Chris Young needs new approach at the plate

Looking closely at Chris Young's numbers so far this year, it's interesting to note the trends being seen through the first month. The obvious stats are walks and punchouts. He currently has 16 base on balls and 34 strikeouts. 16 is good....34 is awful. If we extrapolate that out over a season (we're now 26 games into the season, so not terribly early to project yet), 16 turns into 99 and 34 turns into 211. His numbers last year were 43 walks and 141 K's.

So, he's definitely being more patient at the plate, but he's frankly swinging right through the pitches he's trying to hit. His average is at .225 compared to last year's .237, but his additional walks have pushed up his OBP from .295 last year to .336 this year. His power is good with 6 dingers and 13 RBIs isn't too shabby.

So, what's going on here? How can Young reduce his strikeouts and get that average up where it needs to be? Right now I don't see him doing anything to change his approach. I think he needs to shorten up his swing a bit (I know....they always say not to have a young hitter change his approach...but...) in order to make more contact. He's got good speed, so if he can simply put the ball in play more often, he's definitely going to raise his BA and OBP.

It's simply not acceptable to have your center fielder hitting this close to the Mendoza Line for a prolonged period of time. I think it's in the team's best interest to sacrifice a bit of power for fewer punchouts and better on base percentage. Since he is such a potent lead-off power threat, let him take his hacks early in the count. But, after that, shorten up a tad and concentrate on putting the ball in play or looking for a walk. I know...I'm no hitting coach...just a guy trying to pass on some free and mostly useless advice ;-)