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Ryan Ludwick has an explanation for how terrible he has been recently, and it’s not entirely implausible. He blames San Diego’s Petco Park:
“I don’t know why, but I got real pull-dominant there,” he said. “Obviously, left field is the easiest place to jump ship there. I lost the ability to hit the ball the other way, even in the cage. You could flip the ball to me, and I had a hard time hitting it the other way.”
Great American Ball Park is suited for right-handed hitters, like Ludwick, to go to the opposite field. Ludwick has hit .276 with seven home runs, 10 doubles and 27 RBI in 105 at-bats at GABP.
“So this offseason, I worked on staying up the middle and away with everything and not worrying about the pull side because I’ve been able to do that my whole career,” Ludwick said. “I want to make that right-center gap a strength for me again.”
So far, it has gone well.
“He’s looking good, real good,” Baker said. “He came into camp in great shape. He fits in with the guys. He has action on this team.”
I have no idea what “(h)e has action on this team” means, but I don’t listen to as much jazz as Dusty Baker.
Read whatever you wish into this article. I’m afraid Ludwick is what he is at this point in his career, which means he’ll probably be adequate for the Reds. He clearly hopes to return to his old form from four seasons ago, but betting on that is a good way to go broke. (Not just for Ludwick; that goes for any 30+ year old who is four years removed from his last good-to-great season.)
In Ludwick’s case, I’m not entirely sure he can be better than Chris Heisey (when you add defense into the mix, especially), but I’m not entirely sure he will be worse, either. Let’s just wait and see, shall we?
Looking at his Petco spray charts vs. his time at Busch, I’d say he was pulling a little more, but not so much that explains everything. He didn’t exactly show a lot of power to all fields in Busch either, though Busch does suppress HR too. His HR at Busch in ’08 were a little more spread toward CF than at Petco. That’s about all I see directionally. The bigger issue is that he wasn’t hitting the ball as far. Petco could have some play in that as the lack of altitude weighs the ball down some, but I’m a little concerned that his drop in power is exactly what it says, a drop in power.
I expect him to be another guy with past success who Dusty clings to because of that past success. See Patterson, Gomes, Taveras, etc. Meanwhile Heisey will ride the pine more than he should. Hoping for a surprise but not counting on it.
I wouldn’t say that Patterson or Taveras ever had “past success” but get your point.
I think Ludwick will be a good part of the outfield mix. Hopefully a small part.
If Heisey performs, it’s his job to lose. He should have performed better last year when he inherited the job and all this would be moot. I’m pulling for him, because he’s the better player at this point in his career.
Ludwick is going to get playing time because he’s the clear #4 OF-and he really should so Heisey can slide over and give Bruce and Stubbs days off occasionally as both looked gassed at various points last year. It’d sure be nice to have a 3B/OF combo player on the roster instead of two backup 3Bs…
Patterson had a decent season for Dusty in Chicago in 2003 (OPS+ of 114), although he missed considerable time. Taveras had a solid 2007, hitting .320 with an OBP of .367. With his speed, that’s a pretty good year for a CF. Neither player ever really came close to doing those things again. The same goes for the 2008 Ryan Ludwick. His best OPS+ season since then is 105, which is pretty much replacement level performance. I guess you can’t really say Patterson and Taveras reached replacement level output since their career years.
I keep having this recurring nightmare in which Ludwick gets over 500 ABs and is wearing a vintage 1982 Paul Householder jersey. It always ends with Dusty saying “Ludwick’s due . . He’s coming around. . . He’s a veteran and knows how to play the game.”
Any advice?
the great thing is we can all “guess” at what he will do, but in the end it doesn’t matter because Dusty is going to use him as he sees fit and the player will have his chance to prove or disprove his ability…
Your morning dose of crazy from Dusty: Baker said it was his call that put Hanigan in the catching rotation.
“I remember when I first got here — that was part of my job to analyze what I thought of this guy or that guy,” Baker said. “He was one of the guys who paid most attention. He was one of the guy who knew most of the answers. He was one of the guys who knew the signs. He was a grinder.”
“Sometimes, it’s nice to have a fresh set of eyes from the outside. Case in point, he wasn’t real high on the depth chart. There were some people that weren’t very high on Joey Votto.
“I had to make a decision on Joey over (Scott) Hatteberg, which wasn’t easy because I had Hatteberg as a kid. Then I had make a decision between Hanigan and David Ross.”
Yep, that’s Dusty, on the cutting edge. I half expected him to take credit for inventing the internet.
That picture on the Enquire’s website with Rolen, Ludwick, and Mr. C makes reminds me there really are a lot of former Cardinals on this team.
@Sultan of Swaff: Love the Hanigan comment. I guess it was someone else’s call to play Bako 100 games that year.
The decision to play Votto over Hatteberg was about as hard for Baker as the decision to play Phillips over Valaika at 2B this year.
Did anyone see the slide show in The Enquire’s website that has the picture “Wanted, Real GM”. The person who put it together reads this website. See you if can figure out how I figured that out?
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=AB&Dato=20120215&Kategori=SPT04&Lopenr=202150806&Ref=PH
“He has action on this team.” Does that means he runs the locker room dice game, or some of the staff owe him money?
I feel a soon-to-be overused comment in the game threads coming on…..
Probably just spring optimism, but I have a feeling Ludwick will hit better than we think.
In a different article Ludwick talked about how he grew up as a Reds fan and always wanted to play for the Reds, is thrilled it’s finally happening. I like that.
@preach: Right, “He has action on this team” is a Dusty quote that will not soon be forgotten.
“I have no idea what “(h)e has action on this team” means, but I don’t listen to as much jazz as Dusty Baker.”
@TC: I’m guessing has to be … “How will Chris Carpenter explain this to his son?”
“…” is dating Dusty Baker’s daughter was definitely a meme around here too.
“he has action on this team” is probably the best Bakerism since “he needs to marinate a bit more on the bench” from a couple years back.
I was reading about the steroid era and found out that supposedly greg vaughn came over to cincy from SD and juiced all the reds up in 99, so basically the one good year the reds had during my youth was due to steroids……Jay Bell was hitting 35 HRs back then! so obvious! lol……………..the only reason i’m bringing this up is because i can’t help but think a little HGH wouldn’t turn luddy into a beast again in 2012!
what a fraud team the 2001 d-backs were! jeeze, everyone bashes on barry bonds so hard, that WHOLE 2001 d-backs team was more than likely on juice! go and look at the stats,! unreal!
“We’ll see if he is the same Ludwick,” Baker said. “Or Ludwick revisited. He’s done it. He’s hit left-handers well, [it helps] especially on days I want to split up [Jay] Bruce and Votto.”
Wait… split up Bruce and Votto. Bruce may actually hit cleanup behind Votto? Who’s managing the Reds? Who ever he is he’s not following the Baker Rules.
@TC: In other words, he’s going to do it EVERY day.
@zab1983: Interesting, I wondered why Vaughn was such a great influence. So many players on the ’99 team had career years: Eddie Taubensee, Pokey Reese, Sean Casey, several pitchers.
Can’t imagine Casey taking steroids though.