Dave Hudgens relationship with the New York Mets started in 1969 -- as a fan. Six years later, in 1975, the Mets drafted Hudgens in the fifth round of the January draft, but he never signed a contract.
“It’s kind of ironic that I get to work for them now,” Hudgens said during a phone interview from Venezuela on Thursday. “I never really thought I would get the opportunity because I really didn’t know anyone. When Sandy (Alderson) called, I was really excited.”
When Alderson took over as the general manager of the Oakland Athletics in 1984, Hudgens was on his way out. The organization told him he could keep playing in Triple-A or he could take a minor league managerial job. Hudgens heart said keep playing; his head told him get into this while you’re young and maybe you can make baseball a career.
As he sat around the table interviewing with Alderson, new Mets manager Terry Collins, Jeff Wilpon, J.P. Riccardi, Paul DePodesta and John Ricco, Hudgens began to sense the confirmation he had been waiting for since he decided to coach 26 years earlier. His instincts were officially confirmed Monday, when the Mets announced Hudgens would the team’s next hitting instructor.
During the interview, Hudgens sold the Mets brass on his hitting philosophy which can be summed up in two words: smart and disciplined. Get used to those terms Mets fans, because Hudgens will encourage his hitters to be smart, disciplined and patient -- working deep into the count of every possible at bat.
“Some people say it’s an unaggressive approach,” he explained. “But over the 20 years I’ve been coaching in Oakland and Cleveland, it’s an aggressive approach, but it’s a smart approach. You have to be disciplined.”
Hudgens is managing in Caracas, and will continue until the season ends sometime in mid-January. He confessed he hasn’t had the opportunity to study video of Mets hitters, but he is expecting a box full of videos arriving from New York any day now. Call it an early Christmas gift from the Mets. Hudgens said he plans to spend Christmas in Caracas, studying video and taking notes on his new pupils.
What he has seen are statistics -- and what's on paper tells a story too. “Everybody’s seen the numbers,” said Hudgens. “They’re pretty obvious, but they have a bunch of quality hitters. The potential is there, the hitters are there, the talent is there.”
While Hudgens is expected to get up-to-speed on the entire roster, both he and the Mets know the value of getting Jose Reyes on base. Hudgens has seen Reyes’ plunging statistics too. In 2010, Reyes’ on-base percentage leading off an inning was .321, a full 50 points lower than his career best (.372) in 2006. He recorded a 27% swing rate at non-strike pitches. Reyes walked a career-high 77 times in 2007, while stealing a career-high 78 bases; in 2010, 31 walks and 30 stolen bases in 133 games.
Mark Simon at ESPN-New York also dug up this numerical nugget: According to Bill James Online, last season, the Mets scored 87 runs in the 83 innings in which Reyes led off by getting on base (1.05 per inning). In the 163 innings he didn’t reach, the Mets scored 35 runs (.21 per inning).
“I’ve seen him play and admire his talent,” said Hudgens. “If you get a guy like that at the top of your lineup that’s getting on base, with that has explosive speed … all your numbers are going to go up. Jose knows what he’s doing. He knows what he has to do. I’ll just be there to remind him.”
Hudgens said he plans on sitting down with Reyes in Spring Training and discuss his past and present approach before giving feedback to the Mets leadoff hitter.
“Most of the time, when guys start getting away from being high on-base percentage guys, they’re trying to help the team, they’re trying to get on base and a lot of times they end up going out of the strike zone and helping the pitcher out,” explained Hudgens. “When you go out of the strike zone against major league pitching it’s tough to get hits. When pitchers know you’re going out of the strike zone you’re going to see fewer good pitches to hit. That just comes from being a little but overly aggressive and usually in the past I found it was from guys who were just trying too hard, they’re trying to do too much, instead of just relaxing, playing their game and using their ability.”
Hudgens said he hasn’t had discussions with Collins or Alderson about individual players instead the focus is on “the team concept.” That does discount the importance of Reyes production, or David Wright for that matter, who has slipped into a two-year hitting funk. The numbers don't lie, as Simon pointed out in an article for ESPN-New York earlier this:
From 2005 to 2008, Wright ranked seventh in the majors in two-strike slugging percentage; over 2009-10 he ranked 146th. Wright’s two-strike OPS at home is down 135 points from what it was in 2008 (from .835 to .700) ... His road OPS has sunk 261 points (from .731 to .470), largely due to his significantly larger strikeout rate on the road. As for pitch-type issues, he's had a lot of problems with the slow stuff (breaking balls and changeups). Against those pitch types, Wright had an .888 two-strike OPS in 2008 and that’s dipped to .469 in 2010. Most surprising was a huge performance drop against two-strike slow stuff from lefties -- from a 1.329 OPS in 2008 to .583 in 2010.
“A lot of times it’s about not swinging at the wrong curveball (or breaking ball), but getting the one that is up in the zone to hit,” explained Hudgens. “I found over the years that most all good hitters are hunting the fastball and when they do hit a breaking ball it’s the one up in the zone. When a pitcher gets guys out on breaking balls it’s generally the one that’s in the dirt or off the plate. It’s about recognition. If you see ‘spin down’ you try to be disciplined, take it and not go out of the strike zone. It’s taking advantage of the one you can hit. I guarantee when David Wright’s looking for a breaking ball and gets one up, he’s gonna hit it. He wouldn’t be where he is today if he couldn’t hit a breaking ball.”
Hudgens has been teaching the same fundamentals for the past 20 years. In fact, his work is featured on SwingAwayBlog.com. Hudgens laughs at the reference confessing, “I wrote a program for kids; it was written with Johnny Little Leaguer in mind. My son puts in on Swing Away, which I have nothing to do with. It’s a blog, but I don’t own that blog; it’s just information I’ve written in the past. I just kinda laugh when people say I blog.”
Hudgens also answered some questions from Mets fans and bloggers. Here is the transcript of that Q&A:
Do strikeouts bother you -- if so, what does he plan on doing about the massive amount of them in the middle of the order?
“Sometimes a strikeout is OK, if the guys right on the pitch and just misses it. Strike outs bother me if they’re going out of the zone a lot – chasing that pitch they shouldn’t chase. One of the keys about teaching the approach that I like to teach is having a good two-strike approach because a lot of times if hitters are afraid to go to two strikes, if they’re afraid to strike out or afraid to get deeper in the count, they swing at the first close thing they see to the plate. Guys can’t be afraid to get deeper in the count, hunt their pitch … but you’re gonna to have some strikeouts, but hopefully we can minimize them with a good two-strike approach and battle with two strikes to make that opposing pitcher get his pitch count up.”
How do you teach clutch hitting -- is it about mechanics of the AB or the mental aspects of relaxing, confidence and putting self in good count?
“I think it’s a combination. A lot of it is the mental part of the game, not trying to do too much. When a guy is in scoring position, the hitter tries to do everything they can to get the guy in and a lot of times they swing at pitchers pitches early in the count because maybe they’re not patient enough to wait for their pitch. Sometimes a guy may try to pull the ball instead of staying in the middle of the field. It seems over the years, to me, good clutch hitters are able to hit with runners in scoring position by using the middle of the field or the whole field, and not try and pull the ball. Pitchers go to a lot more breaking balls with guys in scoring position, that’s why you want to be able to use the whole field, so you’re not coming off the ball and getting that rolling over to third base, which happens when guys are trying to pull the ball too much.”
Have you had a chance to watch any video of the Mets hitters?
“Just what I’ve seen on the Internet. They (the Mets) are sending over a box of videos. When I get back to Caracas I will watch them over the Christmas holiday.”
Have you thought about how the pressure of coaching in New York might affect you?
“I am just going to concentrate on what I can control and what I can do, be true to myself and try not to get into any of that. I’ve got eight million Venezuelans and Caracas people yelling at me right now. Of course, I don’t speak the language so I don’t know what the heck they’re saying, but believe me, I can tell what they’re saying when we’re not playing well. It’s a good training ground.”