Uggla often starts slow in the spring and early season
It is still early in the Braves spring camp, so no need to worry about anything yet, right? Players are still getting into shape and after all, the games don’t count.
That is all true, but in the case of Dan Uggla, is it already time to be concerned? Uggla is notoriously not a good spring and early season player, so we have to consider that when assessing his spring and early season performances.
But Uggla has not only struggled so far this spring at the plate, he has looked downright helpless. He has only two hits in sixteen at bats and one of those two hits was an infield hit. Uggla has yet to register an extra base hit or an RBI.
That translates into a .125 batting average with a .222 on-base-percentage and .125 slugging percentage. Not very good, but it is still early, and it is only spring. Right?
Here is where the alarms go off; Uggla has struck out TEN times in his sixteen at bats this spring. In other words, he has been over-matched at the plate.
On a positive note, Uggla has walked twice. But he’s also committed two errors in only 34 innings.
But it is still early, and after all, it is only spring. Right?
About Jim Hart
I’m not really concerned about Dan not hitting this spring. As I mentioned in another post, I think that he has returned to his old spring training routine of tracking pitches the first couple of weeks with the intent of recognising the strike zone. Last year, he tried Chipper’s routine of timing the fast ball… how did that work out for him? Yeah, he had a good spring average, but his strike zone recognition was severly lacking once the season began. Hitting a slider is not the same as timing a fastball. Besides, who in their right mind would throw Dan a fastball in a game that counts?
Let him take his time to recognise strikes, even if he strikes out 100 times. If he can get a handle on the strike zone, perhaps his patience at the plate could result in some timely hits this season.
Bob, what is curious about last season is that Uggla was patient in the sense that he walked 94 times. He just had trouble making contact on a consistent basis as evidenced by his 168 strikeouts. That is my concern so far this spring; he’s hardly making contact at all. You almost wonder if he’s having a vision problem. Or like I pointed out in another comment.. he’s 33 now. No Braves second baseman in recent memory has played past 33.
Opening day and Dan hits a homer and draws a walk. Hopefully, a precursor to the best of both worlds: a high OBP and a 25-30 HR season. Now that would be nice, huh?