The Dodgers announced their coaching staff for the 2011 season today. Here's the list of coaches :
Dave Hansen - Hitting Instructor (first season)
Trey Hillman - Bench Coach (first season)
Rick Honeycutt - Pitching Coach (sixth season)
Ken Howell - Bullpen Coach (fourth season)
Davey Lopes - First Base Coach (first season)
Manny Mota - Coach (32nd season)
Jeff Pentland - Hitting Coach (fourth season)
Tim Wallach - Third Base Coach (first season)
Rob Flippo - Bullpen Catcher (10th season)
Mike Borzello - Bullpen Catcher (fourth season)
Of the four new coaches to join the Dodgers, Davey Lopes interests me the most. According to Truebluela.com, the Dodgers' 64.8% success rate on stolen bases last year ranked them 14th in the NL. Under the guidance of Lopes, the Phillies have led the National League in stolen base percentage in each of the last four seasons. One person who could benefit from Lopes' presence is Matt Kemp. According to fangraphs.com, Kemp stole 35 bases and got caught stealing 11 times in 2008, a 76.1% success rate. He then stole 34 bases in 42 tries in 2009, an 81% success rate. Last year he stole 19 bases and was caught 15 times. This needs to be an area of improvement for Matt, and Lopes might be the right one to help him.
I wonder what real coaching Honeycutt does? I mean, Broxton was downright awful after June 27 and never improved.
ReplyDeleteLove that Lopes is in. He's a hard ass, ala Bowa, but he seems to go about it a different way. Can't wait to see what impact he has on Kemp.
Dustin - I don't want to be too hard on Honecutt just yet. He's done a decent job for the Dodgers over the years. Yes, Broxton was a mess in 2010, but I don't want to put it all on Honeycutt. Let's see what happens in 2011.
ReplyDeleteLopes coming back to LA is great. I think he could help Matty a lot.