Brownie19

Volpe's bat has gone into a real tailspin. 95 wRC+ on the season now. Semien too.....88 wRC+

Ouch!

I heard them talking yesterday that Horwitz likes playing 2nd better and feels his bat gives him a chance to be an all-star at 2nd base. He said when he plays 1st base, he tries to hit for more power, which probably isn't best for his production. It seems almost unheard of for someone who played just 18 games at 2nd base in his minor league career (and never played SS or 3rd) to step in and be a passible 2nd baseman almost immediately. Pretty impressive stuff.

The Oilers became the blueprint for "running it back"

That's what I was thinking. He can earn more playing time with good play, but I think he's back to the point he has to earn it again.

I just thought he was going for a swim on hot, humid weekend. Seemed positive to me.

Comparing Bo to Baez offensively is a joke. Whiff and K percentages aren't in the same area code. Both chase and are free swingers - but Bo's contact skills are a massive difference.

He's now at a 101 wRC+. He came out of nowhere and I think there's a decent chance he's not a starter at the ML level. I'm not saying I'd put him on the short side of a platoon, but I'd be looking to playing him in favorable matchups until he gets it turned around. I still want him starting say 4-5 times a week. He may optimally be a 400-500 PA utility guy.

Does this belong in the Positivity Thread?

What an incredibly fun game! Springer with the big shot to tie it, Varsho comes thru in the clutch and a BUNCH of gutsy performances from the bullpen.

Point being that Schneider was slumping and hadn't been playing well for the last few weeks. Fans ripping the Manager/FO for giving Schneider a few days off was stupid. They may consider going back to starting him in "good matchups" like they did as the start of the year - as that produced the best results (even though fans also though that was stupid).

Man - it's fun to watch Vlad when he's hot. Great to see Springer getting hot. This may be why the team stuck with their vet.

I just heard them say on the broadcast that IKF is using a new approach this year - trying to catch that ball out in front and hit it with authority to the pull side. This would seemingly go against the theory that some believe Donnie Baseball is implementing a "use all fields, let the ball travel, put the ball in play" approach for all/most players.

Well I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. Vlad was 2nd in MVP voting. wRC+ was 166 to 131 by Semien. His Off (offense + base running) was 54.8 (which lead all of baseball), Semien was 29.6. Even the old school counting numbers were better for Vlad across the board (minus SBs). Semien was GREAT, but Vlad was the best hitter on the Jays in 2021 and it wasn't really remotely close.

I'm just talking about the situation where a fielder obstructs a runner. If the SS goes to 2nd base to catch a throw and the runner beats the throw to the bag, doesn't stop and runs into the SS - one might suggests that's obstruction by the SS. But you're right, as otherwise, the runner can't interfere with the fielder making a play. This seems quite clear on normal plays, but gets dicey around the bags - especially if runners don't slide. All probably a moot point, as I don't see this play becoming mainstream, but who knows! My other thought is that if a runner can't slide past the bag (to try and breakup a double play) - why would they be allowed to run past the bag like you see in that one example?

I agree with this. Although you would put Simmons at 2nd/3rd if you also had Ozzie Smith on the team. We have Ozzie Smith - his name is KK. In a vacuum, we got great value from KK last year and it was more defendable to play Varsho in LF. I had strong worries KK could repeat with the bat this year. I think it was time to move on (although I love the guy as a player) and let Varsho play CF full time. We may see that in the 2nd half of this season and hopefully moving forward.

CD - you're concerned with Vlad's performance with RISP? I assume you'd like to see him performing like one of these middle of the order superstars: Yordan Alvarez Matt Olson Rafael Devers Shohei Ohtani These guys are proven studs. Let's look under the hood of what they've done this year with RISP Alvarez - 75 wRC+, 2 hrs Olson - 77 wRC+, 2 hrs Devers - 82 wRC+, 3 hrs Ohtani - 95 wRC+, 1 hr Vlad - 125 wRC+, 4 hrs - his 4 hrs with RISP actually ties him for 22nd in MLB. From 2021 to 2024, he's tied for 23rd in all of baseball with 24 hrs with RISP and has a 129 wRC+ (47th overall). It's not Top 5, elite production, but I'm not so sure it's a major cause for concern either. If you look at most good hitters, you'll see that some years, they bat better with RISP (as compared to their overall stats) and other years, they bat worst with RISP. Vlad was a stud with RISP in 2021, but was s*** last year. Things haven't been bad at all this year. Most players are only getting 150-175 PA's with RISP over a full season, so there's always going to be variance in those SSS numbers.

I'm not sure I agree with that. He was the #1 hitter on the team in 2021 and 2022, when the Jays were a Top 2 offense in baseball. He didn't produce last year, but appears to have made adjustments and is trending up once again as a hitter.

So if Moreno was on the Jays, some think fans would be preaching patience (and not worried about him). Are fans currently preaching patience with Kirk? I don't see many to be honest. I think most believe this is who he is, it's underwhelming and they are disappointed. I think that's a bit of a mistake to be honest. Kirk's been a better bat than Moreno throughout his career, both in terms of his peak and overall statistics. He's also been as valuable defensively (albeit they go about it with different skills) and he's got twice the career WAR as Moreno (although he is 1 year older). I think the perception on Kirk is MUCH worse than it is for Moreno simply because of what we saw so early in his career. He burst onto the scene with the bat and everything since then feels like a massive letdown. His body type also raises questions - whether that's fair or not (ask the Molina brothers how long they can catch while being short and round). As for his stamina, there were only 8 catchers to catch more than 108 games last year. Just 13 that caught more than 100 games. Kirk caught 93 games last year. Catching seems to be headed towards the NHL goalie model where you need 2 capable ones, so I'm not sure it's a massive concern that he can't catch 130+ games a year, because nobody does that anymore. Kirk is essentially where Moreno is. Young catcher who's performing well defensively. You hope his bat continues to develop and improve as he settles into the later half of his 20's, which is a very common pattern for catchers.

I love talking about Moreno! I still believe the thought process was that while Moreno may ultimately become a star (or settle in as just a good player), the Jays likely felt it would take him 4-5 years to reach that potential, as catchers often take awhile to develop, especially offensively. That didn't align with the primary contending window. The Jays needed a longer term solution in CF and in the short term, wanted to improve the OF defense, without sacrificing all the offense. Varsho fit that well. Young player who was entering his prime, had ML success already and was someone they probably saw offensive upside in as he approached age 27-29. He's disappointed offensively and may ultimately be a 100 wRC+ hitter instead of a 115 wRC+ hitter. I still think Moreno will grow into his offensive game. I think he could develop into a Jason Kendell type catcher (sorry for using comparisons Max - don't get triggered)

If it becomes "a thing", MLB will have to step in. Can't have runners just blowing through 2nd base and running into left center field. I think if they round 2nd and run into a fielder trying to make a play at 2nd base, that has to be interference on the runner.

Malcolm (Duke) Baxter III (@dukebaxter) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 2,618 likes, 92 comments - dukebaxter on June 27, 2024: "This is crazy! The new base running technique. Hmmmm! What are your thoughts? Would you do this a 9-12u? - - Video Cred: @baseballdoesntexist". Well that's certainly interesting!!!

Remember when people we losing their s*** a few weeks ago when Schneider didn't play, right before an off-day.

Bryce Harper.

You just know they're going to be...