Hudgens is not going anywhere

If you happen to read Slusser's Monday article(Slusser and Urban are becoming top A's writers BTW), the situation regarding hitting coach Dave Hudgens' job security is satisfied, for now...

One thing the club will not do, though, is affix blame to hitting coach Dave Hudgens. Forst emphatically echoed GM Billy Beane's statements of last week, in which Beane said that Hudgens is not the problem, by pointing around the clubhouse and saying, "These guys have to get it done, not Hudge.''

The thing that A's fans should realize with Hudgens is that he is the A's version of a loyal Rick Peterson. Peterson was a pitching coach who was ahead of his time using revolutionary ideas such as pitching with your eyes close and traveling to Dr. Andrews', creator of "Tommy John" surgical procedure, Biometrics lab in Alabama. But when it came to ego, he was a very confrontational person as illustrated in Mychael Urban's book, ACES.

However with Hudgens, he has been with the club for about 16 years and as a result his teachings have he permeated through-out the A's organization as illustrated by this screen-cap:

Hudgens, like Peterson, has spent time to create his own brand of "scientific applications" for hitting such as the Juggle Stick and the Vision Beads. Because of that, the A's feel as if they have an upper-hand to other teams by having a hitting coach who thinks "out of the box." And when you think about this, it's a quality that the A's look for with Beane at helm as evident by hiring staticians.