The Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher yesterday.
Lots of “oh, what a great guy” stuff out there, particularly from those in the sports journalism community.
And I say … bosh!
I found Mickey Hatcher to be an aggressively ignorant clod.
I realize that he has a reputation as a fun guy, a prankster, a jokester … but I never saw that. Ever. Just heard about it, and marveled at it.
All I knew of Mickey Hatcher, and we’re talking a dozen one-on-one interactions here, was that he was an uncooperative/surly guy who was just bright enough to know he wasn’t very bright, and was constantly on the lookout for perceived slights.
I was aware of him when he played for the Dodgers in the late 1980s, of course. But I think my first dealings with him were during his short time as manager of the San Bernardino Stampede in 1998. I’m sure we saw it as a chance to go chat with a member of the 1988 World Series champions, be regaled by the stories of this lovable hick … but the man was uncooperative all along.
I don’t recall any blowups (I don’t do blowups), and it might not have been about me, when he gave me a bad time a few years later. Maybe it was just being reminded that he had been the manager of a really bad Single-A baseball team.
I approached him numerous times, while he was with the Angels, for background on stories or columns, often thinking “must have been something weird, the last time I tried to talk to him, and I’m sure it will be fine this time” … but he inevitably jerked me around.
Childish stuff, like “I didn’t say that.” Or, “says who?” Or, “I can’t tell you that.” He was flip, and I could see that he was pleased with himself for being thoroughly rude/unhelpful.
More than once I walked away searching my memory, racking my brain. “I must have done something to that guy, or written something cutting” … and I just couldn’t recall it.
Over time, I decided it was him, not me.
The measure of Mickey Hatcher was his persistently out-of-touch style as a hitting coach. Boiled down, it was this: “See a pitch … hack at it.”
It led to Angels teams that often had below-average on-base percentages. And this in an era where “everyone” pretty much had agreed that OBP is a very important statistic, because getting somebody to first base means you are far more likely to score a run. But Mickey Hatcher never coached “working the count” or “take a walk” because he didn’t believe in it.
I can remember having discussions on this with Mike Scioscia in his office at Anaheim Stadium.
“What can you do about getting the team OBP up?”
“I’m not sure it’s that important.”
“You don’t think getting more guys to first base is important?”
“I think situational hitting is more important.”
And like that.
And it perplexed me because Mike Scioscia is a very bright guy.
What I never quite figured out was whether Scioscia agreed, from Day 1, with Mickey Hatcher’s “see ball, hit ball” approach, or whether Mickey Hatcher talked him around to it.
Either way, it was dead wrong, and after two years of soft Angels batting stats, the club has nearly bottomed out with the sticks this year, led by Albert Pujols, the $240 million man with one home run in six weeks.
The Angels are better for Mickey Hatcher being gone. The new guy, promoted from Triple-A, has to be better because he couldn’t be as bad, or worse, than the thin-skinned, dopey-and-proud-of-it guy the Angels have been stuck with for a decade.
Good guy? Fun guy?
Uh, no. He was a jerk, was a jerk for years, and liked being a jerk. And he was a bad batting coach, too. Does that about cover it?
5 responses so far ↓
1 chris pepper // May 17, 2012 at 4:05 PM
So the guy didn’t give you a story. That’s why he’s the batting coach and not the manager. He was the batting coach the year the Angels set club records for most offensive categories. He coached MVP winner and a multiple play off teams and a WS team. Not sure how he’s to blame for Pujols choking the first six weeks of a season.
F You for writing this piece. Kick a guy on the way out. I never met Mickey Hatcher but if practically every guy on the Angels roster liked the guy who are you to say otherwise.
2 R.Munkee // May 17, 2012 at 6:41 PM
You were doing pretty well with me, until you uttered “Mike Scioscia is a very bright guy.” I’ll have to strongly disagree with that comment.
Of course I don’t have your personal history of getting to meet these guys one on one, but from MY observation point, I see things this way.
Mike Scioscia WAS a pretty bright guy, when he had Joe Maddon and Bud Black on either side. Since they departed, a more “real” Mr. Scioscia has – again, in my opinion – been exposed to be an unimaginative, pretty dull, extremely predictable, kind of guy.
Such an exposure COULD be interpreted that Mike just might NOT have been the brains, for their collective years in the dugout.
For the past few years, especially, when pressed with a “what would Maddon do in this situation?” and then does the exact opposite, because he thinks he’s smarter than Joe, to which I’ll remark – “No, you’re not, Mike.”
3 hahaha // May 18, 2012 at 11:22 AM
You’re right. He was the batting coach when the Angels set club records for most offensive categories. However, tell one person from the system that actually developed into what was expected of him. That’s why being a great hitting coach constitutes teaching your hitters how to hit for long periods of time. One successful year is called a fluke. If you’re a great hitting coach that would translate to all years. Name me one player that actually met or even exceeded as a hitter? Remember Howie was the next batting champ (hasn’t hit above .300 since he’s been called up), Aybar was supposed to at least hit to .290 and get on base a lot (hasn’t happened), and so on. Unfortunately for Hatcher, he has not developed any of the young guys coming from our system to have any impact when they hit the ‘show’. I read everywhere that he worked tirelessly, wanting only the best for his hitters, but unless you are teaching them the correct thing about hitting and actually knowing what the problem is, then all those hours working with the hitter would be for nothing.
4 Richard Moore // Sep 22, 2012 at 5:57 PM
you look up and every man on the roster is hitting 300 and you give the credit to . . . ?
5 John // Dec 5, 2012 at 5:46 AM
I have met Mickey on many occasions what a great guy.He does now hitting and will be around for a long time.
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