Jake

These days I miss our old friend Cubano.

I wouldn't say Covey can't possibly be a major leaguer, but it's looking more and more like he won't be able to develop the ability by pitching in the majors right now.

My observation about Adolfo is that he had a 43% K rate his first full pro season, followed by a 33% K rate upon promotion last year, and now at 25% but with a little production. I'd like to see him take more walks, but for a low-walk player like him the walks are such rare events that he's just a 2-BB game away from being right at his normal walk rate. He's of course a very bad K game away from being closer to that 33% number, but he's already accomplished getting out of the doldrums of 40+%, which was an important step.

Adolfo has, thus far, reduced his K-rate very substantially. It's still high and will have to drop at least a bit more, but to my mind it is perhaps the hardest thing to ask a player to do—move up in level and reduce your K%. It shows his development and some fortitude that he's been able to do it. See Courtney Hawkins for an example of someone who may have been ruined by an early experience of being overmatched.

How does Kevan Smith hit so well in AAA and look like he's swinging a lead bat in MLB? Also, somebody needs to intervene with Hawkins. Something is wrong and somebody needs to make it stop one way or another. Bounce him over to extended spring, get him talking to somebody, understand what's going on in his head, and don't put him back in AA or A+ or anywhere else until you find a level of pitching he doesn't flounder against. He's playing way below his true talent (even if his true talent is below-average AA player) and there's no way he's in anything resembling a good place mentally.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 4, 2017 -> 05:41 PM) Both Abreu and Avi had "minor" injuries and were back in the course of a day or two. Yeah but if you ignore the people who healed quickly, everyone healed slowly!

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 2, 2017 -> 09:47 AM) They've been playing him in CF in the minors. Maybe he will play everyday? Would be criminal to bench Leury when he's been hitting as well as he has

Why call up Willy if you can't play him every day?

No reason to move Kahnle unless you think he's going to turn into a non-MLB pitcher again. You have control of him for three more years.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 29, 2017 -> 04:34 PM) Davidson average free falling. Oh well keep hitting homers K rate has been heading towards serviceable territory too though

They always tell you not to lunge at the base like that but he has always done it

If you look at Davidson's batted ball stats, they are excellent. While a guy who has struck out in nearly half his PA has undoubtedly had some luck, he's also had 8 "barrels" per Statcast, which are batted balls that have an expected BA of .500 and SLG of 1.500 based on exit velocity and launch angle (out of 22 batted balls, the highest rate among people with that many batted balls). He's in the top 15 or 20 in average exit velocity on balls hit in the air. Maybe he wouldn't be hitting at all in the plate appearances that Asche gets, who knows. But his hot start is largely on the strength of hitting the ball really hard, so I would take him seriously.

^ I was wondering about the practical aspect of switching him once the season has started. You'd have to pull him back to extended spring and shoot for maybe being physically prepared to pitch competitively at the very end of the season. And you won't be able to use any of your best coaching talent for this because they are all engaged with their minor/major league coaching assignments.

When he's even regressing within a level (on track for third straight year in AA, playing worse each time) you know it has to be mental. You just wonder why and how it gets that way...there's probably someone closer to him, like a manager, who has a sense for what's going on in his head but can't really say it in public. Keenyn Walker had a similar trajectory for a while though he never had the same kind of talent.

Is Hawkins going to last the whole season? 27 K in 56 PA, .164 AVG/.175 OBP thus far

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 21, 2017 -> 08:20 PM) Something that will be interesting to watch is if Collins can hit lefties. It's been very ugly so far vs LHP for him Hit lefties better than righties last year in the minors

There are two ways to look at this. On one hand, the Sox have a very low payroll and so have excess money to spend on this kind of player. On the other hand, it has been the general disposition of ownership—though less so in the past 5 years or so—that big expenditures on young amateurs are generally bad investments. So you have a tension...you have money to spend, but you also have a feeling that it's a bad expenditure.

QUOTE (ChiliIrishHammock24 @ Apr 19, 2017 -> 01:38 AM) I'm not even kidding, I don't know if he has a right-handed hit yet this season. EDIT: He is 1 for 12 as a righty, and it was a HR apparently. He is hitting .406 as a lefty. In 2016, he hit .167 as a righty, and .305 as a lefty. And odd enough in his first pro year he was much better as a right-handed hitter

Let May play until he gets a hit and then start making plans to send him down or drastically reduce his playing time.

I know he hit a homer tonight but that's now 19 K in 33 AB for Hawkins (0 BB). Is he going to play in AA 3 years in a row and play worse each time?

A question worth asking is how much the level of competition matters for developing his defense. One explanation I've heard is that focusing on defense will detract from his bat, so keeping him at a level where the hitting isn't too challenging for him gives him the flexibility to devote his time to refining his defense.

I honestly didn't read that article as something to be optimistic about. The team is projecting optimism, but: - He's working on mechanics in games - He's lost velocity and is now being advised to back off even further so he can locate - He still isn't locating - He's adding another pitch, seemingly motivated by his inability to locate his best pitch (curveball) I'm hoping for the best, but everything I see about him is cause for concern thus far.

Carlos Quentin!

FWIW, Covey has basically no experience above A-ball. Having low expectations isn't being a Debbie downer. Even if you thought he was going to be something, it would be quite the leap to say he's ready right now.

Asche goes up there and looks like he can hit and work an at bat, but just never hits