We have a player that has been on our team for 5 years (14u). He has always been very productive--bats leadoff, hits for high avg (about 400), walks a lot, OBP of over 600, hits for decent power to all fields, leads the team in stolen bases, runs scored, low strikeouts, etc. Recently however, he has been mired in a significant slump. Batting around .200 over his last 40 at bats, not striking out that much, but hitting a combination of hard balls right at guys or easy fly balls. He also used to really spray the ball around, but now seems to pull everything. He is a lefty with great speed, but hard shots to the 1B or 2B are not allowing him to take advantage of his speed. We need him to get on base to make things happen.
The dilemma is that we have other guys that our hitting better and getting on base more often as a result--some who are part-time starters. Do we move an always productive player down in the order or should we sit him down all together? If so, and lets say he gets a few hits over a game or two, do we move him back up (or in) right away, or give it more time? Or do we keep everything the same and hope he works his way out of it? I will also add that last year he also started slow (not nearly to this extent though) but really kicked it in when threatened to be moved down in the order. I look forward to your thoughts!
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