M Baseball hires Brandon Inge as coach

Submitted by Yo_Blue on January 30th, 2021 at 11:01 AM

Erik Bakich has hired ex-Tiger Brandon Inge as a coach and Steve Merriman as Pitching Coach.  Merriman was the pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies minor league programs and was the UM Pitching Coach back in 2002.  The hires were announced on Friday and a press conference will be held probably on Monday.

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mgoblue0970

January 30th, 2021 at 12:17 PM ^

Serious question... folks self-policing the quality of the forum are Nazis?

I'd suggest some of these dupe posts which gets people worked up are because the topic hasn't fallen off the page yet, the OP gets called out on the dupe, and (lazily) replies with "I didn't see it" -- even though their dupe is literally 2 or 3 below their post.

I appreciate the enthusiasm folks have to create content and be first but at the same time too, there's {implied} standards here, right?

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 18648

RAH

January 30th, 2021 at 1:26 PM ^

There is little correlation between the ability to physically play a sport and the ability to coach it. In fact, there may be a reverse correlation. Many, maybe most, quality coaches were mediocre players. (Local baseball examples that come immediately to mind: Jim Leyland, Sparky Anderson) Many great players have been terrible at coaching. Possibly because they had elite level natural ability and they didn't have the experiences in learning that people lacking that level of natural ability go through. 

Joined: 02/23/2018

MGoPoints: 7609

rob f

January 30th, 2021 at 3:56 PM ^

Lol, we're in even more trouble then! Inge was in the starting lineup a lot more than he was a bench warmer.

My original comment, though, was mostly based on the painful memory of Inge being one of very few players in the history of the All Star Home Run Derby competition to go homerless.

https://www.mlive.com/tigers/2009/07/brandon_inge.html 

Joined: 11/11/2010

MGoPoints: 195022

KO Stradivarius

January 30th, 2021 at 2:35 PM ^

Look, I’m not a big fan of him as a player and was as frustrated as anyone by his waves at outside breaking balls, but dude hit 152 home runs, was an All Star, played 12 yrs in the bigs on 3 teams, was a defensive whiz, a catcher earlier in his career, and was a stand up guy. Seems like he may have something to offer as a coach even if he whiffed a lot and had a .233 career average.  I would've given my left nut for a baseball career like that. 

Joined: 12/16/2014

MGoPoints: 30662

LSAClassOf2000

January 30th, 2021 at 2:56 PM ^

I remember reading this news back around New Years and here's my problem - looking at Inge's career, I really don't want our players to learn how to hit .185 for the season. I think we could do far better than that, thank you very much. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130663

MJG

January 30th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^

Exactly. Ted Williams once said he was able to see the ball change shape during the split second it hit his bat. You can’t coach that ability. 
 

Give me a guy who’s had to try damn near everything just to be an okay hitter as a coach any day of the week. 

Joined: 08/29/2011

MGoPoints: 3535

Goggles Paisano

January 30th, 2021 at 3:28 PM ^

It is old news, but I forgot.  So thanks for posting again.  My 10 and 14 year old boys are coached by a former major league player and the amount of knowledge these guys have in playing the game right is priceless.  

Joined: 07/30/2011

MGoPoints: 41232