Monte Lee explains system to help develop hitters, offense
Monte Lee doesn’t much care for overarching goals just to have overarching goals.
As he takes over at South Carolina associate head coach while working with the offense, he’s more concerned about the process the Gamecocks’ players take to get there.
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“Everybody can put goals out there as a team. Well, we want to go to Omaha. Congratulations. So do 295 other Division I teams. What’s our goal? Our goal is to win the SEC. Well, every other team in the SEC has that goal, too,” Lee told GamecockCentral.
“It’s really not about having goals but having a system in place to get you to Omaha. It’s about having a system in place that wins you the SEC championship.”
Lee’s used that system to a successful run as an assistant at South Carolina with head coaching stops after that at the College of Charleston and Clemson.
It’s that system he brings back to South Carolina this offseason. South Carolina is hoping he can help get the Gamecocks’ offense back on track.
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“It’s about having a system in place where every single day you’re going to get one percent better or a little bit better in what we’re trying to get you to do. Then making sure our plans are individualized. We have a team concept but the guys are getting individualized attention they need to maximize what they’re doing as a player,” Lee said.
“My job is to help those guys create a system to have a swing to compete at a high level. And more than anything allows them to be really good hitters. Just competitive hitters, quality hitters that can put a lot of stress on a pitching staff.”
With Lee, his system emphasizes being able to spray the ball all over the field and not relying heavily on going pull-side.
Batting practice this fall got tweaked. He did it in part because it’s easy to just “turn and burn” and get guys pull-happy. Instead, he wants to hammer home plate discipline and which strikes are good ones to swing on while batting.
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This group of Gamecocks’ hitters have pleased Lee with their progress as South Carolina begins preseason practice soon.
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“It wasn’t a laser show in regards to hitting balls out on the street. But again we want quality hitters first and foremost. What you saw with that are guys who probably struck out too much in the past seeing how to bat the ball up a little bit,” Lee said. “And see the ball a little bit deeper and see the other side of the field. Guys like Braylen Wimmer had the lowest chase rate on the team in the fall. That’s a major, major, major win for me and for him.”
The Gamecocks struggled offensively last season, slashing .263/.360/.407 with 438 strikeouts to 223 walks.
It’ll be part of Lee’s job to get the offense to a better spot where that on-base percentage and other offensive metrics continue to tick up. Lee’s seen progress, citing growth in a ton of players like Evan Stone, Talmadge LeCroy, Carson Hornung and plenty others.
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“The system in place is one that we don’t want to have empty at bats. We don’t want to take a strike in the middle, swing at two breaking balls then go back to the dugout. That’s an empty at-bat,” Lee said.
“Just being a quality at-bat guy and not focusing so much on power and extra-base hits and those types of things. Just be a guy where if you walk up to the plate four times in a game the pitcher is in for a dogfight four times with you. That’s ultimately what we tried to get across to our guys. They did a great job of it.”
