Richard Schenck, the private hitting coach for Yankees power hitter Aaron Judge, exudes confidence, and rightfully so. He successfully transformed Judge from a rookie with a striking 50% strikeout rate into one of the premier hitters and sluggers in the game. However, he is not happy with the Yankees organization, who have never sought his advice.
On “The Bronx Pinstripes Show” podcast, it becomes evident that Schenck doesn’t entertain any room for uncertainty. When asked about his hitting philosophy, centered on the concept of “launch quickness,” he asserts that there are no other effective hitting mechanics. In essence, this philosophy aims to eliminate the brief pause between a hitter’s decision to swing and the actual execution of the swing.
A critic of analytics, an area of focus for the Yankees
He also came down heavily of analytics, which has led to a lot of criticism of the Yankees. He referenced traditional hitting metrics such as batting average, RBIs, on-base percentage, and OPS as the only factors he considers effective. In a somewhat mocking tone, he dismissed the significance of metrics like exit velocity, launch angle, rotation, acceleration, or time to contact – areas the Yankees are focused on – referring to them as irrelevant or insignificant in his view.
Schenck will also highlight his influence on Anthony Rizzo‘s swing, specifically adjusting it to enhance his ability to wait on pitches. This adjustment resulted in the Yankees player hitting 32 home runs in 2022 and maintaining a strong performance until a concussion disrupted his season last year. The Yankees’ first baseman returned to him to find his tune after losing steam in 2023.
Expressing surprise, Schenck mentions his astonishment that no team, including the Yankees, has reached out to him with a call asking, “What’s your approach?” He notes that the New York hitters frequently join Judge to watch and inquire about his methods. Despite James Rowson, the team’s new hitting coach, having a connection with Judge, Schenck confesses to being unaware of Rowson and his coaching style.
Schenck clarified that he had never personally encountered the individual in question nor engaged in any discussions with Judge regarding the Yankees’ new hitting coach. Schenck acknowledged that the person had recently transitioned from the Tigers, but his interactions with Judge were solely within the context of the Yankees. He recalled conversing with Judge about hitting coaches in the past, but the specific individual mentioned, Rowson, wasn’t associated with the Yankees during those discussions. Therefore, Schenck claimed to have no information or familiarity with Rowson.
However, Schenck expressed a reluctance to become a hitting coach within a team’s dugout. Instead, he suggested that if any organization sought his consultation to train their coaches from Single-A to Double-A and Triple-A across MLB teams regularly, he believed that team would become exceptionally strong offensively. He also holds the conviction that he possesses a strategy capable of fortifying a team’s pitching depth, including the Yankees.
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Well, let’s see, the Yankees have been god AWFUL at moving runners over, scoring a runner from third with less than two outs, and hitting in general since switching to their launch angle & exit velocity philosophy, along with their FAILED OBP philosophy, which led to disastrous trades like that for Gallo, etc.
Remember when Cashman bought into the MORONIC idea that Batting Average doesn’t matter, only OBP? Did any of you notice that you don’t hear ANYONE in baseball saying that Moronic BS anymore?
People, like myself, that said that philosophy was Stupid, were mocked for being old-time thinkers. But that old-time thinking is what got the Yankees 27 World Championships.
How often have we lost games this past year because Torres & company couldn’t get a #@*% single with a runner on third because they were swinging for the fences? Only two Yankee seemingly understood situational hitting the past two years: Judge & Rizzo.
Torres & all-to-many others seem clueless about the value of a single with runners in scoring position or the value of moving runners over with no outs. That’s how great teams won in the past before No-Nothing-Nerds like Cashman & his band of stat geeks decided they knew more about hitting than people like Aaron Judge, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, etc.
YES (pun intended), it’s time to return to old baseball philosophies about hitting, and Judge’s guru seems to have the right philosophy, not that Moron Cashman, who couldn’t hit or even see a 95 mph fastball–and Never Could!