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Kevin Long Says Phillies Need to Practice More Against Left-Handed Pitching, Which They Haven’t Had at BP
By Luke Arcaini
Published:
I think I’ve officially lost my mind.
Charlotte Varnes from The Athletic put out a piece following Wednesday night’s Phillies loss, their 8th in a row, and it consisted of some quotes from hitting coach Kevin Long.
One of them is just flat out embarrassing:
“To Long, the struggles partly come back to the lack of a lefty batting practice arm. The Phillies were without one until a few days ago, when Logan Mathieu joined the team. Long, who would typically throw lefty batting practice, had surgery last August and is still unable to throw. Bullpen coach Cesár Ramos and assistant pitching coach Mark Lowy throw lefty batting practice but can’t during games. Mathieu can.”
“We’ve just got to practice more against lefty arms and be more efficient,” Long said.
Huh? The Phillies didn’t have a left-handed arm to throw batting practice until a few days ago?
What are they doing? I understand Kevin Long underwent surgery last year and can’t throw still. But how have you not found an arm that throws lefty batting practice during the games until 20 games into the new season?
The Phillies have not won a game in which the opposing team has thrown a left-handed starter. They have a .546 OPS against left-handed pitching, which is the worst in all of baseball. These left-handed struggles aren’t new. It’s plagued them for years, partially due to the fact that the Phillies can’t ever seem to find consistent right-handed hitters.
Maybe having a guy that can throw batting practice from the left side during the game down in the cages would at least help a little bit? Eh, what do I know.
This is a quote that makes somebody lose their job. Maybe that needs to happen, because whatever the Phillies are doing right now certainly isn’t working. The Phillies have continued to make the same mistakes and fall into the same tendencies year after year at the plate. Part of that is on the players, and part of that is on the hitting coach. You can’t just ditch all of your players right now, so that leaves for one other option.
Here’s the full story:
Luke Arcaini covers the Phillies for Crossing Broad. The wave is the worst thing is sports. Follow him on Twitter @ArcainiLuke