There is a book out on Rockies shortstop Clint Barmes. Authored by opposing pitchers and scouts and enhanced by video technology, it’s a how-to guide for getting Barmes out.
The book, combined with Barmes’ ultra-aggressive nature, has made the 2006 season a frustrating, albeit instructive, time for the second-year player. He has gone from rookie wunderkind to a player searching for himself.
“I’ve never struggled this long before, ever,” said Barmes, who is hitting .197 after going 1-for-22 in his past six games. “But it’s been a good learning experience.”
As one scout said this week, “If the kid is going to make it back (to his earlier form), he’s going to have to make some big adjustments to his approach at the plate.”
Barmes, of course, is not the only player combating his own biography. Every team in the majors has a book on every player. It describes everything from an outfielder’s arm strength to holes in a slugger’s swing to what pitch a right-hander is liable to throw in a sticky situation.
What’s happening to Barmes provides a case study into how baseball reads a player, and how that player must adjust to the book or face the prospect of losing his job.
CHAPTER ONE: THE FAST START
Barmes, then a fiery rookie shortstop from Vincennes, Ind., was a sensation in spring 2005, hitting a walk-off homer on opening day and finishing April with a .410 average. He lost his chance at rookie-of-the-year honors when he suffered a broken collarbone after he tripped carrying deer meat up the stairs of his apartment. He was out three months.
Barmes’ early big-league success was the result of talent, the high energy he brought to work every day and good fortune. He had four homers in April and three in May but also many bloop hits.
After missing 78 games, Barmes returned to the lineup Sept. 2 and struggled to find his stroke. In his final 27 games he hit .216 with two homers and 12 RBIs. Before the injury he hit .329.
CHAPTER TWO: LOST AT THE PLATE
Struggling to meld his take-charge approach with a dose of patience, Barmes fell into a deep slump early this season. In May he hit .116, with 10 hits and 17 strikeouts. Incredibly, he did not draw a walk, raising speculation he might be sent to the minors. His average sank to .189 on May 30.
The more Barmes slumped, the more he chased pitches, making him an easier out.
“Physically, some things just aren’t possible,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “When you take a ball that’s thrown at your rib cage and try to find a way to get the barrel on it, it’s a difficult equation. Word has gotten out that he doesn’t have to be challenged in the strike zone.”
When a flaw is exposed in baseball, word spreads like wildfire.
“It doesn’t take long,” Hurdle said. “At any given major-league game, there is bound to be anywhere from three to half a dozen scouts.”
That remains the old-school method of spreading the book. The video age has put a new spin on the process. Video iPods put a batter’s entire season into the palm of a hand, enabling opposing pitchers to watch a hitter’s every at-bat.
“Video has given us an exponential leap in gathering information,” said Josh Stein, the San Diego Padres’ coordinator of baseball research and advance scouting. “Every video staff in the majors is constantly looking for trends.”
Stein said he’s not sure whether video helps pitchers more than hitters. “I just know there’s a lot of information out there and some players take more advantage of it than others,” he said.
Not so long ago, many pitchers kept intricate journals on batters they faced. But that’s changing, too.
“There is more video on every hitter, with his every at-bat, than you could watch in a day,” Rockies starter Josh Fogg said. “There are still guys who keep notes, but why keep notes when I can pull up (on video) any hitter, anytime I want?”
The Padres, one of the Rockies’ National League West rivals, have a read on Barmes, but Stein declined to share specifics. However, several other National League scouts shared pages out of their book on Barmes, under the condition of anonymity.
The consensus among scouts is that Barmes lacks the patience to make him a tough out because he often chases pitches out of the strike zone. Pitching him inside is the most effective way to get him out, because he has not shown an ability to turn on inside pitches with power. And because of his aggressiveness, Barmes is susceptible to off-speed pitches that throw off his timing.
CHAPTER THREE: FORCED TO ADJUST
For Barmes to stay in the big leagues as an everyday player, he must learn to counterpunch, much as Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Sean Casey did. When playing for Cincinnati in 2000, in his second full major-league season, Casey was hovering around .200 well into June. He ended up hitting .315.
“You have to decide, ‘OK, what makes me hit well? How do I hit well? What are my strengths?”‘ Casey said. “Just because a guy throws to your weakness doesn’t mean you have to swing at that pitch. The key is getting a guy to pitch to your strength.”
That, Casey said, requires patience, confidence and extensive knowledge of pitchers’ tendencies. Walt Weiss, a former Rockies shortstop who now works as a special assistant to general manager Dan O’Dowd, said counterpunching also requires a player to accept his own limitations.
“When I first came up, I thought I could be a .300 hitter every year,” said Weiss, the 1988 American League rookie of the year with Oakland. “I realized that’s not the player I was at this level. I became a player who did other things well. I moved runners along, hit in the clutch, fielded my position well.”
In 14 big-league seasons, Weiss hit .258 and played in four World Series.
“I’m not saying Clint can’t be a .300 hitter, because I think he’s got that kind of talent,” Weiss said. “But every young hitter has to learn about himself.”
But Casey said it would be a mistake for Barmes to attempt a complete overhaul of his swing.
“You have to keep your mind clear,” Casey said. “Do you listen to everybody else who’s telling you why you’re not good? Or do you listen to that voice in your own head and stay in the zone that’s going to work for you?”
Barmes doesn’t really care how other teams chart his at-bats, saying he’s confident he has the skills to hit big-league pitching.
“I need to get back to writing my own book,” Barmes said. “When I’m going good, guys can pitch to me any way they want to, but they still have to throw it over that white plate, and I’m confident I’ll hit it.”
Hurdle agrees.
“I absolutely believe Clint is going to get out of this,” Hurdle said recently. “And it’s going to make him a better player. He’s going to look back at May of ’06 and tell somebody, ‘Let me tell you the story about a month I had.”‘
Denver Post staff writer Troy E. Renck contributed to this report.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
The word on Barmes
Clint Barmes has struggled to stay above .200 this season after a hot start a year ago. Here’s “The Book on Barmes,” derived from discussions with National League scouts:
- Will chase bad pitches outside the strike zone.
- Aggressive nature sets him up for off-speed pitches.
- Pitch him inside, because he has not shown an ability to turn on inside pitches with power.
- Flares to right field indicate lack of bat speed and inability to get barrel of bat through the ball on consistent basis.
Patrick Saunders
Sophomore slide
Rockies shortstop Clint Barmes is the latest in a long list of major-league players who rocketed to stardom as rookies but plummeted back to earth the next season. A look at some recent, high-profile players who slumped as sophomores:
Jhonny Peralta, Indians: Hit .292 with 24 homers in 2005. A recent surge has boosted his average from .222 on June 22 to .250. The Indians attribute Peralta’s struggles to American League pitchers getting a better read on him, as well as Peralta putting too much pressure on himself.
Angel Berroa, Royals: 2003 American League rookie of the year hit .287, with 17 homers, 73 RBIs and 21 steals. In 2004, placed on the disabled list with migraine headaches, he hit .249 with 35 RBIs in 96 games before being sent down to Double-A. Bounced back with a solid 2005, hitting .270 with 11 homers.
Eric Hinske, Blue Jays: Third baseman was named the 2002 AL rookie of the year after hitting 24 homers and driving in 84 runs. Handicapped by a broken bone in his hand, he hit .243 with 12 homers and 63 RBIs in 2003. Hinske hit .246 with 15 homers and 69 RBIs in 2004. Inconsistent play at third forced Toronto to move him to first base in 2005.
Bob Hamelin, Royals: The 1994 AL rookie of the year hit .282 with 24 homers in a strike-shortened season. Hit .168 with two homers through 65 games in 1995 and was demoted to Triple-A. He approached his rookie numbers only once, as a part-time player in 1997. He hit .219 in 1998, his final season.
Patrick Saunders
