Loretta; Structure, Mandatory Team Activities, Professionalism, Execution

Chicago Cubs bench coach, and a candidate to become the next manager, Mark Loretta was on 670 The Score’s Inside the Clubhouse. During the interview with Bruce Levine and Matt Spiegel, Loretta has quite a lot of things to say. A lot of them were very interesting and telling.

Loretta had some thoughts on what needed to be changed and emphasized several areas which I know many Cubs fans took issue with as well.

“We have three or four areas where we need to improve,” Cubs bench coach Mark Loretta said on Inside the Clubhouse on 670 The Score on Saturday. “We certainly had trouble in the bullpen early and late in the season. The defense, for sure, I think it could have been much better. On the offensive side, we struck out way too much.

“So those three areas for me are big concerns. I don’t think it’s an edge or concentration issue. I think we should look at how we practiced, check what our game planning was and things like that. We maybe need to make adjustments in those areas. I don’t think it’s about concentration or having an edge. This is not like football or basketball where you say you are going to get emotional and use that as an edge. It’s a fine line and hard to define.”

Loretta was also pressed about workouts as a team, as opposed to individual sessions.

“You do need your infielders out there as a group,” Loretta said. “Not every day but maybe a few times a week with four or five guys working together as a unit. We have had a lot of optional hitting practice and fielding practice. That’s something we should take a look at as well to see if that actually makes sense. There are certain training times when players need to be on their own. Team concept and team-building exercises and getting together in practice more often are very valid.”

Loretta also spoke to today’s players and likened them to millennial children, and how to help them excel in today’s game.

“I have young children at home who fall into that description and age grade in communication,” he said. “I think coaching in this day and age is a lot like parenting. I think kids and millennials need a certain amount of structure. They need a schedule. They are so used to that. Driven around here, travel ball games, showcase events over here, all this stuff. They crave a schedule. There may be some initial pushback, but they like to have it. If you give them too much free time, that can go haywire.”

Spiegel hit Loretta with the accountability question, something that some have suggested what missing.

“We are not saying it should be a military-style. I don’t think that’s the way to go. I do believe that structure and accountability mixed with relationships, love and fun. We want to have fun in this game. Our trainer Tim Buss is just fantastic in team-building and getting guys together to work and have a good time. We are still professionals, and the bottom line is we have to execute. The team that executes the most usually comes out on top.”

The last bit is what I feel is most important. Execution. Executing when you have the opportunity to execute. Passing the baton is important. Keeping the line moving is important. Taking advantage of the opportunity is also important.

The biggest shocker that came out of the conversation is when he spoke about launch angle. Theo Epstein has been very stringent on the fact that launch angle was not a trend, and it isn’t. But, and as I said in the past, you need to manipulate launch angle with a particular two-strike approach or situational approach. Spiegel and Loretta speak to it as manipulating the barrel.

“Joe [Maddon] talks a lot about your B-Hack, right. So what I think about is you have to have more than one club in your bag. You’re not going to use your driver on the whole course. Matt, you mentioned Anthony Rizzo, he’s tremendous at it. The best hitters out there, I think, teams should be looking for guys that can manipulate the barrel.

“I think hitting is about the hands, I talked to [Anthony] Iapoce and [Terrmel Sledge] Sledgie and I talked a lot about that. Guys like [Kyle] Schwarber and Rizzo, those guys, [Nicholas] Castellanos just to name a few, are guys that can manipulate the barrel. They can hit pitches in different locations.

“What you are seeing from kids coming up is this launch angle revolution where it’s a grooved swing, they pay too much attention about their swing. We’re not playing golf here, it’s not on a tee. It’s coming in at different angles at different speeds, spins, all that stuff. My focus is on hitting the ball, and hitting the ball is different than swinging at it.”

The thing with his idea is, and Loretta agreed (in essence) you need the personnel to do this. You can’t teach guys to be that type of hitter (you kinda can, but it takes a special talent that is very open-minded). I believe that you can absolutely believe in launch angle, but you have to be willing to play a team game when certain situations present themselves.

I know this is the big leagues, but I preach something to the little leaguers that I coach.

“You have three strikes for a reason. The first one is for your mama, cause your mama comes first. The next strike is for you. The third strike, it might be the most important strike. The third strike is for your teammates, cause you can’t let them down with a two-strike count.”