John_Havok

And from baseball america today: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/scouting-vladimir-guerrero-jr-one-of-the-best-teenage-hitters-ever/?amphtml&__twitter_impression=true Scouting Vladimir Guerrero Jr., One Of The Best Teenage Hitters Ever Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr-2017-Paul-Gierhart By Ben Badler on May 7, 2018 MANCHESTER, N.H.—He’s 19 years old. That’s what I have to keep reminding myself when I watch Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He’s already a complete hitter—major league ready now with the bat—and one of the best teenage hitters ever. Guerrero, the Blue Jays’ top prospect and the top prospect still in the minor leagues, is hitting .398/.455/.624 in 24 games with Double-A New Hampshire, with as many walks (12) as strikeouts (12) and more extra-base hits (14) than strikeouts. He has humongous raw power, but it’s his incredible bat control, uncanny plate discipline and lack of holes as a hitter that stand out even more. Guerrero’s defense still needs work, but he’s making progress there too. “You kind of forget that he’s 19 sometimes because he’s a pro with everything he does off the field, in the weight room, getting himself ready to play, his work in the cage, his work in the infield,” New Hampshire manager John Schneider said. “He’s just a pro. It’s fun to watch him do it every day.” Batting Practice Power often develops later in a hitter’s career. Guerrero’s raw power is already a 70 tool, and at 19, there’s time for it to tick up to the top of the 20-80 scale. At 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, Guerrero combines strength and fierce bat speed, launching balls out of the entire stadium to his pull side in BP and hitting them off the hotel beyond the left-center field wall. Even as a teenager among men, Guerrero has louder thunder than anyone on his team by a wide margin. Just as impressive as the pull shots is the way Guerrero approaches BP and his ability to drive the ball to all fields, with line drives that carry all the way to the right-center field wall. “He never gets pull happy,” Schneider said. “If you watch his BP, it’s very meticulous, starting oppo and working his way back to the middle. He just hits it where it’s pitched. He knows he can leave right field, center field, left field. So he doesn’t try to get out of his approach. He doesn’t try to change his swing to try to yank one. Not everyone has that luxury to just hit it where it’s pitched.” Game Hitting Everything Guerrero does in batting practice translates into the game. He can knock the ball out to any part of the park and stays with that all-fields approach in games. Guerrero swings aggressively but the stroke itself is compact and efficient. His barrel enters the hitting zone in good position and he stays through the ball extremely well for a young hitter, which helps him drive all types of pitches throughout the strike zone to any part of the field. Guerrero inherited his father’s hand-eye coordination, seldom missing when he swings. While people joke and marvel at his dad’s proclivity for chasing (and hitting) pitches out of the strike zone, Vladdy Jr. is a supremely disciplined hitter. The way he tracks pitches is advanced, recognizing pitches immediately out of the pitcher’s hand and routinely working himself into favorable counts by laying off borderline pitches. Between his pitch recognition, strike-zone discipline and innate feel for the barrel, Guerrero leaves pitchers with few holes to exploit, with the ability to turn around premium velocity or square up breaking balls and changeups on the sweet spot just as well. “He has really good command of the zone,” Schneider said. “He can still throw in a Senior, one-handed, off-the-ground knock, but he has really good command of the zone, too.” Guerrero is the best teenage hitter to come along since Bryce Harper batted .270/.340/.477 in 139 games as a 19-year-old rookie in 2012 with 5.2 WAR, per Baseball-Reference.com. Vladdy Jr. has his dad’s hitting mannerisms, with an offensive profile in the mold of superstars like Manny Ramirez and Frank Thomas. He is already a player with the upside to win a batting title or to lead the league in OBP or slugging in some years. Fielding Guerrero is still 19. Just as hard as that is to remember when watching him hit, it’s equally important when evaluating his glove. Guerrero signed with the Blue Jays for $3.9 million as a 16-year-old in 2015, when he was an outfielder who then moved to third base after signing. Many of his peers from that class—if they’re moving on a fast schedule—are making their full-season debuts this year in low Class A. If Guerrero were merely a good hitter instead of a great one, Guerrero would be evaluated as a 19-year-old third baseman in the low Class A Midwest League. Instead, he’s being judged as a potential major league third baseman for 2018. His defense isn’t ready yet, but it’s moving in the right direction. He’s in a race against time pulling at him from both directions, as he needs more time to improve his hands, footwork and other technical aspects of his defense, yet due to his size, he might physically outgrow the position at some point. Guerrero is a big man, but thus far he has maintained his conditioning and worked hard at his agility. He’s not a natural defender at third base. His first-step quickness and lateral range are below-average, but he has shown two things that work well for him at the position. One is his arm, which has improved since signing and plays better in the infield than it did from the outfield. The other is his hand-eye coordination, which is obvious at the plate but translates into the field as well. His coordination and reactions off the bat help him charging in on slow rollers and making the off-balance play. With more improvement, Guerrero has the talent to stay at third base, at least early in his career. Wherever he plays this year—Double-A, Triple-A or Toronto—he needs to be somewhere where he can get repetitions every day at third base. “I think he’s made great progress just in the couple of years that he’s been playing third,” Schneider said. “Obviously he has a plus arm, so I think that spot is a good spot for him at third. There are always things to work on. We’re working on angles to his glove side, we’re working on slow rollers, all these things, and he’s done an outstanding job with it, working at it every day. The thing that’s cool about him is that he comes to the field with a smile on every day, ready to work, ready to roll."

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Relevant (and apology for linking a Griffin article...) https://www.thestar.com/amp/sports/bluejays/opinion/2018/05/07/guerrero-on-fast-track-to-major-leagues.html Is 19-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr. too young to be a major leaguer? The son of hall of fame outfielder Vlad Guerrerro is currently dominating Double-A baseball in New Hampshire, heading into the work week with a .398 average and 1.079 OPS in 24 games. Ranked the No. 1 prospect among position players in the minors after the promotion of infielder Ronald Acuna Jr. to the Braves, Vlad has 10 doubles, a triple and three homers among his 37 hits, with 12 walks and 12 strikeouts. What are the pros and cons of the Blue Jays promoting a still-teenaged Guerrero Jr. immediately to the majors? Right now they have Josh Donaldson at third base and Kendrys Morales as the primary DH. The Jays believe they are contenders for a wild-card spot until proven otherwise. Would they be a better team with Vlad Jr. rather than Morales? Yes, but you don’t want a 19-year-old acting as a primary DH if you want him to play a position moving forward. If Donaldson’s arm is healthy — which it looks as if it is — he does not want to be a primary DH headed into free agency. The Jays are paying Morales $11 million (all dollars U.S.) this year and $12 million next year, all of it guaranteed. That contract, with his stats, is impossible to trade or even give away. If another team is at all interested in the 34-year-old and believes the Jays may at some point give up on Morales and release him, they can afford to wait and just be on the hook for the MLB minimum. There is now little doubt that Guerrero will be playing games for the Jays at some point in 2018. If they decide to trade Donaldson by the deadline, it could be as soon as that. If not, then it could be some time in August, by which point a call-up likely wouldn’t mean he’d be eligible for accelerated arbitration in 2020 (as a so-called “Super 2”). Whenever it is this season, he will still be a 19-year-old. Article Continued Below Let’s look back at the way the Expos handled the minor-league path of his father, Vlad Sr. As a 19-year-old, he played in the Gulf Coast Rookie League. The next year, in 1995 at age 20, he played the entire year in the Class-A South Atlantic League. But at 21, he started in the Class-A Florida State League and advanced early to the Double-A Eastern League, where his son is playing now. On Sept. 19, 1996, the Expos finally called him up to the majors and he never looked back. It should be noted that at Double-A Harrisburg before his MLB promotion, Vlad Sr. hit .360 in 118 games with 19 homers, 17 steals, 78 RBIs and a 1.050 OPS. Promoting teenage position players to the majors can be hit and miss. A top-five list of success stories over the last 30 years includes Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners, 1989), Alex Rodriguez (Mariners, 1994), Adrian Beltre (Dodgers, 1998), Mike Trout (Angels, 2011) and Bryce Harper (Nationals, 2012). The top five teenage breakdowns: Karim Garcia (1995) with the Dodgers, Gene Kingsale (1996) with the O’s, Wilson Betemit (2001) with the Braves, Melvin Upton (2004) with the Rays and Jurickson Profar (2012) with the Rangers. How would Vlad Jr. fit in to the current landscape of young major-league talent that has never seemed more promising? Consider there are currently 10 position players age 22 or younger on 25-man rosters and disabled lists, with the recently recalled Acuna the only 20-year-old in that group. At the Triple-A level, there are 20 position players at 22 or younger. The youngest is Padres second-base prospect Luis Urias, who turns 21 on June 3. At Double-A, there are 44 prospects 22 or younger, led by a trio of talented 19-year-olds: Guerrero Jr., Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and Dodgers catcher Keibert Ruiz. In addition to Guerrero Jr., the Jays have Bo Bichette (20) in Double-A and Richard Urena (22) at Triple-A.

Jesus.... that sound. ...

Starters cannot live on 2 pitches long term unless something about at least 1 of the pitches is elite, or they have elite command. Neither is true in Sanchez's case. Short term... anything is possible.

Not bad for a Rule 5 pick in today's game.

He's already the best prospect in baseball without the elite athlete body type. What real motivation would he have to change if his current ways have not yet failed him? I get the hypothetical... but realistically baseball doesn't have the same athleticism required as other sports for athlete's to be successful given the nature of the game.

He needs a slider or cutter if his curve usage is going to be that low. 94% of his pitches looks pretty much the same and have the same action, one of them is just slower. Estrada has the same issue in that regard, but the difference is his velo difference is elite and his command is much better than Sanchez which allows his 2 pitch mix to play up a bit as a starter. Hell, if either of those 2 could throw anything that broke to their glove side with any consistency it would be a godsend.

draw that yourself? If so,... awesome

Players of the Day: Chavez Young, Logan Warmoth, Ivan Castillo, Ryan Borucki, Dwight Smith Jr, Darnell Sweeney Honourable Mentions: Rodrigo Orozco, John La Prise, DJ Davis, Danny Jansen, Roemon Fields, Rowdy Tellez

Watching the Utah / Houston game and yeah... the officiating is atrocious. Theyre not calling body checks but will drop techs on guys clapping their hands after a play, and the announcers have the audacity to suggest the techs are legit because they "need to get ahold of this game."

And the countdown to Tommy John surgery begins

On the plus side, the Rays are intent on blowing out Colome's arm by pitching him 3 days in a row against the same team, so we should get some good looks now

No kidding. Only 23 runs in the 9 active games so far

I think one issue with their pen aside from the over-work is that Scioscia doesn't have defined roles for his guys, they have no idea how they might be used any given night.

The only way it's a bad idea is that he still needs defensive work at 3b and he wouldn't be playing it everyday up here like he needs to. Service time consideration shouldn't matter too much to a club owned by a company pulling 15 billion in revenue every year. If the only consideration was the bat... he'd be here already IMO.

Players of the day: Vlad Jr, Kevin Smith, Chris Rowley, Dwight Smith Jr, Roemon Fields, Bo Bichette, Jonathan Davis, Harold Ramirez, Nash Knight Honourable mentions: Norberto Obeso, Devon Travis, Darnell Sweeney, Jason Leblebijian, Ian Parmley, Angel Perdomo, Josh Palacios, Riley Adams, Eduard Pinto, Rodrigo Orozco, Ivan Castillo And of course, I hope you all enjoyed your May 5th if you celebrate:

Better moderation to immediately shut down the sexual exploitation of male actors by female posters.

He's just annoyed at being stuck with a great regular season team that has no chance of winning it all while Derozan is the focal point. His wagon is hitched to a volume shooting guard that relies on getting to the free thow line via fouls, can't shoot a 3 ball, can't defend and has to have plays run for him because he can't create his own shots. Derozan excels at what the NBA did 20 years ago, and while he still scores a bunch based on volume of shots and free throws, he's not what you need to win in the game today, unless he's a third option type of guy, second option at best.

The Force is strong with: Kacy Clemens, Kevin Smith, Samad Taylor, Norberto Obeso, Taylor Saucedo, Riley Adams, Deck McGuire, Danny Jansen, Midichlorian count pending: Maximo Castillo, Chavez Young, Kevin Vicuna, John La Prise, Eduard Pinto, Nash Knight, Darnell Sweeney, Ian Parmley

And yet, the scenario you described above hasn't happened in the East in 8 years. Yes, there's been close series, but Lebron always wins against the East. The star power distribution in the NBA is very West heavy right now.

To be fair... every team that played Lebron in the Eastern Conference playoffs have failed for the past 8 years so it's not like the Raptors are in an exclusive club. The man is a beast. He can only be beaten by another team with multiple superstars. Raps don't even have 1 superstar, it's a no-win scenario.

To listen to Tabler speak about baseball, I'll need about 17... and a funnel

Yup, Granderson's "experience" told him that ball wasn't going to go out. Couldn't be his f***ing eyes.... f*** Tabler.. Was it his experience that got him to tag from 3rd or just basic common baseball sense?