I thought that Garcia's barehanded play on Alberto's bunt was extremely outstanding. I also appreciated his willingness to take a walk when he was trying to get a bunt down. Not many young hitters would have the patience or self-discipline to do that.
Hmmm...since he's so sound defensively maybe they'd be better off playing him at.... Nope, I promised you I'd leave that topic alone so this is me biting my tongue. (Ouch. That hurts!)
Oliveras is obviously a very gifted athlete. And it's only excellent hand-eye coordination that allows him to hit as well as he does. All of that makes it extremely frustrating that he has such trouble catching the baseball. Sometimes it's poor technique and other times it appears to be lack of focus.
A couple things of note. I’ll admit that Massey has looked better since I derided him in this message board a few weeks ago and lumped him with Dozier. I think MJ has a future with this team as their everyday RF and they should abandon the C experiment and keep his bat in the lineup, they seem to have unlocked something in him in May. Can anyone explain to me how dWAR is calculated on Baseball Reference because the eye test passes both Pratto and Maikel Garcia and both are negative WAR because of their D. Speaking of Pratto, I have more confidence in his ABs than Witt or MJ right now and I have more and more confidence in them each day.
One last thing, does this team have a Jeremy Guthrie trade in it? I always felt like that July 2012 trade is what shaped the 14/15 seasons. Guthrie came in and gave the Royals a legitimate SP who kept them in games. Then we were over .500 in 13 and the rest is history. I feel like that is what this team needs.
Massey has been great lately. Much better plate discipline and "swing decisions" as they talk about so often. I'm glad they're focusing on one spot for MJ, knowing that his versatility can come in handy if needed.
As for dWAR, defensive stats take so long to stabilize that looking at a sample of a few games is going to turn up some weird numbers. It takes two or three years to be truly stable but you can see something with a few months at a time too, but I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about small samples there.
That Guthrie trade was a lot of luck. They had a sense that getting him out of Colorado would be big for him, and that made sense, but he was also a 33-year old with a 6+ ERA. I'm not sure if there's someone who fits that profile, but you never know, I guess.
I guess that my hope of Mad Max starting in Milwaukee on Friday just isn't going to be...oh, well. Great game last night. I do love that the young'uns are starting to drive the ball the opposite way when presented with the opportunity to do so.
I thought that Garcia's barehanded play on Alberto's bunt was extremely outstanding. I also appreciated his willingness to take a walk when he was trying to get a bunt down. Not many young hitters would have the patience or self-discipline to do that.
And it was the second straight day he did it. The guy is very sound defensively. Fun to watch.
Hmmm...since he's so sound defensively maybe they'd be better off playing him at.... Nope, I promised you I'd leave that topic alone so this is me biting my tongue. (Ouch. That hurts!)
I suppose you could move the guy who leads the team in OAA off his position, but that seems odd.
The Royals are playing their best defense on the field, they were transactional, AND, they won. Is this Christmas?!
Well, their best defense and Olivares haha. But yeah, I should have written a bit about that trade too, but this thing ran long.
Oliveras is obviously a very gifted athlete. And it's only excellent hand-eye coordination that allows him to hit as well as he does. All of that makes it extremely frustrating that he has such trouble catching the baseball. Sometimes it's poor technique and other times it appears to be lack of focus.
I don't think it's focus at all. He's just a mess.
A couple things of note. I’ll admit that Massey has looked better since I derided him in this message board a few weeks ago and lumped him with Dozier. I think MJ has a future with this team as their everyday RF and they should abandon the C experiment and keep his bat in the lineup, they seem to have unlocked something in him in May. Can anyone explain to me how dWAR is calculated on Baseball Reference because the eye test passes both Pratto and Maikel Garcia and both are negative WAR because of their D. Speaking of Pratto, I have more confidence in his ABs than Witt or MJ right now and I have more and more confidence in them each day.
One last thing, does this team have a Jeremy Guthrie trade in it? I always felt like that July 2012 trade is what shaped the 14/15 seasons. Guthrie came in and gave the Royals a legitimate SP who kept them in games. Then we were over .500 in 13 and the rest is history. I feel like that is what this team needs.
Massey has been great lately. Much better plate discipline and "swing decisions" as they talk about so often. I'm glad they're focusing on one spot for MJ, knowing that his versatility can come in handy if needed.
As for dWAR, defensive stats take so long to stabilize that looking at a sample of a few games is going to turn up some weird numbers. It takes two or three years to be truly stable but you can see something with a few months at a time too, but I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about small samples there.
That Guthrie trade was a lot of luck. They had a sense that getting him out of Colorado would be big for him, and that made sense, but he was also a 33-year old with a 6+ ERA. I'm not sure if there's someone who fits that profile, but you never know, I guess.
I guess that my hope of Mad Max starting in Milwaukee on Friday just isn't going to be...oh, well. Great game last night. I do love that the young'uns are starting to drive the ball the opposite way when presented with the opportunity to do so.
He still could pitch bulk innings. He threw 47 pitches and then would have three days rest.