John_Havok

s***

Dont see Kirk strike out on 3 pitches very often.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/torontos-hunter-mense-on-developing-good-swing-decisions/ Good read but i'll save you the click - cloes notes version is the Jays use a rating sytem to grade swing decisions. Mense is the assistant hitting coach. Nice tidbit here: Laurila: Can you give an example of a guy for whom that’s come pretty naturally? Mense: “It’s always come pretty natural for Alejandro Kirk. He’s always been a very good decision-maker. And if you want to talk about somebody who is very laid-back, and very thoughtful, he’s your prototypical guy. Even at the lower levels of the minor leagues, he was always walking more than he struck out. He was always getting himself into good counts. “We have a grading-out system of decision-makers in the organization, and Alejandro was always one of the better ones, even at the lowest levels. His success has come from hitting the ball harder and in the air a little bit more, but he’s always kind of had that innate ability. You don’t necessarily talk about it a whole lot when a guy is really good at it, but you do continue making sure they keep at it.” Laurila: How does the grading system work? Mense: “If you’re able to take a pitch that most people are swinging at, you grade out really well as a decision-maker. And then if you’re swinging at pitches that have an expected slugging percentage that’s really good, you’re going to get high grades. Spencer Horwitz is another one in our organization that’s always been a really good decision-maker. He swings at every pitch that’s in the area where the expected slugging percentage is really good, and he takes a lot of pitches that are strike-to-ball — pitches that 75-plus percent of people are swinging at, he’s able to take them. “That’s how you ultimately grade out. It’s not necessarily just low chases and high in-zone swings, although that does play into it. But how tough is the pitch that you’re taking? It could be a really easy pitch, a ball out of the hand that everybody takes. Conversely, if it’s one that starts in the strike zone and goes out — maybe it’s from a pitcher with really good stuff — you’re probably a pretty good decision-maker.” Good to hear about Horwitz. Just need to find him a position and he may be something far more useful. He also mentions that Orelvis has improved greatly in this regard so far this year.

Yeah. The guys they would sell wouldnt even really hold them back from being better next year.

What's tragic is that when they should finally trade Mancini and get something back for him, his numbers are pretty pedestrian after they moved the LF fence back 100 feet

They had the same bullpen in the first 2 months of the season and sucked. They're also still just a .500 team after yesterday. A great pen is fantastic, but if it's far and away the BEST part of your team, you're still just a team that needs better SP and better hitting.

Baltimore is definitely in that weird window along with the Red Sox ... buyers? Sellers? Standing pat and then possibly losing assest for virtually noithing later? Tough call to make.

Maybe it's not an ignor thing anymore, clearly players are changing their minds on vaccine status based on the possibility they may have to travel to Canada for playoff ball. Could mean theyre also willing to change their minds if they are on the trade block to the Jays.

Kirk is 24.4 feet per second, 475th in mlb. Pujols is 23.3 feet per second, 492nd in mlb 495 players on the list

have to be very careful with left handed hitters in that park. The RF fence is only 306 feet and 353 to Right center. It tends to inflate a lot of lefty hitting lines. Plus, he's only had 40 PAs at AA. Sample size isnt big enough to draw conclusions yet, but it's damn nice to see him keep up the rate he was hitting in Vancouver.

July 27 Vladdy - 1 Point - Dylan Springer - 1 Point - Bichette - 2 Points - Hernández - 2 Points - Kirk - 2 Points - Chapman - 2 Points - Jansen - 3 Points - Biggio - 6 Points - Tapia - 8 Points - Off the bench: 10 Points - Fixed the formatting error

It was some agreement in the original contract that he would be released at the end of 7 years (unless extended) regardless of his arbitration status.

With Kikuchi it doesnt really matter who he's facing if he cant put his fastball in the zone.

I dont follow soccer, so cant really speak on that, but 1 player cant carry jack in the NBA anymore. And football, even the best QB in the world cant carry a team with a porous O-line and nodoby to throw to.

Well played sir

THis is why I dislike narratives that give individual players extra credit for winning championships in team sports, especially baseball. 1 guy makes next to no difference if the rest of the team is constantly average or worse. Trout is easily the best player of his generation and I dont think its particularly close.

I breifed that article, but I would suspect it's because they dont know how long he can stay at catcher with the D he has. With his body shape, the spiral of physical limitations as a catcher will be real.

here, i was on the mlb.com board probably not long after spanky

For the most part they'll all go to the complex league right away, with the possible exception of some of the college arms that may go to A ball. A+ is a maybe for some college guys, but that would depend on whether they have a passport.

Meh, Locastro will just play at an All Star level for the next 2 weeks, because... the Yankees.

Zimmer as the 26th man on this team is not the problem. Right now he's being utlized perfectly to maximize his actual talents by only playing defense late in games and being used as a pinch runner. Keeping his PAs minimized is fine. In the playoffs there's always those one-off scenarios where you need his skillset and all he comes in for is that one thing and that one thing only. If you can find a guy with actual thunder in the bat that also provides legit plus CF defense and baserunning and hits left handed... sure, but that kind of player as a bench guy doesnt exist. Those are all starters.

Dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Some weird numbers in there.

I really hate that narrative. Teams have dozens and dozens and dozens of people working on these things practically around the clock. It's not like they suddenly woke up after the draft and were like... wait, we might need to improve the club in the next two weeks? OMG GET ON IT! Is the rotation good? Who's on the injury list? Do we need a reliever? Wait, who's in left field? What about the bench, how's that looking? There's been talks going on for weeks guaranteed, its just the urgency picks up a bit and there will finally be some back and forth negotiation happening now.

I wish they would start putting baseball IQ as a tool.