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I could care less of Walker stays or goes. If he affects players hitting as much as everyone thinks he does than wouldn’t hitting coaches be paid alot more than they are, at least compared to the hitters whose performance they are responsible for?

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While I’m not convinced that Greg Walker is terrible hitting coach, neither am I convinced he is a bad hitting coach. The players the coach has to work with clearly has a huge impact on the numbers they put up. Greg Walker took over as the White Sox hitting coach in 2003 so it helps to take a look at a few key statistics and the key players involved with those teams.

One Note, for Key Offensive Players I include top the players in terms of overall production, runs scored being the primary factor. Conversely, Key Un-Offensive Players include players with the lowest runs scored.

2004
Runs Scored – 3rd in the AL
Average – 8th in the AL
Slugging – 3rd in the AL
Key Offensive Players – Konerko, Thomas, Rowand, Lee, Maggz
Key Un-Offensive Players – Borchard, Valentine

The 2004 White Sox had a very powerful line-up that lead the league in Home Runs. Considering the team that Walker had to work with, I think he did a good job in 2004.

2005
Runs Scored – 9th in the AL
Average – 11th in the AL
Slugging – 7th in the AL
Key Offensive Players – Konerko, Dye, Everett, Pods
Key Un-Offensive Players – Crede, AJ

The 2005 White Sox was an inferior offensive team and most of us already knew that. The loss of Maggz and Lee would hurt any team’s run scoring ability so the decline in offensive categories shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. Is Greg Walker to blame for the 05 White Sox offensive struggles? Possibly, but given the players he has to work with, I would disagree.

2006
Runs Scored – 3rd in the AL
Average – 4th in the AL
Slugging – 1st in the AL
Key Offensive Players – Konerko, Dye, Thome, Crede
Key Un-Offensive Players – Anderson/Mack, AJ

The 2006 White Sox were a very good offensive club, aided by career years by Dye and Crede, and to a lesser extent, Konerko. I think the 2006 White Sox offense was boosted by Jim Thome’s presence. I give Greg Walker some credit for Crede’s emergence this year and Greg Walker deserves kudos for this team.

2007
Runs Scored – 14th in the AL
Average – 14th in the AL
Slugging – 12th in the AL
Key Offensive Players – Konerko, Thome, Dye
Key Un-Offensive Players – Luis Terrero and Jerry Owens(I can’t bear to mention any other names)

How the mighty have fallen. The 2007 White Sox was just flat out terrible. Greg Walker gets an F for this team.

2008
Runs Scored – 5th in the AL
Average – 11th in the AL
Slugging – 2nd in the AL
Key Offensive Players – Dye, Thome, TCQ
Key Un-Offensive Players – Konerko (injury), Alexei

The 2008 White Sox lead the league in Home Runs, despite having an ineffective Konerko for most of the year. This team was just like we remember it, always swinging for the fences. For a Top 5 offense, Greg Walker did his part arguably.

2009
Runs Scored – 12th in the AL
Average – 13th in the AL
Slugging – 11th in the AL
Key Offensive Players – Podsednik, Konerko, Beckham, First-Half Dye
Key Un-Offensive Players – Getz, CF, Second-Half Dye, TCQ (injury), Rios

Losing a 2008 MVP candidate hurts a team significantly from the offensive standpoint. In addition, the CF draining players of any offensive capability, and Josh Fields struggling to hit a major league fastball. A poor year for Walker but there were a lot of young players plus TCQ’s injury.

To summarize, 2004, 2006, 2008 were good offensive years, 2005 was mediocre, 2007 and 2009 were terrible offensive years. As for Greg Walker’s influence using my very basic analysis? Inconclusive. Players can make a hitting coach look really good, or really bad, so I don’t take too much into this story. I do think the 2010 team should be a good offensive team. Why? Because every other year the Sox have a good offensive season. We’ll see how it holds up.

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I have no doubt that Walker would excel in another position and that one of the dozens of minor league hitting instructors knows how to make hitters better at OBP and situational hitting.

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That’s what always got on my nerves about Swisher, and probably what got on the Sox’s nerves. KW and Ozzie value hard work and a refusal to give up. That’s why they dumped Swisher, but keep Greg Walker. My dad used to say that there’s no point in bragging. It makes you look stupid if you can’t back it up, and it’s unnecessary if you can. Swisher never seemed to get that.

As for Lee, I agree he was brilliant and pithced with supreme confidence. If I were the Yankees, though, I’d be pissed at the too-casual catch, which seemed designed to show them up. I suppose there’s a fine line between getting into your opponent’s head, and just being arrogant. Lee backed it up last night, so nobody can really say anything.

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