Moncada

[footlongcomiskeydog]

6 minutes ago, Wanne said:

I honestly think the best reason to call up Eloy as soon as possible is to light a fire under Moncada's ass and to show him "it's ok to be good" lol...  Whether that's next year or not..that's another argument.  But seems to me Moncada needs some sort of "competitive challenge".  Eloy stealing the show might just be what he needs.  Some will downplay the idea...I don't.  Competitive people don't like other people stealing their thunder....just sayin.

Is this a serious post? Moncada needs to learn how to make adjustments to drastically reduce his strikeout rate and hit better from the right side. He does not need some sort of "competitive challenge" from his own teammate. If anything, he should look around baseball and see younger prospects like Torres, Soto, Acuna, Albies, and Meadows all playing better than him and strive to catch up. 

Eloy needs a couple hundred at bats in AAA before he is called up.

 

 

[chitownsportsfan]

2 hours ago, tlongo81@gmail.com said:

Are there any recent examples of a guy with a near 40% strikeout rate after 500 plate appearances turning into a perennial all star?

Aaron Judge?

[BlackSox13]

8 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Aaron Judge?

I hear he's kinda good. Hit a few home runs last year if I remember correctly.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

12 hours ago, tlongo81@gmail.com said:

Are there any recent examples of a guy with a near 40% strikeout rate after 500 plate appearances turning into a perennial all star?

But he’s not near 40%, he’s just under 35% for his career. Someone mentioned Judge but Kris Bryant is another example of a guy that struck out >30% in his first 500 plate appearances. Like Judge, he’s not just a perennial all star, he’s a perennial MVP. Also worth noting Bryant was 23 during his rookie year and Judge was 25. Moncada just turned 23. Far too early to write this kid off. He still has perennial all star ability.

[Lillian]

His defense rarely gets discussed, however I'd really like to see him play more fundamentally sound second base. He seem a little too flashy, at times. I give him a "10" on style, and a "5" on results.

[Lip Man 1]

On 6/18/2018 at 3:00 PM, Flash said:

The FO has much to be blamed for but taking Moncada and Kopech (plus Basabe and Diaz) is not one of them. At the time of the trade, every major rating service considered Moncada a top 3, if not the best prospect in baseball. Kopech was on the ascent as a fireballer with TOR potential. They might both end up disappointing but, at the time, it looked like more than a fair trade.

Which is why if that were to happen, you'd have to question the ability of the Sox system to develop top rated kids into solid, good, major league players. Given the past 15 years or so, the jury is out on that important point.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Lip Man 1

[fathom]

Over the past month, his defense has been worse than his offense. If he keeps this up, he better not complain when they move him to a different position when Madrigal comes up 

[Jose Abreu]

1 hour ago, fathom said:

Over the past month, his defense has been worse than his offense. If he keeps this up, he better not complain when they move him to a different position when Madrigal comes up 

I agree that his defense has taken a step back but he still ranks as the #6 2B in baseball

[Lip Man 1]

Another error this afternoon, nine or 10 now if I remember right.

[WBWSF]

1) Older White Sox fans remember how Robin Ventura didn't do well his 1990 rookie season. Ventura turned it around his second season. Moncada is struggling this year. Hopefully he will start to do better the rest of the season. What troubles me about him is his bad defense. Hes making errors on ordinary ground balls. I can't help but wonder, if Moncada is this bad next year will the White Sox go in another direction at second base? 2) Bruce Levine said on the radio this morning he expects Jimenez to be brought up to the White Sox in another 3-4 weeks.If he's brought up I hope provides a spark to this team. This team is really hard to watch.

[Jose Abreu]

For every "error", there are 2-3 plays he makes on a ball that the average 2B wouldn't get to. These plays involving impressive range that may look routine tend to go unnoticed by fans which is why some infielders are so underrated/overrated defensively (take Jeter, for example). Moncada's range is ridiculous. Moving him off of 2B would be a big mistake 

Edited June 20, 2018 by Jose Abreu

[peppers312]

over 100 K's on the season and only 27 walks for a leadoff hitter.

 

*facepalm*

[FloydBannister1983]

53 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

For every "error", there are 2-3 plays he makes on a ball that the average 2B wouldn't get to. These plays involving impressive range that may look routine tend to go unnoticed by fans which is why some infielders are so underrated/overrated defensively (take Jeter, for example). Moncada's range is ridiculous. Moving him off of 2B would be a big mistake 

Why did you put "error" in quotes?  Are you implying that he hasn't committed any errors?

 

[Jose Abreu]

3 hours ago, Juschill said:

Why did you put "error" in quotes?  Are you implying that he hasn't committed any errors?

 

No, I just think the stat is way too subjective to matter. He has had some bad plays for sure, but far more good ones. 

[BlackSox13]

5 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

No, I just think the stat is way too subjective to matter. He has had some bad plays for sure, but far more good ones. 

I'm glad you pointed this out. Some folks rail on TA if he makes a bad play but completely ignore the good plays. I just don't get it.

[Jack Parkman]

7 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

Moncada has probably lost 10-15 points of average and 25-35 points of OBP with as many times as he's been rung up on pitches that were clearly ball four in full counts. All I'd ask Renteria is what took him so long to stand up for Moncada?

This belongs here too. 

[Jake]

On 6/18/2018 at 1:12 PM, Jake said:

FWIW, Moncada has the second most called third strikes on pitches that were outside the zone in MLB with 9 such blown calls. Matt Davidson is first with 11. For the sake of context, he's also struck out looking 22 times on pitches *inside* the zone, which ranks highly. Still, you're looking at nearly a third of his strikeouts looking ending on a blown call by the umpire. For more context, he's had 5 pitches in the zone called balls with 2 strikes (56th highest in MLB), so this isn't merely an artifact of him taking a lot of pitches. League-wide players on average get many more 2-strike pitches in the zone called balls than the opposite kind of mistake because the strike zone as it is typically called by umpires is smaller than the rulebook strike zone. And as one last fun fact about Moncada's struggles with the umpires, he's had 5 occasions in which a 3-ball pitch outside the zone was called a strike, 3rd highest number in the league. He's only had the inverse happen 2 times, making him one of the unluckiest full time players by that measure as well.

 

Side note: Davidson has only struck out 14 times looking on pitches inside the zone, meaning it's about a coin flip when he's called out looking whether strike 3 was in the zone or not.

 

33 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

This belongs here too. 

 

[southsider2k5]

 

[Jake]

Sounds like what they were focusing on a problem that is has often looked like he's had: He's not fully committed to his swing, like he's second guessing himself on his pitch recognition in the process of swinging.

[Dam8610]

6 hours ago, Jake said:

Sounds like what they were focusing on a problem that is has often looked like he's had: He's not fully committed to his swing, like he's second guessing himself on his pitch recognition in the process of swinging.

Great, so the umps screwed him up by blowing so many calls.

[Jake]

18 hours ago, Dam8610 said:

Great, so the umps screwed him up by blowing so many calls.

Well, it could be just as much about recognizing fastball vs. offspeed, etc. He's swung and missed enough times to get in his own head, that's for sure.

[Lillian]

Moncada is virtually worthless, as a RH hitter and from the left side I see two major problems: First; he has one swing, regardless of the count or the situation. Secondly, he takes way too many pitches, with 2 strikes. Hopefully, he will learn and make adjustments.

[fathom]

Just now, Lillian said:

Moncada is virtually worthless, as a RH hitter and from the left side I see two major problems: First; he has one swing, regardless of the count or the situation. Secondly, he takes way too many pitches, with 2 strikes. Hopefully, he will learn and make adjustments.

His swing is very robotic. You never see him make mid-swing adjustments to try and make contact or flip a ball the opposite way.  He also struggles to put good fastballs into play, as he hits a ton of fouls to left field. He has a ton of tools, but saying the Sox are the right team to help him develop is hard to be confident in.

[Wanne]

not even remotely going to write him off...but he needs to start showing some improvement here pretty soon.  Not sure what his issues are...but they're really rubbing some of that shine off his star. I realize he's still very young...but c'mon.

[Lillian]

17 minutes ago, fathom said:

His swing is very robotic. You never see him make mid-swing adjustments to try and make contact or flip a ball the opposite way.  He also struggles to put good fastballs into play, as he hits a ton of fouls to left field. He has a ton of tools, but saying the Sox are the right team to help him develop is hard to be confident in.

"Robotic" is precisely what I meant. Unless he makes adjustments, it will only get worse, as more and more pitchers begin to exploit that flaw, by pitching him away from the "robotic" swing. As gratifying as it is to see Anderson discovering how effective he can be, taking pitches to the opposite field, it's that frustrating watching Moncada refusing to do so.