Thoughts on Chad Tracy
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The Commish
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Down year? Then Tracy future bright
Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 8, 2006 12:00 AM
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If this is a down year for Chad Tracy, and the numbers seem to say it is, then neither he nor the Diamondbacks have a lot to worry about.
Tracy, who had a combined .297 average his first two years in the majors, has tapered off to a .277 pace this season.
His home runs are down sharply, from 27 last year to 16 in just nine fewer games this season.
On the plus side, Tracy has more walks (46) and doubles (35) than a year ago.
And his RBIs are almost identical, 72 in 145 games last year; 69 in 136 games this season.
The one seriously worrisome about Tracy's 2006 season, and he admits it, is his strikeouts. He has struck out 123 times this year, just 15 fewer than his first two seasons combined.
"Maybe it's a junior (year) jinx," Tracy said before Thursday game. "I don't know. I was a little more consistent last year. I don't know how to put a finger on it."
Could it be the opposition is pitching him differently?
"I'm definitely getting pitched differently," he said, nodding his head. "Hitter's counts I'm not seeing as many fastballs as I used to. But I think I'm just putting a little pressure on myself."
Manager Bob Melvin agrees that's a big part of the problem.
"The strikeouts are a concern," Melvin admitted. "I mean, you don't want to strike out as much as he has. " . . . It snowballs a little bit. It gets in your head a little bit. Now you try too hard not to strike out and it ends up working against you."
In his first two big league seasons, Tracy struck out once every 7.1 at-bats.
This season, Tracy is striking out once every 4.4 at-bats.
With three weeks left in the season, is there much Tracy can do to return to form?
"Not really," he said. "You play the three weeks. You can't really start working on something right now. I'll wait till the off-season and go back to the drawing board."
But Melvin doesn't figure Tracy needs to do a lot of erasing and redrawing.
"He is going to be and he is a nice player," Melvin said. "It's just a few things happened this year to him that kind of snowballed on him and I think it's affecting the overall numbers. But we still think he is going to be a heck of a player and he is a heck of a player.
"Offensively, you look at his numbers - not as good as last year. The RBIs are going to be pretty similar and more strikeouts, but it's not a horrible year by any stretch. And if that's a bad year for him, we'll move on and expect better things every other year."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0908dbackside0908.html
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Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 8, 2006 12:00 AM
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
If this is a down year for Chad Tracy, and the numbers seem to say it is, then neither he nor the Diamondbacks have a lot to worry about.
Tracy, who had a combined .297 average his first two years in the majors, has tapered off to a .277 pace this season.
His home runs are down sharply, from 27 last year to 16 in just nine fewer games this season.
On the plus side, Tracy has more walks (46) and doubles (35) than a year ago.
And his RBIs are almost identical, 72 in 145 games last year; 69 in 136 games this season.
The one seriously worrisome about Tracy's 2006 season, and he admits it, is his strikeouts. He has struck out 123 times this year, just 15 fewer than his first two seasons combined.
"Maybe it's a junior (year) jinx," Tracy said before Thursday game. "I don't know. I was a little more consistent last year. I don't know how to put a finger on it."
Could it be the opposition is pitching him differently?
"I'm definitely getting pitched differently," he said, nodding his head. "Hitter's counts I'm not seeing as many fastballs as I used to. But I think I'm just putting a little pressure on myself."
Manager Bob Melvin agrees that's a big part of the problem.
"The strikeouts are a concern," Melvin admitted. "I mean, you don't want to strike out as much as he has. " . . . It snowballs a little bit. It gets in your head a little bit. Now you try too hard not to strike out and it ends up working against you."
In his first two big league seasons, Tracy struck out once every 7.1 at-bats.
This season, Tracy is striking out once every 4.4 at-bats.
With three weeks left in the season, is there much Tracy can do to return to form?
"Not really," he said. "You play the three weeks. You can't really start working on something right now. I'll wait till the off-season and go back to the drawing board."
But Melvin doesn't figure Tracy needs to do a lot of erasing and redrawing.
"He is going to be and he is a nice player," Melvin said. "It's just a few things happened this year to him that kind of snowballed on him and I think it's affecting the overall numbers. But we still think he is going to be a heck of a player and he is a heck of a player.
"Offensively, you look at his numbers - not as good as last year. The RBIs are going to be pretty similar and more strikeouts, but it's not a horrible year by any stretch. And if that's a bad year for him, we'll move on and expect better things every other year."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0908dbackside0908.html
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