Feeky Magee

Have our 3, 4, 5 starters and bullpen thrown more balls than strikes so far this season? Genuine question

Hopefully we put Paulie in right tomorrow and take home the Worst Ever Right-Field Defensive Performance In A Series trophy

This was coming from Danks. Fastballs at 88 and changeups at 81.

Jesus, Adam

Feel like we're hitting about .027 with 2 or more on base

Feeling an Abreu homer here

The Art Of Blowing Check Swing Calls by Will Little, in all good bookstores now

Are our bullpen pitchers conservative politicians or something - because they sure hate strikes

Fun fact: it's been 7 years, 10 months and 26 days since the last time the White Sox scored and then did not concede a run in the next half-inning

I feel like our pitchers have thrown approximately 762 balls this season

"A big pitch here to Semien, because the Royals are getting closer and closer to Abreu" - Royals announcer

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 09:05 PM) If one guy can become a vastly more patient hitter, that means its possible with coaching. Like I said with Viciedo, these guys don't need to walk 100 times to be successful, they just need to be paitient enough to control the strike zone. Right, I'm more interested in how likely it is to happen rather than if it's possible though. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 08:58 PM) What are things that are easily fixable at that age vs what you said cannot be fixed? Well I'm thinking of things that aren't necessarily always there at a young age but can develop and be projected, like say a lack of power.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 07:25 PM) My counterpoint to that remains Jose Reyes, who started off swinging as freely as Garcia or even worse and turned himself into a solidly patient hitter. Wouldn't that be the exception rather than the rule?

QUOTE (Wanne @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 06:27 PM) That's all you need right there....period. Welllll not necessarily when you're talking about things like plate discipline, as far as I can make out that's something that usually is what it is, for the most part.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 05:41 PM) Yes, there is a chance his flaws severely limit what the White Sox can get out of him. However, he's a 22 year old playing big league ball. There are 22 year olds in A-ball right now who will be successful MLB players. He's raw in every facet of his game. His potential is virtually unlimited. He has ridiculous power potential plus speed. He simply is extremely raw. There is a reason why I keep calling this a rebuilding year. Avisail Garcia should be expected to struggle. That was suggested by his performance last year as you say - even his high batting average was due to all the bloop singles he collected. He's exactly the kind of guy the White Sox should be giving playing time to in 2014. He will hurt this team this year. In 2015, if the Sox can develop him, he has a phenomenal level of ability. A team contending this year should not be giving time to players like him. A team rebuilding this year should be doing exactly that. His defense is like his offense. It should be expected to be extremely raw. If he is coached well, he has the toolset to turn "oops" into "wow'. He could turn what is today poor defense into solid or even really good defense with playing time and coaching. With guys like him, the goal is not what they give us tomorrow, it's what they give us in 2015. It's all about development with him and several other guys in this org, including Eaton, Viciedo, Johnson, and probably Semien and others later in the year when they come up. That's why this is a rebuilding year. Thanks, this is more what I was looking for. Is there a history of guys who graded awfully on defence to start off with but turned into average or plus defenders with more coaching and reps? Do guys playing MLB way ahead of schedule tend to grade a lot poorer on defence than they will go onto do, simply because of lack of experience? Instinct would tell me that defensive performance would tend to be more stable regardless of age for the level than offensive (not to say it can't improve).

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 06:08 PM) If you're going to critique him. At least spell defense right. He's 22 years old. This team is young and inexperienced. This season will be full of emotion just like Hawk said during the game today. Exciting and heartbreaking all year. This team will grow and the young players (hopefully) will grow as the season goes along. It was game 3 of 162 today... Defence isn't the wrong spelling, it's a color/colour type of thing, I'm from Ireland. And in case you didn't notice, every stat I quoted about Avi was from last season. I also noted his age.

Despite hitting .283 with decent power last year, Garcia managed to be worth minus WAR. The reason - horrible defence and refusal to take a walk. Per Fangraphs, he was worth -11.5 runs in just 72 games. He also walked in just 3.5% of his plate appearances, consistent with his minor league stats. He hits the ball hard into the ground a lot, which means his high BABIP is not necessarily something which will regress, but if he doesn't start hitting the ball in the air, he won't be able to harness his plus-power potential. The obvious disclaimer is that he's 22 and that's an age where you'll typically see someone at High-A or AA. On the other hand, his weaknesses are not the typical ones which tend to get better with time, particularly his approach: there's a strong argument to be made that a batter's approach is what it is and no amount of playing experience or coaching changes that to any huge amount. Defence can improve with more reps but I would think instinctively that it should peak more towards the start of a player's career and tail away as he loses some speed and shape. Plus, he's pretty much stuck in RF, it's not like he can potentially be moved to an easier position. We've heard the likes of the Hawk and Bo Jackson say he's the most impressive and talented of the young crew the White Sox have, but is there a chance that his flaws severely limit the surplus value the White Sox can get out of him? I'm particularly interested to hear thoughts on his defence and whether it's something people see improving with more reps.

Man, Semien has been outstanding at 3B

Belisario wants to be 2012 Nate Jones and go like 37-0 as a reliever

Props to Belisario pointing up in the air at a pop-up that went about 15 rows deep

New facade looks so much better than the old one.

Fun defensive inning for Eaton. 4-hops a throw to the mound and then does that.

Cleto hitting 99

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 03:44 PM) You guys think I'm a moron for saying this all the time, but Nate Jones' arm delivery is awful. I only saw one other guy throw like that, Keith Foulke. I don't know how any pitching coach can allow him to pitch that way. Some of you guys who were pitchers ... do u agree with me?? His arm delivery is not conducive to anything positive. He was one of the best relievers in baseball last year. It's April 3rd. Relax.

Ahahahaha, I was just looking at Abreu's projections yesterday and the Fans section projected 0 triples. Take that fans!