We’re starting a mini-series here trying to dissect this mess and figure out where things went wrong. Many fans are upset at a bunch of different people for the offensive struggles – Z, Wak, Armstrong, Lincoln, Safeco Field – but where does the blame really lay? Who’s responsible for this awful start from more than a few players? We’ll start with the biggest off-season acquisition, Chone Figgins.

Chone Figgins was inked to a 4 year, $36 million deal in the offseason, but has struggled mightily. What went wrong? 

Chone Figgins is batting .198, has a .569 OPS, and is on pace for 151 strikeouts. His previous career high was 114, last year. The years previous to that, he had shown no signs of regressing, and I suspect that the increase in strikeouts was due to his selectivity. Figgins swung at less pitches than ever last year, with just a 36.4% swing rate and 14.9% outside the zone swing rate. As a result of his discipline, he led the American League in walks with 101. Despite his contact issues this year, he’s on pace for 99 walks again – great news. So what’s changed?

For starters, Figgins has taken his discipline to new levels. If you’ve been watching Figgins at the plate, you know he rarely swings, and when he does it’s often late in the count when there’s 2 strikes on him. His total swing rate has plummeted to 33.6% – 3rd lowest in the AL. Yet his O-Swing% (balls swung out outsize of the strike zone) is now up to 18.6% – well above his career average of 16.2%.

I can’t help but wonder if Figgins was encouraged by Jack Zduriencik to continue taking walks when they signed him, praising his plate discipline and stating that was a major reason they signed him. Figgins has kept the bat on his shoulder at a remarkably low rate this year, and while he still walks at a high rate, it’s gotten him into trouble from a contact perspective – leaving him behind in counts and taking defensive swings often ending in strikeouts or weak contact.

While it should be no surprise that all players have worse numbers when a pitcher gets ahead in the count, Figgins’ struggles are massive and dramatic. His OPS is an inconceivable .293 on pitches when he’s behind in the count (.517 last year), and after Figgins gets down 0-1, his OPS on all pitches following is just .387. For comparison’s sake, last year he still put up a .670 OPS after getting down 0-1 in the count – still getting on base at a .311 clip, fairly good for getting behind in the count right away.

Last year Chone Figgins hit .391 when swinging at the first pitch. This year, Figgins is hitting .333 swinging at the first pitch. I can’t help but look at all this data and just think – get the bat off your shoulder when you’ve got a great pitch to hit, regardless of count. I’ve always preached on base percentage as being of great importance, but we have to remember it’s more than just walks – you have to get hits as well. An obvious statement that seems surprisingly easy to forget. The numbers show that Figgins is getting torched once he falls behind in the count – and while patience should be encouraged at all times especially with a wild pitcher on the mound – if you get a pitch to hit, swing!  Chone’s new approach of super-patience is great in theory, but if you can’t get hits when you’re behind in the count and the pitcher’s throwing strikes – you’re toast.

So who is to blame for all this, if we must place it? I can’t point the finger at Jack Zduriencik. There was nothing to indicate this kind of decline from Figgins in the offseason as far as I can see – certainly nothing to indicate he’d completely fall off the table like this. It’s always easy to point fingers at the GM and say “he built this team,” but what was he reasonably supposed to expect from Figgins? It certainly wasn’t this. Hard to blame Wak or the hitting coaches here either – at some point Figgins has to be responsible at realize that his super-disciplined approach isn’t working, at least to the extreme extent he’s taken it. It’s only creating a ton of strikeouts and defensive 2-strike hacks. It’s on Figgins to adjust, and I don’t believe his talent is suddenly gone – I believe we’ll soon see his swing % start to rise and him to begin coming out of his slump as he adjusts. While we often want to point the finger at the top, sometimes players need to just be accountable for their own actions, and it’s past time for Figgins to make the necessary adjustments.