Swing decisions, and if we control the strike zone really well, it’s gonna lead to contact. And if we’re swinging and making contact on pitches in the zone, usually it leads to damage, like loud contact, extra-base hits. But really the focus for the squad, and they know it, is swing decisions. We didn’t do a great job of it the past couple of years, and that’s kind of the low-hanging fruit we see with a lot of these guys. They already have had a lot of success. Like (Ryan Mountcastle), he’s already had over 30 home runs in a season. Man, if he controls the strike zone and cuts down on that chase just by a little bit, he could be even better. So those are really (our emphasis): Control the strike zone, (make) hard contact, and that hard contact will lead to damage. That’s kind of the process we’ve been focused on here.”
Seems like a similar philosophy to what they’ve always emphasized: be disciplined and focus on quality contact over contact for contact’s sake (which is in line with just about every modern org in the league). Of course philosophy only gets you so far, the person implementing it and the way it’s implemented are both super important.
I mean the Os bats went cold at the end of the year too but fingers crossed?
[deleted]
On the surface hiring a hitting coach from a team that also struggled offensively down the stretch and also blew out their department would seem strange. However, Borgschulte was a guy the Orioles were seemingly going to keep around and he already has familiarity with the Twins system so that’s interesting.
I believe he was a finalist for the major league job before they pivoted to Popkins so maybe this is their way of admitting a mistake. I wonder how much influence the guys he was coaching and receiving praise from in the minors had an effect.
Has this dude even picked up a real bat back in his day?
[[Hageman] one of the things players said they enjoyed about borgschulte while he was with the twins org was that although he was very good at breaking down swing mechanics, he wasn’t overly technical about or focused on mechanics in his coaching. during the season, borgschulte talked about asking hitters questions rather than diving into the nuts & bolts of the swing: 1. were you on time? 2. were you in rhythm? 3. was it a good pitch to hit? if the answer to any of those is no, it’s probably not a mechanics issue.](https://x.com/hagemanparker/status/1845917981605240970?s=46&t=gKXpJc1UEqp3RWe3R_-Ybg)
It’s going to be more of an effort to say “Fire Borgschulte” if this goes south. At least “Fire Popkins” rolled off the tongue.
Baltimore has a ton of young players (usually) hitting well. Should be a boost for players like Royce, Wallner and Lee.
Borg should be good for…the collective lineup.
As long as the hitting philosophy is no longer to “only hit home runs” i will be happy
![[Brandon Warne] Source: The #MNTwins are bringing Matt Borgschulte back as a big-league hitting coach. He spent 2022-24 on the big-league staff with the Orioles, and had been with the Twins in minor-league hitting coach roles between 2018-21.](https://www.rawchili.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/evf4oUeUz5j25wLHi4_IF8PP47R8zYh2NiZXvoSEtJ0.jpg)
11 comments
From an interview with Borgschulte and his former Orioles co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller on their philosophy. Fuller said this quote but Matt agreed with it fully:
“We have the Big Three here that we really want to ingrain. Swing decisions, and if we control the strike zone really well, it’s gonna lead to contact. And if we’re swinging and making contact on pitches in the zone, usually it leads to damage, like loud contact, extra-base hits. But really the focus for the squad, and they know it, is swing decisions. We didn’t do a great job of it the past couple of years, and that’s kind of the low-hanging fruit we see with a lot of these guys. They already have had a lot of success. Like (Ryan Mountcastle), he’s already had over 30 home runs in a season. Man, if he controls the strike zone and cuts down on that chase just by a little bit, he could be even better. So those are really (our emphasis): Control the strike zone, (make) hard contact, and that hard contact will lead to damage. That’s kind of the process we’ve been focused on here.”
Seems like a similar philosophy to what they’ve always emphasized: be disciplined and focus on quality contact over contact for contact’s sake (which is in line with just about every modern org in the league). Of course philosophy only gets you so far, the person implementing it and the way it’s implemented are both super important.
I mean the Os bats went cold at the end of the year too but fingers crossed?
[deleted]
On the surface hiring a hitting coach from a team that also struggled offensively down the stretch and also blew out their department would seem strange. However, Borgschulte was a guy the Orioles were seemingly going to keep around and he already has familiarity with the Twins system so that’s interesting.
I believe he was a finalist for the major league job before they pivoted to Popkins so maybe this is their way of admitting a mistake. I wonder how much influence the guys he was coaching and receiving praise from in the minors had an effect.
Has this dude even picked up a real bat back in his day?
[[Hageman] one of the things players said they enjoyed about borgschulte while he was with the twins org was that although he was very good at breaking down swing mechanics, he wasn’t overly technical about or focused on mechanics in his coaching. during the season, borgschulte talked about asking hitters questions rather than diving into the nuts & bolts of the swing: 1. were you on time? 2. were you in rhythm? 3. was it a good pitch to hit? if the answer to any of those is no, it’s probably not a mechanics issue.](https://x.com/hagemanparker/status/1845917981605240970?s=46&t=gKXpJc1UEqp3RWe3R_-Ybg)
It’s going to be more of an effort to say “Fire Borgschulte” if this goes south. At least “Fire Popkins” rolled off the tongue.
Baltimore has a ton of young players (usually) hitting well. Should be a boost for players like Royce, Wallner and Lee.
Borg should be good for…the collective lineup.
As long as the hitting philosophy is no longer to “only hit home runs” i will be happy
I can only assume he was the cheapest option?