I’ve done some searching on the site, and haven’t found anything disecting this, so if there is one, my apologies, just ignore me. I’d really like to get people’s take on this, because it puzzles me.

In my opinion, and from what I’m seeing, as are other fans I watch with, Derrek Lee is a shell of what he has been early in the year. This puzzles me because he started slow last year, and hit 17 HR in the last half. Well, this year at the end of May he had 13HRs, right now, he has 17. Thats 4 HRs in 2 1/2 months. For a 3 hitter, thats VERY poor. I had no problem with his lack of power last year, because he was hitting .320 or about. A three hitter, with 17 HRs hitting .289 makes me scratch my head why he’s hitting 3, or what the future for him holds.

AGAIN, I want to make it clear, I don’t want him to be some gorilla that just goes for the fences, but only hitting .289 with the power numbers he has is a large concern. I HATE to sound like I’m nitpicking, really. And I know that the offense has been GREAT, but I’m still concerned about what happens when we REALLY NEED him, or in the seasons to come when he’s owed some good scratch.

Those are not incredibly impressive numbers. I’ve also noticed that he seems to be looking for walks, or just hitting singles in spots when we need a ball driven somewhere. Its my philosophy when you come up with RISP and less thatn 2 outs, as a 3 hitter, put something on a swing, and stop watching balls go right down the middle of the plate. I’d like to know other 3 hitters that have only hit 4 HRs in the alst 2.5 months. Its odd to me because we know he can hit. We know he is a strong, very strong man, but I’m curious to hear what other people are seeing. I’m not campaigning for him to get benched or ANYTHING like that.

He has good doubles, & hits numbers, but for a 3 hitter, other numbers just aren’t there. The way he is hitting, he would be a great 2 hitter. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: its obvious he’s rolling over a ton of pitches. I’ve seen it happen plenty of times, in serious competitve baseball, where a hitter who is doing that, starts swinging a heavier bat, and those offspeed pitches hammered into the ground, turn into line drives up the box.