The Dave Hudgens Hitting Philosophy: Get On Base

Adam Rubin caught up with Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens and asked him about, well, hitting:

"Mechanically, it's an individual thing. Everybody's a little bit different, although most good hitters do a lot of things similar. I think phillosophy-wise, if you want to put a word on it, we've got to get on base. Whether that's taking pitches, or whether it's getting walks, or whether it's hitting, you've got to get on base to score runs. You just want guys to have a good, solid approach -- a good plan."

What a novel approach. So the key to good hitting isn't the ability to bunt a runner to second? Duly noted.

Yes, getting on base is pretty important. The currency of baseball is the out, after all, and you want to hoard your outs—stick them under the mattress if you have to. Whatever you do, don't invest them in some crazy bunt-related Ponzi scheme. Sure, on paper the returns look pretty great, but things will go south quickly if you keep bunting your outs away like that.