CaliSoxFanViaSWside

I know your thing is your own funky nicknames for players but sometimes the thought might not come through to the reader. As in this case I am left wondering if Benzo is Benintendi ? or some super utility guy i can't remember . Oh wait it took me a while Ben Zobrist. BenZo.

Yep with Manfred Mann performing it and making it a hit. Quinn the Eskimo .

Yep if anything it will be pitching that is the ultimate reason for the Sox making or not making the playoffs .

Don't be surprised to see Mendick in the OF for some ST games.

I was just going to say he'd be a worse fit in NPB than Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball.

The Mighty Quin. You ain't seen nothin' like the Mighty Quin, Manfred Mann song reference not the Denzel Washington movie.

I think you were right the 1st time you read it. Major moves are done. Even position players might be done if you can live with Leury or Mendick, Jarrod Dyson hits lefties pretty well. Not for any power but BA and OBP pretty good and he can play all OF positions very well. Also excellent pinch runner. Getting pretty old though.

Anderson.

And you just don't get it You keep it copacetic

Happy Birthday Carlton Fisk. 72 years old today.

Right and Mazara has to realize sooner or later that something with him has to change to reach his vast potential or he will always be THAT guy with huge talent like Avi who bounces around once he starts getting too expensive to keep for average or below average production from a corner OF. The question is what was TX selling that Mazara wasn't buying ?

Yes I know that many older players put up great numbers in AAA and are always considered AAAA guys like Ryan Goins did in Charlotte or Palka and Skole. The difference is this was Mercedes 1st taste of AAA after finally getting to AA this year then to AAA so he didn't have much experience in the upper minors just like Robert. In that respect the context is the same.Sure he can end up another AAAA guy especially considering he's more a DH than anything but the dude sure can hit.

Yes in February he will be 27 but he was not exposed to the rule 5 draft so I think they keep him.

That would be a shame. He arguably hit just as good as Collins and Robert in AAA. If you combined Collins with Robert you kind of get Mercedes Walk rate below Collins but higher than Robert . Same big power as both . Higher batting average than both Collins and Robert. OBP % higher than Robert but lower than Collins. Slugging % higher than both of them. OPS, wOBA, and wRC+higher than both of them. K% better than both.

Sure they can. Losing Giolito early in the season would hurt a lot because there is no one close to the quality of pitcher he is to take his place.You can also say that the combined games that Robert, Kopech and Madrigal miss being down in the minors could make the difference between making the playoffs or not. Multiple injuries to several key players can be that difference too . You can dream up a lot of scenarios that create that difference but competent backups ease the the painand I will stand by my original response to you saying that the Sox are screwed if Grandal gets hurt,They are not that dependent on one position player.

I don't see a problem with Collins in AAA or starting the season with the Sox . Like others have said unless in limited playing time he mashes he's likely going down when Robert and Madrigal gets called up. He might even go back down even if he is mashing.

It isn't a debate about Collins being the future catcher . It's about if he can provide a strong bat (OBP , power) and become more valuable.I love @Chicago White Soxas a poster and I know he likes Collins to a certain extent but sometimes he can be a bit unfair such as saying he knows Collins can put up good numbers with a juiced ball hitting in a bandbox. Collins did not create that situation but he did better than everyone else in Charlotte and the ball and park also has nothing to do with the amount of walks he takes. He can become the catcher of the future . Many catchers have their weak and strong points. Grandal is considered one of the best framers but has a lot of passed balls. McCanncalls a good game and throws out base stealers at a decent clip but isn't a good framer . McCann and Grandal complement each other for this year. Keep McCann for the year ,keep Collins and roll with it.

1st sentence not true unless you don't believe in the rest of the team or the depth .One player is not the difference between winning and being screwed. It would hurt but if the Sox do or don't make the playoffs it's a team thing not a Grandal being hurt thing. Depth allows you to overcome injuries. The Sox as currently constructed are a much improved team.

Puig will never break out unless he dedicates himself to getting better. His best days are behind him He does not work hard at getting better. He admitted it himself. He relies on his own instincts and his own perceived knowledge of the game which in the past has resulted in clashes with coaches about defensive positioning. Everyone knows these things about him which is why he has a soft market.

Right like anything else it is something that requires patience and practice because you are changing something that made you successful your whole life but as someone like JDM discovered, some times that isn't enough when you get to the top of the pyramid.

I was just using an example . EE will get rest mostly against RH's but if he is hurting or banged up .McCann will be catching more and getting starts against LH's too.

You can have a good average launch angle and still be a bad hitter. I know that's what you are saying. If you are a naturally good hitter jacking up the launch angle a little bit can only help you. Eloy and Mazara fit into that category because they do hit to all fields but they both also ground out way too much when they barrel up the ball and hit it hard.It's not just selling out for dingers as another poster was worried about. While the best hitters have an average launch angle somewhere in the 15 degrees range, the ideal launch angle for a HR is 25 to 30 degrees. This is where your contact point comes in. We can all probably agree that the highest percent of HR's are balls that are pulled . which means hitters are making contact with the ball out in front of the plate which will always increase the launch angle naturally.

Well its been known for a long time that pulling the ball results in more HR's but it isn't for veryone , You can get pull happy and this makes you susceptible to a lot of breaking pitches. Big guys like Mazara , Eloy, EE , JDM all do not need to pull the ball to hit HR's . Just elevate it a little more and you get more hits and more HR's to all fields.

Exactly and even though all line drives cannot be hits a line drive should result more often in a hit but if you aren't elevating that line drive enough it won't get over the infielders head. One of the hardest hit balls Eloy hit last year was a groundball out at somewhere at like 115 MPH. It really a waste of exit velocity which is a result of barrel % and hard hit %.

I've seen some articles that address this. Old school coaches being afraid of it. But that fact is that it's not anything dramatic and studies do show that ground balls equal outs and elevating the ball equals hits, If you are in the upper 8% of hard hit balls in the league your batting average should be higher than .268. There were not any dramatic shifts on Eloy taking hits away from him. He was just hitting too many ground balls, In Ted Williams book about the science of hitting in 1971 he also said the bat path should have a slight upward path. I'm not suggesting anything radical. There are documented guys like Donaldson Rendon, Max Muncy, Chris Taylor who all benefited greatly from a change in average launch angle. I don't know if the Dodgers are teaching it specifically.,but I used to wonder "Where is our Max Muncy "? Sometimes there's a thing we call player development that helps young players reach their potential . I'd love to see some of that. This should address some of your concerns : https://baseballrebellion.com/articles/launch-angle-the-most-misunderstood-term-in-hitting/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/mlb-launch-angles-story/?utm_term=.64f56207224a