CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Talent makes bad managers look a lot better especially a guy like Renteria who the players respect. Just imagine how long Renteria will manage the Sox if they win the division next year.

When he catches against lefthanded pitching, perhaps also if still used as Giolitios personal catcher and at 37 Encarncion will need rest so against LH's when resting EE.

In Cleveland, he made positive impacts on emergent stars Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and with the Blue Jays he could do the same for Guerrero and crew. It’s a role that at this point of his career, he relishes. “In Cleveland, we had a lot of young players with great talent,” Encarnacion says. “They knew how to play the game right but sometimes you need a veteran guy. Sometimes they get in a slump and that’s a good opportunity to talk to those guys and it’s a pleasure for me to do that because when I was a rookie a lot of guys helped me with that. I feel blessed to help those young kids coming up.” This is not launch angle specific but since Encarnacion and Mazara are both Dominican and he seems to like helping the youngsters it seems very plausable if it is something the Sox coaching staff deems necessary. https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-reunion-edwin-encarnacion-benefit-young-stars/ Since the statcast era began in 2015 the launch angle phenomena has gained a solid footing in the sport and many clubs are adopting it . There are players who talk about being big proponents of it and that makes other players curious about it. So there is a type of word of mouth grassroots type deal at play or was in the beginning of the statcast era. I also found this article about the Indians interesting about smaller players like Lindor and Jose Ramirez being taught something more than launch angle but contact point and pulling the ball to hit more home runs. The basic philosophy being when you pull the ball and hit it at the right contact point the launch angle takes care of itself. Also obviously when you pull the ball the chances of hitting a HR increase because you just can't hit as many HR's to CF or the opposite field when you are limited in size and strength. This kind of philosophy seems to go against how we hear about advanced hitting approaches letting the ball get deeper and hitting the opposite way. So each player has to find what's best for them. Mazara is a big guy and has huge strength so perhaps he doesn't have to do it like Lindor or Ramirez and just a swing plane/path/launch angle difference would allow him to still go the other way and continue what he knows best which is being a gap to gap type hitter and create enough loft to carry the ball over the fence to all fields. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cleveland-has-taken-the-fly-ball-revolution-to-the-next-level/ Eloy Jimenez is another Dominican and also could benefit with an improved average launch angle. Eloy was in the top 8% in the league in hard hit % and many of his HR's go to right and CF but he was below league average in average launch angle, If he increased his launch angle and contact point to pull the ball more no telling how good he could become. However he does seem to have that same kind of hitting style as Mazara so perhaps again all he might have to do is just increase the launch angle a bit more and those hard hit outs he's making on the ground or line drives right at people end up going over the heads of infielders instead and also over the fence more.

It's a quality theft.

Did you already know the answer when you asked when it became a thing or did you look it up and post that after you researched it ? Even when I said 1919 as a haha answer I knew it had to be a 1000 or so years the Chinese were drinking tea and probably a few centuries since the British were drinking it. I was also wondering if the tea leaves were read in the bottom of the cup or if the more affluent used strainers to remove the tea leaves and they were read after dumping the strainer . Since the advent of teabags it's not as much of a thing but still many prefer drinking tea organically without teabags.

It's easy to understand why you would think that. Hahn has, on more than one occasion ,stressed building depth. He has also abstained from trading minor leaguers except for Walker. As a high OBP and power hitting LH I don;t see an immediate reason to get rid of him. We did that with Semien, Narvaez and Walker , all decent to good OBP guys. .I'm hoping we don't do the same with Collins.

1919.

We must be drinking different tea.

Wow now you sound like poppysox.

As I said in the other Mazara thread that Lilian started perhaps this is what Hahn meant by not looking at The Mazara deal in a vacuum. EE is a Dominican like Mazara. EE is a launch angle guy always around 20 degrees. Mazara is a line drive hitter with tremendous power but a career 8.9 launch angle, I think the Sox are going to lean heavily on EE as a mentor to Mazara and encourage him to think very strongly about changing his swing path and try to get that launch angle close to 15% . If the Sox , EE, Menchino and Mazara can accomplish that Mazara can be a beast .

Mazara doesn't have to reach his prospect ceiling he just has to get better . See my analysis above about his launch angle. His BABIP is tied to his launch angle. He hits way too many ground balls to the right side. He has to elevate elevate elevate . Once you get the ball in the air with his power he could improve tremendously. He needs to do whatever it is that hitters do to increase that launch angle and hopefully Encarnacion can help with that along with all kinds of stats to back up my theory. Joey Gallo said about Nomar : "That guy has stupid pop. I mean, he out-hits me in batting practice. He's putting balls on the roof in batting practice. He has amazing power. I think he's starting to translate it now into the game, and it takes a while to get that stroke going because he was kind of a contact guy, more gap to gap, but he's a strong dude. He can put the balls out there with me." The difference between Gallo and Mazara ? Gallo 21.4 career average launch angle. Mazara 8.9 . He's always been a line drive hitter but to maximize his talent he has to change his swing path and increase launch angle.

Unfortunately the best you are going to get is what Caufield posted. Basically every thread turns into what the Sox needs are. There just aren't enough qualified people who know his medical history and the analytics side of his hitting . My own personal opinion is that he is a line drive hitter with tremendous power . That line drive swing results in too many ground outs to 2nd base. Omar has to get his average launch angle higher . In order to do that has has to be more selective and walk more. Low pitches are making him ground out whereas most power hitters that low pitch is heaven when you have a good launch angle. I know Josh Donaldson also takes this same approach to hitting. Edwin Encarnicions average launch angle in 2019 was 22.5 degrees his barrel % 12.6. His hard hit % 42. Walk % 11.9 Mazara's same stats in 2019 launch angle 10.5 degrees barrel % 10.7 . Hard hit % 39.3 . Walk % 6. You can see the big difference between the 2 are average launch angle and walk rate. It might be an overly simplistic view and I haven't looked at other power hitters. I just chose Encanacion as a typical power hitter who has had success at it a long time and possible team mate of Mazara. Not sure his thumb has much to do with his personal approach. Josh Donaldson is also a big proponent of launch angle and never wanting to hit ground balls. I'm hoping his fellow Dominican Encarnacion can take him under his wing and convince him to work on his launch angle. When a guy like Mazara who has so much talent and a swing that has worked for him his whole life getting him to the highest level in his profession it's probably difficult to embrace another way but it's crucial that he does. A successful transition should have better results across the board . Anthony Rendon is another example of launch angle improvement. In 2015 his launch angle was 10% . Since then it's been between 17-19.5 %. I know I mentioned earlier about Mazara's walk rate but it's not necessarily tied to his launch angle. If Mazara can get the launch angle over 15% I think we see a dramatically better hitter. If Hahn was planning all along to add Encarnacion perhaps that's what he meant by not viewing the Mazara trade in isolation. Could be part of the plan was to get Mazara's countrymen and Menechino to really stress improving his launch angle and backing it up with some stats from guys like Rendon and others to reinforce it. If anyone else wants to do more research on this here is a link. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/nomar-mazara-608577?stats=career-r-hitting-mlb I'd be particularly interested on how many guys with 20+ HR's have a launch angle as low as Mazara's . League average launch angle is around 11.2-11.5 % and Mazara's was 10.5 last year and 8.9 for his career. I would guess it's not very many.

Most likely not is my uneducated guess.Brewers reportedly are asking a lot and it seems apparent that the Sox aren't willing to forego the future by trading prospects.

Bullpen needs help, that should be next. A platoon partner is hardly a necessity with Leury around, Sox basically have 2 super utility guys in Leury and Mendick. Will be interesting to see how they approach the bench or platoon partner for Mazara talk.

Yea but Orlando didn't ask him who his sources were but he answered like he did. All he had to say was yes I have my own sources. He might be lying but there's no way for anyone to know that. When you tweet something that's already all over twitter it's best to say "as reported by" and give others the credit they are due especially if it comes true. That's what the pros do.

I'm not sure who he is responding too. I figured it like Lilian did since he was quoting CWS. But remember 90% of Goober's posts have been him calling Eloy Sheloy so he's a bit of a troll and whoever he was talking too must've called him out at some point and he's holding a grudge.

Hmm a recent hire after Soxtalk speculation on the Sox not doing enough in that area. I'm not one to normally think the FO keeps tabs on conversations at Soxtalk but that hire is in close proximity to our conversations about it.

Link ?

TBD

Eh not particularly funny on Christmas Eve . Peace on Earth , good will towards men and all that.

Encarcion hasn't hit less than 32 HR's per year since 2011.

All the Dominicans ! ?

Everyone now has to get a toy parrot and should know the Parrot's name is Edwing .

I got your back Steve

Oh yea I remember those posts . The music man. Damn I thought i did a great job of sleuthing but was wondering why a prominent Dr. would be posting here. The initials, the 03 matching up with when he became a member of the Sox medical staff . Happy Holidays from one music man to another . Oh and I realize you are responsible for the whole broadcast not just the music. I had to look at the old game thread where you were talking to Heads and I joined in. That's why I remember it.