BJs (10-11) vs. Nationals (8-11) - April 27-28

[Schad]

But why though? Obviously he knows enough to be conversational but the value to having a larger vocabulary is that you can more accurately describe things, and this is especially true of English which is much less hampered by strict grammar.

Comfort. Being in front of a camera, on live television, is a scenario that puts more pressure on one's linguistic skills than talking about baseball with other baseball players. Ichiro had an interpreter his whole career; he spoke excellent English (the biggest flaw in his English, and part of the reason he apparently didn't use it in public, is that he cursed prolifically).

[Metallikid]

But why though? Obviously he knows enough to be conversational but the value to having a larger vocabulary is that you can more accurately describe things, and this is especially true of English which is much less hampered by strict grammar.

Comfort. Being in front of a camera, on live television, is a scenario that puts more pressure on one's linguistic skills than talking about baseball with other baseball players. Ichiro had an interpreter his whole career; he spoke excellent English (the biggest flaw in his English, and the reason he apparently didn't use it in public, is that he cursed prolifically).

I mean, I never thought it made sense for Ichiro either. Yes, I have heard he swore a lot.

Hopefully the situation is as you guys are describing it.

[vaff87]

After all the fretting in Vlad's first two seasons, his career numbers stand at:

850 PAs, .278/.352/.467 (OPS of .819), 31 HRs.

Which really puts the first two years (1.4 years, really) in context. He was an above-average hitter who had a couple adjustments to make in order to be an elite hitter. And then he made those adjustments.

I really wish he would learn better English. He's so talented I feel like he could help the others so much more if he spoke better English.

To be honest, I think he speaks pretty decent English. He probably just doesn't feel comfortable speaking English on camera during an interview where his words could potentially be taken out of context.

I remember reading years old stories where the Jays were putting Vladdy in ESL classes when he was in the minors.

Yeah, he speaks English just fine. Him and Bo aren’t conversing in Spanish when the cameras constantly show them sitting together in the dugout. A lot of foreign players don’t feel comfortable speaking to the media in English, both Hispanic players and Asian players.

[vaff87]

As they said after the game, Vladdy is the youngest player since “at least 1901” to record at least 3 HR and 7 RBI in a game. From what I understand, the likelihood someone younger did it before 1901 is pretty slim, but they just don’t know for sure because the records before that are harder to find and less reliable.

[Schad]

As they said after the game, Vladdy is the youngest player since “at least 1901” to record at least 3 HR and 7 RBI in a game. From what I understand, the likelihood someone younger did it before 1901 is pretty slim, but they just don’t know for sure because the records before that are harder to find and less reliable.

Heh, yeah, that's because Baseball Reference doesn't have game logs prior to 1901.

Baseball Almanac actually lists several 3-HR games prior to 1901 (including 4-HR games for Ed Delahanty and Bobby Lowe, which somehow makes this twice that I've managed to mention Delahanty in a game thread in a week), but the youngest is Tom McCreery, who was about seven months older than Vlad. Also no indication of how many RBI he had. That 3-HR game is also the only time in MLB history that someone hit three inside-the-park HRs in the same game.

[Raps in 4]

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[tanuki1031]

But why though? Obviously he knows enough to be conversational but the value to having a larger vocabulary is that you can more accurately describe things, and this is especially true of English which is much less hampered by strict grammar.

Comfort. Being in front of a camera, on live television, is a scenario that puts more pressure on one's linguistic skills than talking about baseball with other baseball players. Ichiro had an interpreter his whole career; he spoke excellent English (the biggest flaw in his English, and part of the reason he apparently didn't use it in public, is that he cursed prolifically).

Alternatively, if the media wants comments from players the onus should be on them to send someone who is more diversely language-abled. Players train to play ball, not provide media reporting content. It's kind of like going to another country and expecting them to speak English. It may have been your expectation but that doesn't mean it's correct.

Besides, it's understandable not wanting to speak at length to the media in an unfamiliar language with how comments are constantly taken out of context or clipped these days.

TIL - Ichiro is Japanese KG

[tecumseh18]

A lot of foreign players don’t feel comfortable speaking to the media in English, both Hispanic players and Asian players.

Fortunately for the history of Blue Jays lore, Munenori Kawasaki wasn't one of them.

Lead story on ESPN this morning - an examination of Vladdy Jr.'s development curve:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31348814/toronto-blue-jays-vladimir-guerrero-jr-offensive-night-remember-washington-nationals

Interesting fact:

The Guerreros join this list of father-son duos to homer off a Cy Young winner:

• Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. homered off Dennis Eckersley, Bob Welch and Rick Sutcliffe
• Hal McRae and Brian McRae homered off Eckersley
• Jose Cruz Sr. and Jr. homered off Orel Hershiser
• Vern Law and Vance Law homered off Gaylord Perry

[Stromile12]

really nice to see Vladdy explode with three home runs in one game, great start to the year.

[TR50]

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This is super cool

[SharoneWright]

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[polo007]

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[TR50]

Finally!

[LLJ]

Hopefully we can go on a run and get out of the dreaded "just slightly below .500" baseball record

[Metallikid]

Watch on YouTube

That was a good segment. I liked the snapshot thing they did. Vladdy really is surpassing all expectations so far this year.

[The_Hater]

Hopefully we can go on a run and get out of the dreaded "just slightly below .500" baseball record

Considering the injuries we’ve had, 11-11 with a +15 run differential is actually a pretty amazing start. The FO has amassed some pretty impressive depth.

[LLJ]

Hopefully we can go on a run and get out of the dreaded "just slightly below .500" baseball record

Considering the injuries we’ve had, 11-11 with a +15 run differential is actually a pretty amazing start. The FO has amassed some pretty impressive depth.

Absolutely, we're in a good position still early in the season. But in baseball terms, constantly being 2-3 games out of .500 is that kind of eternally purgatory record that's all too familiar for most middling baseball seasons.

[The_Hater]

Hopefully we can go on a run and get out of the dreaded "just slightly below .500" baseball record

Considering the injuries we’ve had, 11-11 with a +15 run differential is actually a pretty amazing start. The FO has amassed some pretty impressive depth.

Absolutely, we're in a good position still early in the season. But in baseball terms, 2-3 games out of .500 is that kind of eternally purgatory record that's all too familiar for most middling baseball seasons.

But you’re never in a hole being 11-11 after 22 games. I remember that season after the Dickey/Reyes/Buerhle trades the Jays dug themselves an incredible hole in April/May and could never recover. A promising season was over before it even started.

[Schad]

Yeah, we'd obviously prefer to have racked up a significant cushion over the Yankees given their early struggles, but we're in decent shape. Our start-of-year projected win total was 87; after 22 games where we had boatloads of missing players and most of our lineup has been putrid, it's 86.2. Our most likely outcome was that we'd be a fringe playoff team, and our most likely outcomes is still that we'd be a fringe playoff team.

[rarefind]

Yeah, we're good. We have managed to stay afloat with a massive array of injuries. Now we knock wood, and hope like crazy that we stay healthy-ish for the rest of the season. To be around .500 and enduring the amount of games lost by impact guys, that is pretty decent from where I am sitting.