“Building Around Evan And Protecting Him”
February 27th, 2016
Hitting coach Derek Shelton speaks
Embattled Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton is all pumped up.
And it’s not just because of the radical philosophy change blessed by the Rays‘ front office.
Well, maybe it is. But Shelton says publicly that he’s gushing over the hitting talent he hasn’t experienced since being hired by Tampa Bay after the 2009 season, so he told WDAE-AM 620 at FanFest.
“When you start to see [Brad] Miller, and you see [Corey] Dickerson and you see LoMo [aka Logan Morrison] … and you see that lineup that we always talked about building around Evan [Longoria] and protecting him and the year [Logan] Forsythe had,” Shelton said. “So, yeah, I’m excited. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited on February 27. I can tell you that.”
Joe still needs to see plenty from all of these question mark new additions before getting too excited, but hopes and dreams are what spring training is all about.
Shelton went on to say the Rays have been deficient in their quantity of left-handed hitters for years, and he is fired up to see what a good complement will be like in the middle of the lineup.
Can’t argue with that.
February 29th, 2016 at 4:43 pm
I’ve always thought that the Rays’ hitting issues were much more a case of just not having very many good hitters on the roster, rather than an issue with Shelton. The Rays have always been a defense-first team, and I think that’s the way to go if you’re forced to make a choice. The sad fact is, there just aren’t that many solid defensive guys that are also solid offensive guys that can be had in the Rays’ price range. We’ve rarely had more than a couple of them on the roster at a time.