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Anyone notice what Hawpe has been doing lately?

Baseball 11 May 2011

Just a quick observation: Has anyone noticed what Brad Hawpe has been somewhat quietly doing with the bat over the past 2 weeks?

He is hitting .340 (16/47), with 5 doubles, 1 HR, 5 RBI, and 6 runs scored.

Is he still slumping? Stay hot, Brad!

Scan

14 Comments

Shawn Richter via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 9:37 pm

not 100% sure, but how much 1B has he played at the ML level? I thought I had heard that it was his ‘original position’ but I always remember him playing OF in Colorado. Do you think that the nervousness of playing 1B could have hurt his hitting early on?

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Bob Scanlan via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 9:45 pm

He played 1B throughout college and minor leagues, but there was some guy name Helton blocking him in big leagues at colorado so they moved him to OF to get his bat in the lineup. Moving back to first has been a challenge at times, but I think simply getting regular at bats, which he did not get all of last year, is as important as anything to his getting back to his hitting ways that produced ALl-Star numbers in COL.

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Tony Blanchette via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 9:46 pm

He has seemed a little more relaxed at the plate with a more fluid swing. His defense at first still leaves a lot to be desired.

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Raymon Garcia via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 9:47 pm

I have noticed that. I think with more playing time he will keep it up. I would like to see him play first and try to get at least two more OF bats. LudWack hanst been keeping up his bat.

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Shawn Richter via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 9:48 pm

So do you buy into the whole “playing out of position on defense affects hitting” theory? I never have, but then again i’ve never played anything above slow pitch softball.

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Greg Johnson via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 9:59 pm

Better? Yes… Still not good? Yes….

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Joshua Bowen via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 10:02 pm

Also, Headley did hit .320 with 20 HR’s and 100+ RBI’s in the minors the year before he got to the big leagues. So yes, he can hit. But the position change to LF is what I believe slowed down his progress.

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Nate Zack via Facebook
May 11, 2011 at 10:28 pm

quietly indeed. I think alot of fans want to see him get that big hit/rbi/hr in a real critical moment. But it has been good to see his bat coming around. I cant remember how he said it exactly, but Jed Hoyer was talking about it this morning. Had the slump been in the middle of the season it would have gone unnoticed

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Karen Lynn Ritchie-Rose via Facebook
May 12, 2011 at 5:08 am

NOT a moment too soon…

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William Bibaeff via Facebook
May 12, 2011 at 5:51 am

I didn’t notice, so thanks for pointing it out, Scan. Been nice to see the Padres offense finally uncork and produce in the Brewers series, but if you look at today’s San Diego U-T (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/11/padres-brew-rout-23-hits/) , several Padres hitters, especially Ludwick, have got Petco Park in their head again as a reason for not hitting.

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Donald Arthur via Facebook
May 12, 2011 at 8:04 am

He can smell that Rocky Mountain air getting near what hitter in the MLB doesn’t get excited about Coors Field especially ones that have spent most of their career as a Rock! Hopefully the Pads can figure out their past struggles and take care of business against Rockies. We don’t usually show up against them

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Byron Lovelace via Facebook
May 22, 2011 at 3:37 pm

good thing this is an old post.

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