Case Study 1

"Make me an offer."

Case Study

Jeff Luhnow

As General Manager of the Astros, Jeff became the main brainchild of their success.

Situation

Jeff Luhnow became the Houston Astros’ General Manager in 2010. He was the principal architect of their success for over a decade. Jeff had always been considered an “outside-the-box” thinker.

Before his stint with the Astros, Jeff was the Director of Player Development for the St. Louis Cardinals. While with the Cardinals, he learned about Buddy’s Zone Motion and became interested in it. Soon after he offered Buddy a job as the Minor League hitting coach.

Easy to get started

1. Watch the intro video

2. Take the Zone Motion Quiz

3. Enroll in Zone Motion

"Make me an offer, Buddy."

Solution

Buddy couldn’t justify taking the traditional Minor League coaching salary.  He expressed that to Jeff, who understood and replied to Buddy: “Make me an offer, Buddy.”

After more consideration, Buddy declined the offer. Jeff was floored and refused to accept “no”.  After some thought, they decided to conduct a case study with five Minor League hitters within the Cardinal organization.

The results were stunning!

Results

  • Hitters who participated showed an average OPS increase of 100.8 points.
  • Hitters who did not participate, showed an OPS decrease of 22.45 points.

Once Jeff saw our success, he asked Buddy to work with future Major League pitcher Adam Ottavino, who carried a 1 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio at the time. Buddy’s work with Adam was solely from a mental perspective. Adam finished the season with a 3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio and began his steady climb to the Major Leagues.

His successful career took off and is still going strong today.

Easy to get started

1. Watch the intro video

2. Take the Zone Motion Quiz

3. Enroll in Zone Motion