Hitting coach/offensive psychologist

Baseball Digest, August, 2008 by Adam McCalvy

THE JOB OF A MAJOR LEAGUE HITTING COACH IS, OF COURSE, TO TEACH HITTING. BUT IN the worst of times, like the Brewers experienced early in the season, it's also to play a role as an offensive psychologist.

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The Brewers' Jim Skaalen finds himself doing more and more of the latter.

"It's the ongoing effort of trying to keep guys from feeling like there's more going wrong than there is," said Skaalen, in his third season as the team's hitting coach and his ninth season as a coach in the organization.

"Little things go wrong in hitters' swing, usually timing based, and then everything feels like it's off," he said. "They compound it by worrying and asking me, 'What are you seeing?' That's the daily struggle or the daily routine."

The Brewers lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Red Sox last May, despite producing nine hits in each game. They were 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position.

Through June 1, the Brewers ranked 12th among 16 National League teams with a .250 batting average and 12th with 238 runs scored.

Skaalen has worked with a number of Milwaukee's young players for years, since he spent 2000-06 as the organization's roving minor league hitting instructor. He has been a manager or coach since 1982 after ending a three-year minor league playing career in Baltimore's chain.

In his three years of active duty, Skaalen batted .246 with 15 home runs and 123 RBI in 251 games.

'I was not a successful player, and the main reason I wasn't was because of these (mental) things," Skaalen said. "When something went wrong with my swing, I felt like there was something terminal going on that I couldn't fix. Looking back on it, it was some real minor stuff.

"That's what I keep reminding these guys. Don't make too much of things. Sometimes you're just a millisecond off from getting in a hitting position."

Brewers manager Ned Yost was asked how he thinks Skaalen is hanging in there.

"He's working his tail off," Yost said. "You just work at it every single day. He's part hitting coach, part psychologist, part everything. You just continue to work hard at it, stay positive and encouraging."--Adam McCalvy, MLB.com