The Rookies

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

27 minutes ago, ChiSoxJon said:

Is Mercedes ever going to take the field? Is he a bad C?

They don't even replace the catcher in blowout wins or losses with him. That should tell you something. However he did play in Spring training and he has a really good arm. I'm one of the few on here who thinks he could start a game here and there at C. Once a month maybe if Grandal or Collins is feeling beat up ? Maybe because of his defense and hitting they don't want to take a chance of him getting banged up. The old if it not broke don't fix it thing.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

13 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

20 seems high for Vaughn. Would be great if both Yermin and AV could reach 20 but with the ball not carrying, the warmer weather may not yield the results in power we are hoping for.

I'm going to set the over/under on HR's for Vaughn at 13 and for Yermin 19 . The season is already 1/5 over.

So now that Vaughn has hit his 1st HR any takers who want to predict the number of HR's he will hit? You can predict a total number or take the over/under of 13 I set.

[ron883]

5 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

So now that Vaughn has hit his 1st HR any takers who want to predict the number of HR's he will hit? You can predict a total number or take the over/under of 13 I set.

Pfft Vaughn and Yermin will crush those HR totals

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

10 minutes ago, ron883 said:

Pfft Vaughn and Yermin will crush those HR totals

Ok cool you're taking the over on Vaughn . I think I set Yermins at 19 ? So over on that too ? I guess the proper way to do an over under would to add a .5 to the 13 and 19 to avoid ties but doesn't matter if they tie because no money being exchanged.

Edited May 13, 2021 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Summary of how The Rookies did last night.

Vaughn: 1/4 , HR, 2 RBI ,3 RS, 1 BB

   Mercedes: 1/4, RBI,1 BB

Madrigal 1/5 , 1 RS

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Summary of how  The Rookies did in today's game that extended the winning streak to 6 games with a sweep of Twinkies.

Andrew Vaughn 1/2 2 BB, 1 RBI    121 wRC+

Yermin Mercedes Pinch hit and singled to drive in an insurance run 1/1 RBI.  185 wRC+

Garrett Crochet 1.0 IP 2 BB, O H , O R , 2 K

Edited May 14, 2021 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[runtheballdown]

I’ve only seen him catch once. He looked fine and threw out a runner. He’s really a good athlete for his size

[Cashman]

On 5/13/2021 at 12:13 AM, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

So now that Vaughn has hit his 1st HR any takers who want to predict the number of HR's he will hit? You can predict a total number or take the over/under of 13 I set.

I would take the over. I think he is going to hit 15hrs this year. I think after this season, he is going to be a 20-25hr every day player.

[pcq]

I think the launch angle thingy has subsided a bit around the league. 

[SpringfieldFan]

On 5/12/2021 at 11:30 AM, bmags said:

It has absolutely been the most interesting question to me as well. I love minor league ball, love minor league stadiums. I really wonder after last year if it is actually the best way to prepare baseball players to play at the highest level.

It is a good question. NFL players come straight out of college, and the best NBA players transition straight out of their Little Tikes plastic hoops it seems. Why does MLB require so much longer an incubation time?

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

7 hours ago, Cashman said:

I would take the over. I think he is going to hit 15hrs this year. I think after this season, he is going to be a 20-25hr every day player.

Awesome another brave soul with his prediction down for all eternity. Once he hits his 2nd HR no more predictions will count. Same with Yermin all predictions in before his 6th HR.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

On 5/11/2021 at 3:11 PM, raBBit said:

Madrigal is going to get some votes if he keeps his average comfortably over .300. If Arozarena can channel whatever he showed last October he can get in the lead quickly.

That said, I am believer in Vaughn. I don't think the Sox (TLR) have handled him correctly and he's played through that as well as the adversity of playing LF and he's still been a firmly positive contributor at the plate. Assuming he doesn't have issues playing everyday, I still think he's got a strong shot to end the year with 20 bombs and .275/.360 AVG/OBP.

That's the difference between Vaughn and Mercedes. Everyone thinks once Vaughn starts hitting ( and he has)  that he will sustain it because of college accolades and rank . People aren't as sure about Mercedes because he's taken the longer harder road to MLB. Vaughn already has multiple $Millions while Mercedes is lucky to have qualified recently for the minimal MLB pension .

I'm rooting for Mercedes for ROY. Nothing against Vaughn , I love the kid, I'm more of a share the wealth kind of guy and Mercedes might have to hit well for 5 years just to come close to Vaughn's signing money.

[chitownsportsfan]

Vaughn is t-10 among LF in fWAR.  Absolutely amazing to step into a new position at age 23 and just become a top half LF in all of baseball.  The sort of scouting and development the Sox have lacked for decades.  Certainly things can change but so far so good, he's surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.  Certainly proving me an idiot.  I thought he needed at least 200-300 more PA in the high minors.

[bmags]

37 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Vaughn is t-10 among LF in fWAR.  Absolutely amazing to step into a new position at age 23 and just become a top half LF in all of baseball.  The sort of scouting and development the Sox have lacked for decades.  Certainly things can change but so far so good, he's surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.  Certainly proving me an idiot.  I thought he needed at least 200-300 more PA in the high minors.

Especially with games played.

Truly, I probably am just whelmed by his offense - I expected a lot and he's providing a lot. But I really can't believe this dude looks as fine as any left fielder we've had for a decade or so.

All you heard about him was "he only looks athletic when he swings", but he looks fine...slow, but there are lots of slow outfielders. I expected his arm to be weak but was corrected, it must be more they are just training him to get it in first as priority until he learns more of the position.

Anyway A+ Andrew, good good good.

[chitownsportsfan]

10 minutes ago, bmags said:

Especially with games played.

Truly, I probably am just whelmed by his offense - I expected a lot and he's providing a lot. But I really can't believe this dude looks as fine as any left fielder we've had for a decade or so.

All you heard about him was "he only looks athletic when he swings", but he looks fine...slow, but there are lots of slow outfielders. I expected his arm to be weak but was corrected, it must be more they are just training him to get it in first as priority until he learns more of the position.

Anyway A+ Andrew, good good good.

He has good hips and gets good reads.  Not fast but certainly you don't need to be that fast to chase down most balls in the corner of LF at the G-Rate.  I just think that Eloy has some of the stiffest hips you'll ever see on a pro athlete.  

[pcq]

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

That's the difference between Vaughn and Mercedes. Everyone thinks once Vaughn starts hitting ( and he has)  that he will sustain it because of college accolades and rank . People aren't as sure about Mercedes because he's taken the longer harder road to MLB. Vaughn already has multiple $Millions while Mercedes is lucky to have qualified recently for the minimal MLB pension .

I'm rooting for Mercedes for ROY. Nothing against Vaughn , I love the kid, I'm more of a share the wealth kind of guy and Mercedes might have to hit well for 5 years just to come close to Vaughn's signing money.

We are blessed with a talented pool of rookies who have kept this team in contention. 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

41 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

He has good hips and gets good reads.  Not fast but certainly you don't need to be that fast to chase down most balls in the corner of LF at the G-Rate.  I just think that Eloy has some of the stiffest hips you'll ever see on a pro athlete.  

I'm going to reserve judgement on Vaughn's fielding. I've been fooling around on Baseball Savant and he's surrounded by a bunch of catchers and DH's as far as sprint speed goes. Their are some LFer's comparatively fast like Jesse Winker and Alex Dickerson. 

As far as jumps and reads go he's in the negative  and also in the negative of OAA (Outs Against Average) but sample size is still pretty low but the bigger the sample size, the worse I expect it to get for him since everything is based on how much ground you can cover relative to how long the ball is in the air from where you started. That means  speed, route, and jump all come into play. While with more time his routes or jumps could improve  his speed will not. Things that go wrong would not be obvious to most fans because he may not get to a ball that someone faster would in a situation like bases loaded 2 outs and a double barely out of his reach that scores 3 runs. But it will show up in his OAA. As for now he's been fine but as the sample size grows I'm not optimistic.

But hey maybe you will find more encouraging things than I did on his Baseball Savant page.

Edited May 14, 2021 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

12 minutes ago, pcq said:

We are blessed with a talented pool of rookies who have kept this team in contention. 

That's why I made the thread. Every player get's his own thread from time to time based on how well or poorly they are doing but as a group of Rookies all performing well it's been a very solid reason why the team is very good. 5 rookies performing so well is hard to imagine. I don't know if anyone can come up with such a large group on any team in recent memory.

Edited May 14, 2021 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[South Side Hit Men]

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Vaughn is t-10 among LF in fWAR.  Absolutely amazing to step into a new position at age 23 and just become a top half LF in all of baseball.  The sort of scouting and development the Sox have lacked for decades.  Certainly things can change but so far so good, he's surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.  Certainly proving me an idiot.  I thought he needed at least 200-300 more PA in the high minors.

Yes, the Sox aren’t necessarily the best drafting team in baseball, but the FO definitely did a great job upgrading personnel to draft well the past few years.
 

Coupled with Marco Paddy, they should continue to have a solid pipeline of players, after their draft slots drop from the Top 5-10 to the bottom third. When JR leaves, Marco can include younger prospects.

[MiddleCoastBias]

Tom Verducci just did an extended dive on Yermin Mercedes on MLBN, drawing up comps. He compared Yerm to the following:

Josh Donaldson's ability to crush the fastball

Jose Canseco's aggressiveness and power with less than two strikes

Paul Molitor's ability to put it in play on two strikes

Yogi Berra's ability to hit anything "from the nose to the toes"

Lot of high praise from Verducci and tall comparisons. Obviously still "young" in his pro career to live up to those laudits, but awesome that he's getting the attention and recognition for what he's doing.

[SpringfieldFan]

Ok, so whose gonna be ROY? Yermin, AV, Madrigal....... or Kelenic, who in one evening has already managed to suck all the air out of the room?

Edited May 15, 2021 by SpringfieldFan

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Summary from yesterday's Doubleheader.

Michael Kopech 4 IP, 2H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5K

Vaughn 1/5 HR 1 RS 3 RBI     Also had his 1st MLB start at 1st base since Abreu was injured in the 1st game and made a nice diving stop.

Mercedes 1/5 BB

Madrigal 0/3

https

://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1393368996175560704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1393368996175560704%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlb.com%2Fnews

Edited May 15, 2021 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[fathom]

24 minutes ago, SpringfieldFan said:

Ok, so whose gonna be ROY? Yermin, AV, Madrigal....... or Kelenic, who in one evening has already managed to suck all the air out of the room?

Is Adolis Garcia eligible 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

1 minute ago, fathom said:

Is Adolis Garcia eligible 

Yep he's in the opening post in the video link.

[fathom]

3 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Yep he's in the opening post in the video link.

Like I’m going to read your crap