An Ex-Coach Offers Angels Some Advice

It’s interesting to read Kirk McCaskill’s comments (Sept. 17) about Angel hitters’ lack of “mental discipline” at the plate. This is a problem that became apparent early in the season and has resulted in many, many missed scoring opportunities all year.

As a former high school baseball coach, we used to teach that offense was scoring runs , not just hitting. The approach was: look for a particular pitch in a particular location; hit according to the count; have an idea of what pitch you handle best; use the whole field; and, most important, move runners.

In contrast, Angel hitters (Johnny Ray is a notable exception) generally seem to go up to the plate and just hack away. If the game was that easy, then batters who fail seven out of 10 times wouldn’t end up in Cooperstown, as they do now.

STEVE ELLIS, Santa Ana