Mets’ Buck Showalter discusses his evolving managerial style
New Mets manager Buck Showalter is preparing for the upcoming season even amidst a lockout, and is ready to put his experience to good use.
Showalter, 65, is entering his 21st season as a MLB manager, but it’s been four years since he was relieved of his duties with the Baltimore Orioles. And while MLB teams are continuously evolving in the way they use analytics, Showalter is choosing to embrace it, albeit judiciously.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post spoke with Showalter in the Mets spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, FL where the skipper broke down what he needs to do as manager, which is to make the job easier for others, not tougher.
“The minutiae. I know what is minutiae and I know what is important,” Showalter said. “It’s an old thing, you are not paranoid. You are alert. I am alert to that.”
“You evolve,” Showalter said about his managing style. “There is a time to push. And there is a time to say, ‘There will be a better time to address that.’ … I hate the word anal [in describing attention to details from micro to macro]. Why are we doing that in that way? Everything has to be about how does this get us closer to being the last team standing?”
Showalter has always had impeccable attention to detail, but in this analytic-heavy current state of baseball, the front office often has as much, if not more, power than the managers. So his comments should come as a relief to Mets players after sources told SNY’s John Harper in January that hitters were so frustrated with the team’s analytical approach to batting that former manager Luis Rojas oftentimes found himself trying to fight for the players.
“[Rojas] knew the players were furious about it, that they felt they were being overwhelmed with information about what pitch to look for in this count, what not to look for in that count. He was constantly talking to certain guys, trying to get them out of their own heads. That’s why he started going to the hitters’ meetings and speaking up,” a source said of Rojas.
The hiring of former major leaguer Eric Chavez as the team’s hitting coach gives the Mets an experienced mind to not only imbue his experience to the current crop of players, but to translate the analytics into the game.
Will it work? It’s yet to be seen, but if Showalter’s comments are anything to go off of, he’ll know when and when not to sweat the small stuff.
Source: Yahoo Sports
