Angels News: Phil Nevin Knows Where Halos Hitters are Struggling Most

It's more obvious than you'd think!

The second half of the season hasn't started out the greatest for the Halos.

They just got swept by the Mariners, and are mired in a 6-game losing streak going into Monday after choosing to buy at the trade deadline instead of sell, like everyone thought they would. 

If this season truly is World Series or Bust for the Angels, they need to figure out how to hit one simple pitch:

“Good fastballs at the top, it’s no secret teams come at us with them,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “They pounded the top of the zone and we’re fouling them off or missing. So we have to get better at it. Gotta work above the ball. It’s not for a lack of work. I promise you that. These guys are grinding and doing everything they can.”

via

OC Register

I mean, it's easier said than done to be honest. 

The high fastball is notoriously hard to hit. Anything up around the letters is extremely hard to get on top of.

Here's what it takes to hit a fastball in general:

But major league hitters should be ready for that. You should live or die on hitting a fastball, and quite frankly, the Angels are dying on it right now.

This begs the question: Should the Angels have gotten more offensive help at the deadline?

Honestly, I don't think so.

The addition of Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron was huge for the Halos! But for now, getting adjusted to a new team, a new home stadium, and everything that has to do with being traded seems to be getting to Grichuk and Cron.

But the rest of the team needs to focus a little more in BP on the high fastballs.

Once the lineup gets healthy, which again is easier said than done, the amount of professional hitters on this roster should be able to perform at a high level, but until then