Reading the philosophy of the Blue Jays new hitting coach David Popkins who completely transformed their offense and it’s the total opposite of the Yankees coaching approach

22 comments

  1. The Yanks are all about getting every one to do the same thing, which is focus on the three true outcomes.

    Last year the Twins with David Popkins were 10th in k rate and 13th in avg. This year they dropped to 14th and 22nd.

    The Jays were 6th in k rate last year and 19th in avg. This year with Popkins they’re #1 in both.

    He got huge bounce back seasons from every guy who was struggling in their line up last year, like Springer, Kirk, Bo and Varsho.

    Hal spends up to the cap every season and nothing changes with the same stooges in charge. At this point I’d even prefer they spend on revamping the org than spending on a star player. You could probably poach a guy like Popkins for less than a few million a year. Hell you could guarantee you get a guy like that if you offer him a managing gig but we all know they’ll never let go of Boone.

  2. Yankees had the number one offense in the league during the regular season. At some point the players need to show up and get hits in the clutch

  3. the jays are winning because they have 8 homers to our 1, im so sick of the put the ball in play bs you win with power can we stop acting like toronto is cleveland they hit homers too

  6. 1) How many home runs do the Blue Jays have in this series compared to the Yankees?

    2) The Yankees scored the most runs in baseball this year. They gotta show up. Period.

  7. Yankees and Blue Jays finished the season with the exact same record (for what it’s worth)

  8. Can we stop acting like hitting coaches are like offensive coordinators in football and actually make a difference in teams being good at hitting? How many hitting coaches has this team hired and fired since 2009?

  9. The #1 thing in my mind are the strikeouts. Both teams have roughly the same amount of plate appearances with RISP. The Yankees have a 22.1% k rate with RISP (2nd worst) and the Blue Jays have a 17.7% k rate with RISP (2nd best).

  10. It’s the same approach that Judge has adopted — not trying to hit home runs every time up every pitch. G is also doing that. Rice is moving toward that. Belli has always been about that. The OP seems to be thinking this year’s team is like teams past — trying to mash everything. It’s not true.

  11. Everyone that says “batting average doesn’t matter” needs to take a hard look at this.

  12. More runs scored this year by the Yankees than any other team in baseball. 51 more runs than the Jays.

  14. Also worth mentioning regarding “the Yankees have the best offense in the league this year”…it feels like nearly every time the Yankees put on a home run derby 1 – it’s against a shitty team and 2 – the next day there is always a clip of Jazz on 2nd like a wacky wavy tube man telling people when to swing lol. Against good teams where the pitcher ain’t giving out freebies and the defense ain’t giving out freebies, the Yankees are a different team.

  15. When you live and die by the long ball you will have times especially against good or great pitchers that the ball doesn’t leave the park. If you’re the Brewers you don’t care and the Jays also don’t care. HRs to them are a bonus not the plan. The Yankees have one plan. And that plan is now facing solid pitching

  18. The Yankees have the best hitter in baseball, in fact one of the best hitters in baseball ever.

    Any lineup they make is going to try to maximize Judge, either by getting him more PAs or having him drive in runs or both.

    Any offense that doesn’t revolve around Judge when he’s on the team is just silly and non-serious.

    And since this July the Yankees have run more than any other team in MLB, that’s a whole other dimension.

  19. Once the postseason comes – philosophy doesn’t matter. It’s all about execution. A lot goes into it, like being able to shorten a swing, hunting for a pitch, being adaptable, and having a high contact rate.

    But one thing I’ve noticed – the last few good teams that have played us tough: 2019 Astros, 2024 Dodgers, and now 2025 Blue Jays. One thing they all have in common is their pitch-type splits. Every one of them could square up a 95+ fastball, and have good/high contact rate on breaking pitches relative to other teams.

    Meanwhile this year’s Yanks team can handle 95+ on elevated fastballs and are just plain bad vs breaking pitches.

    They feast on mistakes rather than winning that chess match between hitter and pitcher. And come playoff time – mistakes become less and less.

  21. man must have the magic stick, got the exact same team as last year slugging out of their minds. bluejays also had one player with more than 20 home runs last year, way more this year.

  22. Is this guy the modern day charles Lau who george Wilbur  Brett credited with having a brilliant  mlb career, and not one in construction where Mr Brett was headed with his 200 BA prior to Mr Lau’s appearance in kc.  

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