07.10.2009 10:24 am

Welcome back, Ryan Ludwick

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: It appears Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick is starting to come out of his slump. Are you seeing any differences in Ludwick’s approach at the plate or is he simply returning to form?

BERNIE MIKLASZ
Ludwick is taking more pitches. He has drawn more walks. Clearly getting a better look at the ball and using the count in his favor. Even when he’s off on a pitch he’s fouling it off instead of swinging and missing. The timing is better. There is less air in his swing. And obviously his confidence must be growing. And as his 3-run homer off Todd Coffey showed, Ludwick is now able to handle fastballs from RH pitching again. That was a strength last season but for the first three months this season Ludwick was often overmatched against hard stuff from righthanders. But he’s doing damage again.

RICK HUMMEL
Ludwick appears to be swinging at fewer “pitchers’ pitches” and more of his own choosing by hitting ahead in the count. He still could finish with 25-plus homers and 90 RBI.

DERRICK GOOLD
Ludwick said a week ago that he felt he was getting closer because he was being more assertive with the one pitch he was getting to hammer. He may have fouled it off or lobbed it out to center — but he was recognizing it and wasn’t missing it. Now it looks like he’s driving it. He’s not quite returning to the form that carried him through 2008, but his swing is more productive and the power is starting to spike again. For the Cardinals, the best thing Ludwick can do is become more productive driving in runs and with runners on base because batting behind Albert Pujols there is often going to be at least one runner on base.

JEFF GORDON
He is fighting off more tough pitches than before. He is staying alive at the plate by fouling off pitches rather than whiffing at them. He is earning the opportunity to attack more mistake pitches. Little by little, he fought his away out of a pretty deep funk. If only Rick Ankiel and Chris Duncan could do the same …

DAN O’NEILL
Ludwick appears to be seeing the ball a little better, seems to be laying off pitches he was offering at before. But I wouldn’t be too excited. He’s hardly tearing the cover off the ball. If he continues the revival in Chicago over the weekend, the All-Star break couldn’t come at a worse time.

GERRY FRALEY
The decision to have Ludwick skip a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment before being activated looks worse by the day. Had Ludwick faced minor-league pitching for a few days, he would have returned on an upswing. By not taking a rehab assignment, Ludwick tried a cold start against major-league pitching. That does not work. It has taken him this long to get everything right.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
Some of Ludwick’s resurgence is simply the numbers finding sea level. While he may not be the hitter he was last season, he’s certainly better than his performance so far this season. Things were bound to level off. That said, Ludwick looks like he’s letting the ball get deeper in the hitting zone here in recent days and that’s keeping him from being fooled on pitches as much as he had been. The home run to right center the other day at Miller Park was a great sign and fastballs don’t seem to be giving him as much trouble either. I wouldn’t say he’s “back” to where he was last year but he is getting back to the point where he’s going to provide some support for Albert.

Tags: Albert Pujols, Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick, St. Louis Cardinals

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Blog Comments: Rules of the Road

He found his lucky silver dollar…it was jammed in the seat cushion of his car. Thankfully, he found it just in time to run smack-dab into top three division rivals. Wootwoot!

— BirdFanInBabylon

11:13 am July 10th, 2009

RL should be very cautious….if he get too prodductive, TL will bench him.

— tigerwill1

12:35 pm July 10th, 2009

Dan O’Neill, what does constitute “tearing the cover off the ball”?

Over the last 10 games Ludwick’s batting line
.297/.366/.568/.933
5 XBH, 9 RBI, 4 BB

— Craig

1:04 pm July 10th, 2009

Ludwick will probably settle out to an .850+ OPS guy. That’s more than enough to get the job done behind Albert. With the leadoff position being handled, and Rasmus covering the 2 hole, that’s a pretty good top 4. Molina and Ryan are adding their fair share in the lower half, but wouldn’t it be great if the Cardinals had somebody that even resembled a #5 hitter?

— etp_stl

1:13 pm July 10th, 2009

Hey Gerry Fraley, did you by chance see the Cardinals offense leading up to Ludwick coming off the DL? Well in case you missed it they were scoring about a run a week. They needed his bat back ASAP, they rolled the dice that he would come back hitting, he didn’t. Its hind sight to say he should have went on a rehab assignment. Pass it along to Hrabosky who also mentions a rehab assignment every time Ludwick swings and doesn’t get a hit.

— Brianfantana

1:31 pm July 10th, 2009

I am just glad Ludwick is starting to hit the ball. Now we need our the third outfielder to hit the ball, and get DeRosa or Glaus off the DL and bat in the #5 hole, and then the line-up will be dangerous.

— Knuffy

6:37 pm July 10th, 2009

I guess I don’t care what happened; just that he’s hitting (some) again– but Ryan’s troubles began before he went on the DL. Go check.

— Allen

7:05 pm July 10th, 2009

Ludwick is also staying back. You don’t see even close to as many of those awkward, unbalanced swings where he was out on his front foot.

— ldomino

7:13 pm July 10th, 2009

It’s the stache; all we have to do is get Rick Ankiel to grow his back and he’ll be good too. Duncan’s a lost cause though, haha

— AE2010

7:37 pm July 10th, 2009

The only answers here that are credible are those from Rick, Bernie, Gerry and Derrick. The rest are merely filler material. At least our time wasn’t wasted with reading what that hack Burwell has to say.

— Gregg

9:00 pm July 10th, 2009

Could Dan O’Neill be any more pessimistic? Good grief. Someone must have peed in his Cheerios. What terrible analysis.

— KarlPilkington

10:16 pm July 10th, 2009

The biggest difference in his swing now and when he first came back is that Ludwick has quieted down in the box, he is not moving his arm/shoulder angle as much, so that he can take a more consistent angle to the ball, and he is not trying to gear up to swing with all his might every pitch. The single to center today was a great example of a powerful hitter just trying to square the ball up and hit it solidly where it is pitched…which would solve a lot of other hitter’s problems, too (like Ankiel, if he would apply it). At the end of last year Ludwick cut down on his swing in an effort to adjust to what pitcher’s were doing to him. Same thing now.

By the way….Put Ankiel on a tee and have him practice hitting the outside pitch solidly down the left field line. On the inside and low pitch, or anytime with two strikes, you’ve got to gear down and give yourself that extra split second to recognize the pitch. He is getting himself out most of the time.

— lilred

12:34 am July 11th, 2009

Every time he started to get hot dumassa would sit him on the bench!Hes obviously not one of tonys baby boys.

— ericdh12

2:36 am July 13th, 2009

lx5L9N

— Jfrtstdm

3:07 pm July 14th, 2009

Perfect work!

— phentermine 37.5 facts

1:26 pm July 22nd, 2009

Perfect work!