Frank Menechino Named White Sox Hitting Coach

(SOURCE)

The Chicago White Sox have named Frank Menechino as the club’s new hitting coach.

Menechino, 48, spent last season in the same capacity with Class AAA Charlotte, his first as a coach in the organization. Under his guidance in 2019, the Knights led the International League in runs scored (792), ranked second in on-base percentage (.352), slugging percentage (.472) and OPS (.824) and third in home runs (208).

Got a few Sox fans bitching about this hire because it’s “from within the organization”.  Let’s make this clear right off the bat – this is NOT that.  Menechino has only been coaching within the organization for one year as Charlotte’s hitting coach after ascending in the ranks with the Yankees and Marlins prior.  So this isn’t the prototypical “stay within the family” move Sox fans loathe.

I will say this: I’ve talked to a few players in both Charlotte and Chicago this summer about Menechino.  They all swear by the guy.  They love working with him and say he knows the ins/outs of hitting mechanics like no other, but love how he teaches the art of hitting in particular.  Works on a microlevel opposed to macrolevel.  And that’s a hitting coach’s number 1 priority: to teach a hitter how to approach an at bat, not necessarily swing a bat.  They’re psychologists.

To get a look into his philosophy, watch this video of him breaking down Giancarlo Stanton during a slump back when they were both employed by the Marlins:

I really love a few things in here:

1. He doesn’t try to make hitters operate outside their comfort zone as far as stances, mechanics, etc. are concerned.  As in, it’s not his way or the highway.  It’s uncomfortable facing 97MPH Chris Sale fastballs coming from a 3/4 arm slot.  Whatever stance you’re most comfortable with, stick to it.  Don’t make yourself more uncomfortable than you’re already going to be just because that’s what the book says to do.

I talked to Adam Engel about this yesterday.  This is word for word what he told me:

Frank spends a lot of time studying guys’ swings throughout their work and video of competitive at bats.  Once he knows how you tick he’s hyper focused on keeping you in a place where he knows you have your best chance at success.  Being in the cage is as challenging, if not more challenging, than the pitching you’re about to see at game time.  I’ve never left the cage feeling more prepared than when Frank and I are working.  He’s a truly a master at developing a plan for every hitter he works with. 

Key words: developing a plan.  As in a plan of how to attack a pitcher.  He didn’t say working on snapping hands through the zone or driving his back leg through the ball.  MLB players already know how to do that.  What they are always working on is approach, approach, approach.

Engel got off to a really slow start in 2019 offensively and was sent to Charlotte to work things out.  Here are his numbers after getting recalled and working with Menechino.

Those numbers absolutely play when you have the glove and speed that Engel does.  He looked great the last two months of the season.  Shout out Frank for the development plan and shout out Adam for buying into it.   Just a little case study for yous.  Little bit o’ empirical evidence to pair with Stanton, Yelich, and more.

Now this is conjecture, but it seemed like the previous regime operated with a “here’s our philosophy, now go do it” type approach.  Tried to fit square pegs into round holes by forcing their philosophies down the hitters’ throats.  That doesn’t work, as every single player possesses a different skillset and no two players have the same approach.  That’s archaic.

Menechino?  He’ll work with 12-13 hitters and have different philosophies for each of them.  The video above is a great example of how he worked with one of the premier power hitters in the game on a 1 on 1 basis.

2. “we have to take our walks”.  THANK YOU.  And that’s what we’re going to talk about next.

I love this quote right here as well:

A FUCKING MEN!  Last year The White Sox had a 6.3% walk rate which was dead last in baseball.  Not good! But Abreu (once resigned), Anderson, Eloy, Robert, etc. don’t need to go into 2020 with the goal of walking more.  NOT AT ALL.  Looking for walks is playing to “not lose” instead of playing to win.  White Sox hitters need to enter 2020 with more fine tuned approaches.  Really hone their abilities to hit strikes and lay off balls.  Walks will come if this occurs.

Easy enough right? Durrrr.  Well the previous regime stressed for its hitters to “touch it” aka just make contact as much as possible.  Be free swingers.  That regime’s methods were so so so antiquated.  Make contact, put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense.  Fuck outta here with that nonsense.  That mind set will cause hitters to chase way more than they should.  That results in Ks, weak contact, and low offensive output.

Menechino sounds as if he’s the opposite. He stresses that hitters should attack their pitches instead of chasing pitches just for the sake of making contact.  If/when this happens, it will be a great breath of fresh air.

We’ll see whether or not it pays dividends, but I really love this hire.