Bobby Valentine Adopts Unorthodox Strategy, Urges Red Sox Pitchers to Work on Hitting in Spring Training

by abournenesn

Feb 25, 2012

Bobby Valentine Adopts Unorthodox Strategy, Urges Red Sox Pitchers to Work on Hitting in Spring TrainingFORT MYERS, Fla. — Andrew Miller was seated outside the batting cage, tapping his bat on the ground. While a teammate belted balls, the left-handed pitcher quietly awaited his round of at-bats.

Had Miller still been with the Marlins, the sight would’ve been normal. But as a pitcher in the American League — where pitchers only hit during interleague play — it marked a strange spectacle in spring training, let alone the first day of camp.

“My experience in AL spring trainings has been a day or so getting in the cages and bunting for 20 minutes total or something,” Miller said. “But it’s usually middle or late as spring.”

Not under Bobby Valentine‘s watch. In his first season as Red Sox manager, Valentine has already flipped the script on traditional spring training routine, mandating that pitchers allocate time to specifically hone their slash bunting.

The idea stems from Game 6 of last season’s World Series. At one point, with runners on first and second, Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis fouled off a bunt attempt for strike one. On his second try, he ultimately laid a bunt that resulted in a double play.

“That kind of set the tone,” Red Sox reliever Mark Melancon said. “It’s the small things in those big games that really make the difference.”

Then an ESPN analyst, Valentine noticed the magnitude of the miscue. If Lewis had successfully executed the bunt on his first attempt, the Rangers could have moved the base runners and potentially scored a run.

Instead, the Cardinals anticipated Lewis’ second bunt, converted the double play and edged the Rangers in 10-9 slugfest before winning the World Series in Game 7. As a result, Valentine wanted to reinforce the hitting fundamentals early in camp.

“I think these guys want to be world champions,” Valentine said. “If they work on a technique now, the bunting and slashing, then the time before interleague play where we get them to come out and practice, they can already have a foundation of what they might be asked to do. Then again if it’s before the playoffs and they’re doing it again, build on that foundation.”

Earlier this week, Melancon briefly abandoned the bunt routine, opting to flex his muscles and swing for the fences. As an Astros reliever last season, Melancon joked that he would show the plate discipline he developed in the National League.

“I got one [plate appearance] last year and I walked, so I’m looking to get that first base hit,” Melancon said.

After three years with the Marlins, Miller is slightly more seasoned as a hitter compared to his AL counterparts. So how would he evaluate his own slugging skills?

“Not very good,” Miller said. “I’d go ahead and ask you not to look up my stats.”

Too late. Through his six years in the majors, the southpaw is 4-for-72, good for a .056 batting average, and has three RBIs. But all of those run-scoring hits came in 2008.

The starting rotation has fared much better than Miller’s lifetime numbers. Clay Buchholz is 1-for-1 in his career, while Josh Beckett has belted three career home runs.

Just don’t expect the Red Sox pitchers to entirely dedicate their time to belting the long ball.

“It’s something that while we won’t put a ton of time and ton of stress into it, if we can do it well enough to help our team out and help us get a win –– whether its interleague play or hopefully World Series down the road –– that’ll be helpful for us as a team,” Miller said.

But the foundation was laid on day one.

Have a question for Didier Morais? Send it to him via Twitter at @DidierMorais or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

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