Paul Molitor Talks Hitting

Paul Molitor was a maestro with the bat. Over 21 seasons — 15 with the Milwaukee Brewers and three each with the Minnesota Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays — he recorded 3,319 hits, the 11th-highest total in major league history. Moreover, Molitor’s 605 doubles are tied for 15th most, while his 2,366 singles are 12th most. Walking nearly as often as he struck out (1,094 BB, 1,244 K) the sweet-swinging corner infielder/designated hitter put up a .306/.369/.448 slash line and a 122 wRC+.

Elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004, the St. Paul, Minnesota native went on to manage the Twins from 2015-2018, and prior to that he served as the team’s bench coach and as the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners. Now an analyst on Twins radio broadcasts, Molitor sat down to talk hitting on a recent visit to Fenway Park.

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David Laurila: You played [from 1978-1998]. Did hitters and/or hitting change over the course of your long career?

Paul Molitor: “I don’t think as drastically as we’ve seen over the past 10 years or so. I don’t know if we’ve ever been through a period where the percentage of teams’ runs scored were as closely related to how many home runs they hit. The game is always evolving. Breaking down the game in terms of what plays, the numbers show how driving the baseball, getting extra-base hits, [produces runs].

“I do like the old-school. Trying to get hits is still a good thing. You’re obviously going to have guys in your lineup who are more prone to striking out, but they’re going to get you that two- or three-run homer every now and then. And then you have the guys who create the flow on the bases. If you can run the bases, you give yourself more opportunities to get in scoring position. A perfect example would be the 2025 Red Sox. They put a lot of pressure on teams defensively. I think both can work.

“So yeah, there have been changes, but again, not too much when I played. Guys were always trying to figure out how to get better, but the involvement of analytics has changed some of the approach — everything from uppercut swings to how pitchers are throwing the baseball, spinning the baseball. It all plays a part in the counter strategy that hitters are trying to employ.”

Laurila: What about you, personally? Did you change much over the years?

Molitor: “I’d say that I was always somewhat traditional. When I went to A-ball, I played for a manager by the name of Denis Menke, who had a nice playing career. I came out of [the University of Minnesota] as an open-stance pull hitter who thought he could hit home runs. That summer in Burlington, Iowa, Denis Menke taught me there was a right field to consider as well. I kind of closed my stance and started to understand that contact was my better way of getting to the big leagues, as opposed to being a guy who tried to mix in home runs.

“My change in the big leagues came from the perspective that I chased offspeed too much. So, especially with two strikes, I began to try to see the ball longer. I spread out a little bit more and took away a lot of my pre-swing movement, giving myself that extra tick of time to recognize pitches. I became so comfortable with a no-stride approach that it eventually became my full-time approach.”

Laurila: Did you ever go through a period where you tried to hit for more power?

Molitor: “No. The longer you play, the better you understand which pitches you’re maybe capable of driving, but there weren’t too many times that I was in the box looking for a pitch to hit a home run on. I only hit over 20 [in a single season] one time, and I played 21 years, so I never had any real stretches of power. I did have a three-home run game — it was in Kansas City, of all places — but I kind of spread them out.

“When they came they were great, but I was more into being a disrupter; I was a table setter for most of my career. Of course, I tried to be a good a hitter who could deliver a two-out single to plate a run. I drove in 100 runs a couple times later in my career, when I was moved down into more RBI slots, but it wasn’t because I was hitting a lot of home runs.”

Laurila: To what extent would that approach work for you today?

Molitor: “I’ll be the first to acknowledge that stuff is better across the board. I do think that we make a little bit too much about the increase in velocity, mainly because they’ve changed how they register that, but yes, we throw harder. The sweeper has also become a big pitch. I really don’t think it’s a new pitch — they maybe just use another adjective to describe it — but it is different than a true slider or a true curveball. When I think about people like Dave Stieb, his ball swept. So, it’s just how we define it.

“There is also two-strike approach. I’m not sure if this plays for a lot of guys, but I tried to protect against the pitch that would fool me the most. If I had a tendency to chase sliders, or split-fingers… on a subconscious level, as a hitter you’re looking to see something out of the hand. For a lot of guys, it’s more fastball because of velocity, and we have an innate sense that we don’t get want to get beat by a fastball. But if you can convince yourself, ‘Hey, I chase sliders,’ well, my first thought was going to be to see that slider. You might look foolish on a fastball — you get jammed, or can only fight it off — but it was a way for me for to protect, to try to keep the ball in the strike zone longer.”

Laurila: Were there pitchers you couldn’t really do that against, because they had too much velocity?

Molitor: “I think that happens. The top pitches in my era… Pedro Martinez always jumps out to me. He threw extremely hard, but he also had three plus-plus pitches. He had a great breaking ball and a tremendous changeup. The changeup and breaking ball were somewhat comparable in terms of the speed of the pitch, so I took my chances on two out of three. He probably beat me with the fastball a lot, but whenever I had any success against a guy like Pedro, it was because I kind of eliminated something. Against a guy with that kind of mix, if you’re trying to hit all three, you’re probably not going to be very successful. You need to either try to control a speed or a part of the plate.”

Laurila: Were you a better breaking ball hitter or a better fastball hitter?

Molitor: “When I was young, I was a better fastball hitter. I was aggressive, and I had a fairly quick swing. Because of that, I didn’t see as many fastballs the longer I played. I’m not sure what the book on me was, but I had to learn how to not only be a better breaking ball hitter, but also when to look for that pitch.”

Laurila: Which hitters would you say are most similar to you in terms of style?

Molitor: “I’d like to think there are a couple players in today’s game that have similar type games. Bobby Witt Jr. is one, although he’s faster than I was and has more power. Trea Turner is another guy whose style I really like, because he can beat you a lot of ways.”

Laurila: Can you elaborate on Witt?

Molitor: “He brings an aggressive element that can be a game changer in a lot of ways — defensively, on the bases, stealing bases, extra-base hits. Somehow, in some way, he’s going to impact almost every game he plays.

“As far as how we compare as hitters… I haven’t studied his swing, so it’s maybe not about the mechanics of the swing so much as what he tries to do. I think Bobby Witt has gotten better at two-strike hitting, even to this point in his short career. I’m not sure if he tries to cut down, or chokes up, or spreads his legs out a little farther, but he’s a tough guy to get to chase.

“Another guy that come to mind for me is Edgar Martinez. I had a chance to coach him in his last year, in 2004. I didn’t come out to watch a lot of guys take batting practice, but I remember purposely doing that with him. I liked the fact that he was locked in on the right side of the field in terms of his approach, and then was quick enough to turn on balls inside. He’s another guy with more power than me, but I really liked how he went about it.”

Laurila: When I talked hitting with him several years ago, Edgar said that he liked to position his hands close to where he’d be firing them to hit a fastball.”

Molitor: “Alex Bregman is like that with his setup and swing. He doesn’t do hardly anything prior to what is a pretty swing. I always thought that you had to get into your firing position by the time the ball was getting close to the dirt, close to the home plate area. I see a lot of guys that, either through a leg kick or how they torque the bat almost to where it’s pointing back towards the pitcher, just don’t give themselves enough time. If they’re on time for a pitch they’re looking for, they can probably do more damage than the guy who is recognizing a little bit longer. But yeah, Edgar, or in today’s game, Bregman… he’s one of the guys that I would tell my son to watch. Very quiet. You watch his bat from starting position to swing, and it’s a very small, subtle move.”

Laurila: Not all hitters are the same. That said, is there any one thing that most every hitter needs to do to in order to succeed against big league pitching?

Molitor: “I think there are foundational things. For me, those would include
balance, pitch recognition, and the ability — which is part of recognition — to keep the ball in the strike zone. People that expand… if you have the reputation of, ‘We can get him out by not throwing him a strike,’ you’re probably not going to be around the game very long.”

Laurila: You obviously had a long and successful career. Even so, is there anything you maybe should have done differently?

Molitor: “No, although I have fantasized about being more of a power hitter. I remember watching Ichiro, who I coached when I was in Seattle, and Wade Boggs, who I played against. In batting practice they’d hit the ball as far as anybody, but when they’d get into a game, that certainly wasn’t in the forefront of their minds.

“Let’s say you’re a .300 hitter and you hit 15 home runs. At what point, even in retrospect — for myself — I wasn’t willing to give up 50 points on my average to hit 10 more home runs. And where do those lines intersect? What are you willing to do to change what type of hitter you are at this level? The elite guys will always hit for both average and power. What Aaron Judge has done through the first 30-40 games, hitting over .430 and combining that with elite power skills, is incredible. But yeah, I don’t really have any regrets. I love that I got to play for as long as I did. I think I got better as I got older. I probably wouldn’t want to change too much.”

Laurila: Suppose you would have been willing to trade batting average for more power. How many home runs do you feel you could have hit?

Molitor: “In a given year? Maybe 30. That’s if I just tried to turn and burn all the time. My home runs didn’t get up to the 25th row; they were in the first five. I wasn’t ever going to be a power hitter.”

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Earlier “Talks Hitting” interviews can found through these links: Jo Adell, Jeff Albert, Greg Allen, Nolan Arenado, Aaron Bates, Jacob Berry, Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Justice Bigbie, Cavan Biggio, Charlie Blackmon, JJ Bleday, Bobby Bradley, Will Brennan, Jay Bruce, Triston Casas, Matt Chapman, Michael Chavis, Garrett Cooper, Gavin Cross, Jacob Cruz, Nelson Cruz, Paul DeJong, Brenton Del Chiaro, Josh Donaldson, Brendan Donovan, Donnie Ecker, Rick Eckstein, Drew Ferguson, Justin Foscue, Michael Fransoso, Ryan Fuller, Joey Gallo, Paul Goldschmidt, Devlin Granberg, Gino Groover, Matt Hague, Andy Haines, Mitch Haniger, Robert Hassell III, Austin Hays, Nico Hoerner, Jackson Holliday, Spencer Horwitz, Rhys Hoskins, Eric Hosmer, Jacob Hurtubise, Tim Hyers, Walker Jenkins, Connor Joe, Jace Jung, Josh Jung, Jimmy Kerr, Heston Kjerstad, Steven Kwan, Trevor Larnach, Doug Latta, Dillon Lawson, Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis, Evan Longoria, Joey Loperfido, Michael Lorenzen, Mark Loretta, Gavin Lux, Dave Magadan, Trey Mancini, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Marcelo Mayer, Hunter Mense, Owen Miller, Colson Montgomery, Tre’ Morgan, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Daniel Murphy, Lars Nootbaar, Logan O’Hoppe, Vinnie Pasquantino, Graham Pauley, David Peralta, Luke Raley, Julio Rodríguez, Brent Rooker, Thomas Saggese, Anthony Santander, Drew Saylor, Nolan Schanuel, Marcus Semien, Giancarlo Stanton, Spencer Steer, Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr., Spencer Torkelson, Mark Trumbo, Brice Turang, Justin Turner, Trea Turner, Josh VanMeter, Robert Van Scoyoc, Chris Valaika, Zac Veen, Alex Verdugo, Mark Vientos, Matt Vierling, Luke Voit, Anthony Volpe, Joey Votto, Christian Walker, Jared Walsh, Jordan Westburg, Jesse Winker, Bobby Witt Jr. Mike Yastrzemski, Nick Yorke, Kevin Youkilis