All Things Bubba

Paul Janish has really been struggling since the Reds sent him down to Louisville. He started out batting second, but lately has been dropped down to last. On Sunday, he had his best game with Louisville this season, going 1 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored. I hoped he was turning it around, but then I saw him in Monday's game. He was 0 for 3 with a walk, which isn't that bad.

(He's been walking a heck of a lot more since being sent down. He barely walked in spring training, despite having a walk rate over 10% in his minor league career. He was walking at less than 4% in the big leagues this year, but has rebounded to about 15% in AAA.)

Anyway, I saw part of Monday's game, via MiLB.TV. The Bats had been playing in Charlotte the previous series, and their camera work is dreadful. In fact, there is no camera work. They just have one camera, high behind home plate, that shows the whole field. The players are tiny, fuzzy blobs, you can't see the ball, and if all minor league games were like that, I'd demand my $10 back.

But on Monday, they moved on to play a series against the Gwinnett Braves, and Gwinnett has professional video coverage, like you might see at a Major League game, or close to it. I saw Janish at bat, and he looked...out of sync. I don't know how to describe it, because I'm not a coach or anything. But usually when a player is hitting well, he's focused on the ball. Seems like his entire body is locked on the pitch, with few extraneous movements. Janish was just kind of flailing. His head was moving a lot, he didn't seem to be following the ball all the way in, and everything just seemed uncoordinated.

It reminded me of when he was first called up to AAA. (I just happened to see him at a few games shortly after he was promoted. I had bought the tickets hoping to see Bubba Crosby play with the Bats, but he was on the DL. I went to the games anyway.) Janish looked so awkward at the plate back then, I wondered if he'd ever make the Big Leagues.

Of course, he figured it out eventually. I'm confident he'll eventually get out of his current funk...and he may have started tonight. He went 4 for 5 tonight, with a RBI and two runs scored. In one game, his batting average rose from .071 to .182. There was a lot of hitting in that game, to be sure, but Janish was the only one to get 4 hits.

Hope this means he's turning the corner.

Labels: Paul Janish