Tigers#1
02-25-2003, 09:15 AM
Inge plans turnaround at the plate
By Tom Gage / The Detroit News
LAKELAND, Fla. -- His numbers were dreadful.
After the All-Star break last year, Brandon Inge hit .159 for the Tigers. Worse yet, after Aug. 1, he hit .096 in 104 at-bats. What the heck happened?
"It was my left shoulder," he said. "It caused everything to go completely downhill. That's why I'm not as upset as I'd be if it had just been a case of terrible hitting."
For the Tigers to improve, however, Inge, 25, needs to get back to the business of being a No. 1 catcher. What he did last year won't cut it. In addition to his problems at the plate, he threw out only 13 of 57 runners attempting to steal.
Offensively and defensively, especially in the second half, Inge was a major disappointment. But more important, he was a medical mess -- and that's been fixed. As soon as the season was over, Inge underwent arthroscopic surgery to fix his bothersome left shoulder, which had developed a nasty habit of dislocating.
It happened when he played. It even happened when he slept, sapping the strength in his left arm to the point that his swing became feeble, his throws were mechanically wrong, and his future -- to anyone judging him on the second half alone -- appeared dubious.
The Tigers decided not to judge Inge on the second half of last season, however. They decided to trust the potential they saw in him before that -- so they removed Inge's primary competition by trading Michael Rivera to the San Diego Padres for outfielder Gene Kingsale.
Not many players can hit .159 for half a season, come back the following season and be handed a job. Matt Walbeck and Bill Haselman are competing for the backup spot, but Inge came to camp entrenched as No. 1.
It's a good idea, therefore, to keep track of his progress.
"There's a big-time difference already," Inge said about his swing. "I'm making solid contact against live pitching. Last year, I would have swung below those pitches."
Said hitting coach Bruce Fields: "I think he was trying to hide pain by using a lot of body in his swing last year. It's only batting practice, but I'm definitely seeing a better swing."
Inge throws right-handed, so you might wonder why an injury to his left shoulder would affect his game so much. The answer lies in how weak his left arm, not just shoulder, became after he suffered a dislocation in May. It was so weak, in fact, that his entire left side worked against, not in concert with, his right.
"This is how my throwing was affected," Inge said. "You know how a pitcher sort of reaches out with his glove arm when he throws the ball. That's how they get their thrust. Catchers do that, too. But you have to be able to extend your nonthrowing arm, and I couldn't do that last year.
"While swinging, I didn't have the strength to control the bat. Instead of centering on the ball, I'd swing below it. A ball I'd normally hit up the middle, I'd foul off because the barrel of my bat would be two or three inches lower than where it needed to be."
Hitting a baseball in batting practice can be compared to knocking a golf ball far and straight at the driving range. If you can't do it when it counts, what does it matter? But now that he's over his shoulder problem, Inge thinks much better times are ahead.
"I'm expecting big things this year," he said. "I don't have any excuses not to hit. My bat control is back to normal. I should be at least a .280 hitter who also does the little things right.
"Down the road, I'd really like to be a No. 2 hitter who can get on base and get runners over. If you can hit .280 as a catcher, that's a bonus because catchers have so many other pressures on them."
Such as?
"Running a staff," Inge said, "but I'm handling that fine. It comes as second nature to me now. But if I can hit about .280, that's my goal. I don't care about home runs. They'll come. I've got power."
Inge has surprising power in nearly everything he does: From hitting a golf ball more than 300 yards, to the 50-yard field goals he was practicing at Ford Field during the Tigers' mini-camp in July, to occasionally being able to clear the old left-field fences at Comerica Park.
"Even in Little League, I used to hit the ball almost twice as far as kids twice my size," Inge said. "I'm not worried about distance."
If he's worried about anything, in fact, he's concealing it well.
"The last two years haven't been fun," he said. "There've been so many people telling me about different ways to hit. It doesn't work that way for me. I can feel my swing, I know what I'm doing. If I can block out everything, I'll be fine."
The Tigers are banking on it.
"I don't want to think in terms of numbers yet, but he can be better," Manager Alan Trammell said. "He needs to make better contact and avoid long slumps. When he's gotten into slumps in the past, it's been a prolonged one.
"But I was told that for a stretch early last year, he was one of the better hitters in the American League."
That might be surprising for someone who ended up hitting .202. But in his first six games with the Tigers last season, Inge hit .455. And in his first 17 games, he hit .317. Then came the prolonged slump Trammell was talking about: The rest of the season.
It was the shoulder's fault. Everyone accepts that. But as Inge said, now there are no excuses for him not to hit.
By Tom Gage / The Detroit News
LAKELAND, Fla. -- His numbers were dreadful.
After the All-Star break last year, Brandon Inge hit .159 for the Tigers. Worse yet, after Aug. 1, he hit .096 in 104 at-bats. What the heck happened?
"It was my left shoulder," he said. "It caused everything to go completely downhill. That's why I'm not as upset as I'd be if it had just been a case of terrible hitting."
For the Tigers to improve, however, Inge, 25, needs to get back to the business of being a No. 1 catcher. What he did last year won't cut it. In addition to his problems at the plate, he threw out only 13 of 57 runners attempting to steal.
Offensively and defensively, especially in the second half, Inge was a major disappointment. But more important, he was a medical mess -- and that's been fixed. As soon as the season was over, Inge underwent arthroscopic surgery to fix his bothersome left shoulder, which had developed a nasty habit of dislocating.
It happened when he played. It even happened when he slept, sapping the strength in his left arm to the point that his swing became feeble, his throws were mechanically wrong, and his future -- to anyone judging him on the second half alone -- appeared dubious.
The Tigers decided not to judge Inge on the second half of last season, however. They decided to trust the potential they saw in him before that -- so they removed Inge's primary competition by trading Michael Rivera to the San Diego Padres for outfielder Gene Kingsale.
Not many players can hit .159 for half a season, come back the following season and be handed a job. Matt Walbeck and Bill Haselman are competing for the backup spot, but Inge came to camp entrenched as No. 1.
It's a good idea, therefore, to keep track of his progress.
"There's a big-time difference already," Inge said about his swing. "I'm making solid contact against live pitching. Last year, I would have swung below those pitches."
Said hitting coach Bruce Fields: "I think he was trying to hide pain by using a lot of body in his swing last year. It's only batting practice, but I'm definitely seeing a better swing."
Inge throws right-handed, so you might wonder why an injury to his left shoulder would affect his game so much. The answer lies in how weak his left arm, not just shoulder, became after he suffered a dislocation in May. It was so weak, in fact, that his entire left side worked against, not in concert with, his right.
"This is how my throwing was affected," Inge said. "You know how a pitcher sort of reaches out with his glove arm when he throws the ball. That's how they get their thrust. Catchers do that, too. But you have to be able to extend your nonthrowing arm, and I couldn't do that last year.
"While swinging, I didn't have the strength to control the bat. Instead of centering on the ball, I'd swing below it. A ball I'd normally hit up the middle, I'd foul off because the barrel of my bat would be two or three inches lower than where it needed to be."
Hitting a baseball in batting practice can be compared to knocking a golf ball far and straight at the driving range. If you can't do it when it counts, what does it matter? But now that he's over his shoulder problem, Inge thinks much better times are ahead.
"I'm expecting big things this year," he said. "I don't have any excuses not to hit. My bat control is back to normal. I should be at least a .280 hitter who also does the little things right.
"Down the road, I'd really like to be a No. 2 hitter who can get on base and get runners over. If you can hit .280 as a catcher, that's a bonus because catchers have so many other pressures on them."
Such as?
"Running a staff," Inge said, "but I'm handling that fine. It comes as second nature to me now. But if I can hit about .280, that's my goal. I don't care about home runs. They'll come. I've got power."
Inge has surprising power in nearly everything he does: From hitting a golf ball more than 300 yards, to the 50-yard field goals he was practicing at Ford Field during the Tigers' mini-camp in July, to occasionally being able to clear the old left-field fences at Comerica Park.
"Even in Little League, I used to hit the ball almost twice as far as kids twice my size," Inge said. "I'm not worried about distance."
If he's worried about anything, in fact, he's concealing it well.
"The last two years haven't been fun," he said. "There've been so many people telling me about different ways to hit. It doesn't work that way for me. I can feel my swing, I know what I'm doing. If I can block out everything, I'll be fine."
The Tigers are banking on it.
"I don't want to think in terms of numbers yet, but he can be better," Manager Alan Trammell said. "He needs to make better contact and avoid long slumps. When he's gotten into slumps in the past, it's been a prolonged one.
"But I was told that for a stretch early last year, he was one of the better hitters in the American League."
That might be surprising for someone who ended up hitting .202. But in his first six games with the Tigers last season, Inge hit .455. And in his first 17 games, he hit .317. Then came the prolonged slump Trammell was talking about: The rest of the season.
It was the shoulder's fault. Everyone accepts that. But as Inge said, now there are no excuses for him not to hit.