MIN vs TOR (May 6-8)

[BigLeagueChew]

"The past couple weeks, it's been the same thing--swinging at pitches outside the zone, not hitting the pitches in the zone." -Bryce Harper on his hitting lately

[BigLeagueChew]

2B Eric Sogard L
SS F. Galvis S
CF R. Grichuk R
DH Justin Smoak S
1B Rowdy Tellez L
LF B. McKinney L
3B B. Drury R
RF S. Brito L
C Luke Maile R

[So_Fresh]

Guys this is getting painful. At this pace we might very well lose 100 games or more this season.

[Lateral Quicks]

Some pretty brutal baseball we're seeing from the home side recently. Surely some of these guys have to come around at some point?

Edit: Maybe if we waste another 300 PAs on Brito, he can raise hit batting average above .100.

[Fairview4Life]

Some pretty brutal baseball we're seeing from the home side recently. Surely some of these guys have to come around at some point?

Edit: Maybe if we waste another 300 PAs on Brito, he can raise hit batting average above .100.

Keith Law was supporting Brito, right? I have some questions.

[Schad]

I'll admit that I'm a bit surprised that we aren't giving Jonathan Davis a shot over Brito. He's 40-man rostered already, fills the same sort of role, and frankly at 27 you don't really worry about yo-yoing him or hurting his development. That'd mean exposing Brito to assignment waivers, but if someone wants him, have at 'er.

[Cyrus]

I'll admit that I'm a bit surprised that we aren't giving Jonathan Davis a shot over Brito. He's 40-man rostered already, fills the same sort of role, and frankly at 27 you don't really worry about yo-yoing him or hurting his development. That'd mean exposing Brito to assignment waivers, but if someone wants him, have at 'er.

Or hell DJ Davis....whose tearing it up in Baltimore, though i suppose if he was on the jays, he would be infected with the jays offensive woes.

[Schad]

Or hell DJ Davis....whose tearing it up in Baltimore, though i suppose if he was on the jays, he would be infected with the jays offensive woes.

Dwight Smith Jr, rather...DJ Davis is unfortunately tearing it up in his new position at Arby's. We released him after last season.

I'm happy to see DSJ doing well, but it's still a question of sustainability; his major league hitting profile this year and last bears no real resemblance to his minor league numbers, where he hit a tonne of grounders. Was always a debate over whether he could have average-ish power if he didn't hit the ball on the ground with such frequency, and he still has some distance to go to prove that he keep it up. Life as an average-or-worse defensive LF that doesn't have real pop is tough.

[So_Fresh]

Anyone catch the Montoyo presser at the end of last night's game? He dropped the F bomb. Lol.

Sent from my LM-Q710.FGN using RealGM mobile app

[dagger]

Pannone has been optioned to Buffalo. Corresponding move to come.

[emptytheclip]

A few things stand out.

One, he's seeing very few pitches that touch the middle-middle sector. He's putting most of those in play; the issue is that he's been chopping down on the ball a bit, and consequently hitting hard ground balls (his exit velocity isn't terrible) rather than thumping them into the outfield.

Second, not only are pitchers nibbling to a crazy extent, he really isn't getting calls on the corners. Part of that might be the "rookies have to earn it" thing, but I can't help but wonder whether his demonstrativeness is hurting...umpires really don't seem to like it when kids react to fringy calls. He's had a couple genuinely poor at-bats where he went fishing, but he's had a lot more with pitches there or thereabouts.

One noticeable trend: after mostly pitching him off the outside corner, he's starting to see more on the inside edge as well, which demonstrates the degree to which major league pitchers will adjust even before you've fully adjusted to them. Jamming him with fastballs keeps him from getting too comfortable leaning out over the plate, and has produced some weak contact.

Pitchers reaaaaaally aren't giving in. Check the long at-bats; there's an awful lot of pitches in 3-1 and 3-2 counts that are anything but get-me-overs.

Ultimately, he has to prove that he do something with the pitches on the outside edge, even it's merely spoiling them. Part of that, likely, is waiting back a little more; he's trying to crush everything pull-side at the moment, and might need to wait a touch and try to use the middle of the field more. He's a pull-side power hitter, but right now the risk-reward favours nibbling, even though he's getting his fair share of walks, because he hasn't done much with them when he isn't walking.

Those charts are amazing, great work.
I feel like he’s progressively seeing more pitches and producing better plate appearances more similar to Buffalo.
But yeah it’s pretty crazy looking at those charts. Without the context it’s like they’re pitching to freaking Mike Trout with bases loaded. The amount of borderline pitches, breaking balls, and nibbling outter corners is ridiculous.

Eventually something’s gotta give.

[Fairview4Life]

A few things stand out.

One, he's seeing very few pitches that touch the middle-middle sector. He's putting most of those in play; the issue is that he's been chopping down on the ball a bit, and consequently hitting hard ground balls (his exit velocity isn't terrible) rather than thumping them into the outfield.

Second, not only are pitchers nibbling to a crazy extent, he really isn't getting calls on the corners. Part of that might be the "rookies have to earn it" thing, but I can't help but wonder whether his demonstrativeness is hurting...umpires really don't seem to like it when kids react to fringy calls. He's had a couple genuinely poor at-bats where he went fishing, but he's had a lot more with pitches there or thereabouts.

One noticeable trend: after mostly pitching him off the outside corner, he's starting to see more on the inside edge as well, which demonstrates the degree to which major league pitchers will adjust even before you've fully adjusted to them. Jamming him with fastballs keeps him from getting too comfortable leaning out over the plate, and has produced some weak contact.

Pitchers reaaaaaally aren't giving in. Check the long at-bats; there's an awful lot of pitches in 3-1 and 3-2 counts that are anything but get-me-overs.

Ultimately, he has to prove that he do something with the pitches on the outside edge, even it's merely spoiling them. Part of that, likely, is waiting back a little more; he's trying to crush everything pull-side at the moment, and might need to wait a touch and try to use the middle of the field more. He's a pull-side power hitter, but right now the risk-reward favours nibbling, even though he's getting his fair share of walks, because he hasn't done much with them when he isn't walking.

Those charts are amazing, great work.
I feel like he’s progressively seeing more pitches and producing better plate appearances more similar to Buffalo.
But yeah it’s pretty crazy looking at those charts. Without the context it’s like they’re pitching to freaking Mike Trout with bases loaded. The amount of borderline pitches, breaking balls, and nibbling outter corners is ridiculous.

Eventually something’s gotta give.

Just needs to start walking all the time.