John_Havok

Just started watching here in the 4th but it looks like the Jays have a real good read on the slider and are just letting it go

Whatever the trick was with Kikuchi this year, bottle that s*** and pass it around.

Yeah. It's clear he is sitting soft and waiting for hangers. He's just not ready to hit fastballs. It's weird to because he's still seeing 55+% fastballs coming his way. Why he isn't looking heater is kinda weird.

I'm actually trying to picture the amounts of heads exploding if Vlad was traded after 2021. I can't even think of a comparable.

Kikuchi honorable mention?

When finals are over I'll check into it again. Still have 2 weeks left before I'm out of university until fall again.

Yeah, really the only part that I want explained is how the guy got access to his bank accounts ... That's really the only part that needs explaining to accept the "theft" explanation as legit. Right now I don't believe that story. But I also don't believe Ohtani gambled.

Jackson Holliday debut line 0-4, with 2 Ks. Bust. Davis Schneider > Jackson Holliday

Certainly possible, but that Ryan Noda also hits HRs. Horwitz, unless he can maintain a .400 OBP at the ML level, is a pretty empty hitter. His approach at the plate is too Biggio-esque.

Well it's very clear his swing decisions are pretty much total crap. As for what's causing that issue, that's anyone's guess. It's like he wants to hit everything, or...he is getting fooled a ton because he's guessing and guessing wrong alot. He's late on fastballs all the time. My untrained eye and speculation is that hes so focused on not getting beat with breaking balls low and away that he's sitting soft and getting beat by fastballs as a result. It's somewhat understandable given that pitchers feed him a steady stream of offspeed pitches more often than not, so he's trying to prove he can hit them rather than being ready for the fastball and adjusting to the offspeed. Then there's the PAs where you can tell he's sitting dead-red and just waves at changeups all over the place. Teams may have a pretty good tell on Vlad after analyzing video on him that shows if they throw him a certain pitch in a certain location, they have a good idea at what he's likely to do next. Like they're coaching the pitchers to exploit his mental patterns. A possible example of this is...whenever the pitcher gets a strike close call on the outer edge, if they can execute a similar pitch another 3-6 inches further out, he will be swinging at it,which is exactly what they want him swinging at. That's one pattern I've noticed a ton.

and he could still win ROY or place high enough to get his full season of service time anyways, so ... the manipulation aspect of it makes no sense either

Petition to have Emily replace Hazel Mae.... immediately.

Agree 100%. He's still just way too passive at the plate.

There should be a rule in baseball where teams cannot have CB Bucknor and Angel Hernandez as home plate umps in back to back games.

I still hate his passive plate approach. He lets way too many crushable balls sail past him.

The positive really is they've been playing like dogshit and are still 4-6 against 3 of the top 10 teams in the game. When a good team plays bad against other good teams, they go 4-6. I doubt they'll score many runs over the next 3 games either given the SP they are facing, but the plus side there is the Mariners can't score either.

I'm just mainly curious as to how his command just vaporized. Just watching his side-by-side shots from 2022 to 2023 and you can see differences in hand and leg positions which throws everything off. He may need to be a complete delivery rebuild kind of situation.

THis should be how every Jays hits from now on, check swing and just tap the catcher's glove at the end.

This is what I mean, it's like the Jays as a whole just are not ready to hit fastballs, except for Clement and Schneider. They say the approach is to look for something they can hit and let it loose... but then just sit and watch crushable fastballs that would be exact;y what they should be looking for

Doesnt look like it to me, just looks like he's deliberately taking it easy in the cold. THe problem is with the lower velo fastballs, they can sit on the splitter effectively and just adjust to the heater. If he's 94-96 they can't do that anywhere near as effectively

I just now realized Angel Hernandez is on the umpiring crew, so.... Jays are f***ed

also a factor. He was 96 last game, he seems to not have the usual velo when its cold like this.

THat wasnt even a bad pitch....

Yankees are sitting on the splitter, they're taking the fastballs for strikes. Needs to adjust the game plan

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the A&W pitch guy has lost a ton of weight.