Braves go to bat with Baylor

Ryan Klesko's swing starts in Kennesaw and ends in Conyers, which pretty much covers the territory from the northwestern edge to the southeastern fringe of greater metropolitan Atlanta.

So when he connects dead solid perfect with a baseball hurtling toward him at 90 mph or so, the angels run for cover from his rockets. Trouble is, he doesn't connect dead solid perfect as often as the Braves think he should. Klesko's swing, over the long haul of its magnificent arc, has more holes in it than Bill Clinton's defense strategy.

That's why Atlanta hired a new hitting coach. Clarence Jones is out. Don Baylor is in.

You might wonder why a team that won a clubrecord 106 games last season would switch hitting instructors. All the Braves did in 1998 was clobber more home runs (215) than any team in the 123 years of Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta franchise history. All the Braves did in '98 was score more runs (826) than in any season since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966. All they did was set a franchise record for total bases (2,483), tie a major league record by hitting home runs in 25 consecutive games and feature four players with at least 30 home runs (which had been done only five times).

Clearly, an offense with all those problems simply has to be fixed.

Kidding aside, this is why Atlanta is the most consistent and successful team of the decade.

Prosperity has never been enough for the Braves. They have never been so satisfied that they stand pat. Baylor will fix the few things wrong with their offense. The notion here is that he can do for Klesko what he did for Andres Galarraga, when Baylor was the hitting coach for the Cardinals seven seasons ago. In 1992, Baylor persuaded Galarraga to open his stance to such a degree that he almost directly faced the mound. That way, he could focus both eyes on the pitcher, the delivery and the ball.

In the last six seasons, Galarraga has averaged 36 home runs and 117 RBIs, despite several lengthy stays on the disabled list, and he has been below .300 only once. Last year, he hit .305 with 44 home runs and 121 RBIs. Now, he's reunited with Baylor, his manager for five years in Colorado. The best word to describe the potential in that pairing? Yikes!

Galarraga isn't what's wrong with the Braves' offense. Klesko is. Andruw Jones is. Even Javier Lopez and Bret Boone are. As strong as Bobby Cox's offense was in 1998, it lacked discipline at the plate. The Braves didn't want for power, but they were a middle-of-the-road team when it came to manufacturing runs. That cost them in the NLCS, when they scored a total of three runs in four losses to the Padres.

Galarraga, Jones and Michael Tucker (traded to Cincinnati) all hit triple figures in strikeouts. Boone is only a year and a half removed from a demotion to the minors for his insistence on a swing three times his size, and he has topped 100 in strikeouts in each of the past three seasons. Lopez, despite his power numbers, too often comes to the plate with the self-restraint of a toddler. Walt Weiss was the only non-pitcher with more than four sacrifice bunts on a team for which "moving the runner" meant watching Brian's Song.

Baylor will bring intensity to Atlanta. Nothin' against Clarence Jones, one of baseball's laid-back good guys. But you knew something wasn't quite right when Chipper Jones brought in his father to work with him during a slump rather than spend extra time with Jones.

Atlanta is going to be better than it was in '98, and it isn't just because of new players. Baylor will give the Braves a new, stronger, more balanced look.

Just what the rest of the N.L. needs, right?

CAGE MATCH

When you count the White Sox's move from Ron Jackson to Von Joshua in May and the Brewers' change from Lamar Johnson to Jim Lefebvre last August, there are 12 teams that will go to spring training next month with different hitting coaches than they employed a year ago. A third of baseball's 30 clubs have switched hitting coaches this offseason, an unusually high number for a year in which four teams changed managers. The lowdown on the new hitting hires:

Team         Old coach         New coach       Job No. 1

Orioles      Rick Down         Terry Crowley   Find hits in Charles
                                                 Johnson's bat.

Tigers       Larry Herndon     Alan Trammell   Coax more walks out
                                                 of speedy Brian
                                                 Hunter.

Royals       Tom Poquette      Lamar Johnson   Teach situational
                                                 hitting to
                                                 no-power lineup.

Twins        Terry Crowley     Scott Ullger    Equip Christian
                                                 Guzman to hit
                                                 above AA level.

A's          Denny Walling     Dave Hudgens    Keep teammates safe
                                                 from Miguel
                                                 Tejada's hacks.

Devil Rays   Steve Henderson   Leon Roberts    Improve worst
                                                 on-base percentage
                                                 in A.L.

Braves       Clarence Jones    Don Baylor      Train Ryan Klesko in
                                                 the art of hitting
                                                 lefties.

Marlins      Milt May          Jack Maloof     Reduce Alex
                                                 Gonzalez's vexing
                                                 home run swing.

Dodgers      Reggie Smith      Rick Down       Make Adrian Beltre
                                                 the hitter he
                                                 should be.

Cardinals    Dave Parker       Mike Easler     Don't tug on Big
                                                  Mac's Superman
                                                  cape.