https://theathletic.com/541363/2018/09/23/yoan-moncada-white-sox-arent-afraid-of-the-strikeout-record-and-for-that-theyll-probably-avoid-it/

buncha good stuff here too

4 hours ago, Jake said:

Part of Moncada's recent change has been effectively eliminating — for the time being — his problem with making contact with pitches in the zone.

Note that he hasn't improved his contact rate by just taking more pitches in the zone. His contact rate has gone up along with this swing rate and pitches in the zone. As of right now, he's having the best 15-game run of in-zone contact of his career. Over that span, he's made contact at a rate well above league average. We'll see if he can keep it up.

The flip side is that we can see his terrible run in late July/early August was driven in part by a shocking drop in his contact rate at that time. You have to wonder what was going on physically/mentally during that period of about 3 weeks when he struck out in nearly half of his plate appearances.

Note also that Moncada has been making more contact on pitches outside the zone while retaining his elite selectivity on those pitches:

He hasn't changed overnight, but these are fairly positive trends.

The question is whether he really got better or is just seeing more September call up dickshots. Moncada was always pretty decent at making contact near the middle of the plate, he simply couldn't touch anything that was near any of the zone edges.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=17232&position=2B&ss=&se=&hand=&count=&pitch=&season=&data=&blur=&grid=&view=&type=3

Here it looks like it indeed got a little better. Still big hole down but more coverage on the inside from the left side. Zone looks a little bigger.

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=17232&position=2B&ss=2018-09-01&se=2018-09-22&type=3&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

 

 

Edited September 23, 20187 yr by dominik-keul@gmx.de

For a guy that was reported to have some maturity problems early on, the fact he takes the blame here is nice to see. 

4 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

For a guy that was reported to have some maturity problems early on, the fact he takes the blame here is nice to see. 

I agree . But he also played 54 games last year and had his struggles.  He should have learned something last year and worked harder in the offseason. 

2 hours ago, SCCWS said:

I agree . But he also played 54 games last year and had his struggles.  He should have learned something last year and worked harder in the offseason. 

I sincerely hope that that's sarcasm..

Moncada’s 2 WAR season feels totally fine to me, and his .301/.767 sept with a significantly reduced K rate - not just against scrubs but also games against many playoff contenders - gives me a lot of optimism 

All things considered, a .715 OPS with 32 doubles, 17 homers, 6 triples, 67 walks, 12 stolen bases, and good defense (in my opinion, I know I'm in the minority there) from him this season is not bad at all. I have high hopes for him next year to cut the K rate and let these other numbers improve as a result. 

His utter failures and calls for a disaster of a rebuild resulted in a 2 fWAR. That's perfectly fine for any young player's 1st full season. 

5 hours ago, ChiliIrishHammock24 said:

His utter failures and calls for a disaster of a rebuild resulted in a 2 fWAR. That's perfectly fine for any young player's 1st full season. 

That also means in the month of September, he added 1 fWAR to his total, which is highly encouraging.

So it appears Moncada’s September 2018 has rolled into the 2019 season rather nicely. No strikeouts through his first 9 plate appearances is also very encouraging. Kid is super talented, just needed a tweak in his mental approach at the plate. 

I'd also like to point out how smooth he has looked at 3rd. The transfer on this play is unbelievable 

 

8 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

So it appears Moncada’s September 2018 has rolled into the 2019 season rather nicely. No strikeouts through his first 9 plate appearances is also very encouraging. Kid is super talented, just needed a tweak in his mental approach at the plate. 

Definitely encouraging start but i would wait until he faces some better pitchers, September, spring and royals pitchers aren't great:).

Moncada seems to be a bit of a mistake hitter, i would like to see him getting a little better at hitting good pitches.

But i do think there is some progress.

1 hour ago, dominik-keul@gmx.de said:

Definitely encouraging start but i would wait until he faces some better pitchers, September, spring and royals pitchers aren't great:).

Moncada seems to be a bit of a mistake hitter, i would like to see him getting a little better at hitting good pitches.

But i do think there is some progress.

Every hitter in the major leagues is a mistake hitter.  No one makes a living off good pitches.  That's why they're good pitches.

I was originally opposed to moving him to 3rd base, but it appears that this might be the best thing that could have possibly happened to him.

1 hour ago, Timmy U said:

Every hitter in the major leagues is a mistake hitter.  No one makes a living off good pitches.  That's why they're good pitches.

But moncada is really extreme in that regard. No hitters covers all 4 edges and everyone hits down the pipe better but good hitters usually have at least one of the 4 edges were they can hammer a borderline strike.

For moncada the hot zone is basically just middle.

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=17232&position=2B&ss=2018-03-28&se=2018-09-30&type=5&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

If you look at for example goldschmidt he dominates middle but also pitches slightly above the zone

 https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=9218&position=1B&ss=2018-03-29&se=2018-09-30&hand=all&count=all&pitch=&season=all&data=&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&type=5

 

For trout it is middle and anything just below the zone and a big part of the inside edge (except high)

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=10155&position=OF&ss=2018-03-28&se=2018-09-30&type=5&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

 

I'm not saying trout and goldy live on bad pitches, they certainly feast on mistakes but they just have a larger hot zone and also at least one edge were a perfect on the black strike is not enough.

I mean even trout has a hole up in the zone but he compensates for it by being able to destroy a "perfect" just below the zone strike. Moncada doesn't have that, too far off the middle no matter to what edge and he can't do much with it.

Moncada is a smart hitter who knows his strengths but he needs to make his hot zone a little larger and become good at dominating as least one of the edges (down, up, in or out) to become a little tougher out. Moncada has a good approach but he has fallen behind too often in the past.

Edited March 31, 20197 yr by dominik-keul@gmx.de

8 minutes ago, dominik-keul@gmx.de said:

But moncada is really extreme in that regard. No hitters covers all 4 edges and everyone hits down the pipe better but good hitters usually have at least one of the 4 edges were they can hammer a borderline strike.

For moncada the hot zone is basically just middle.

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=17232&position=2B&ss=2018-03-28&se=2018-09-30&type=5&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

If you look at for example goldschmidt he dominates middle but also pitches slightly above the zone

 https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=9218&position=1B&ss=2018-03-29&se=2018-09-30&hand=all&count=all&pitch=&season=all&data=&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&type=5

 

For trout it is middle and anything just below the zone and a big part of the inside edge (except high)

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=10155&position=OF&ss=2018-03-28&se=2018-09-30&type=5&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

 

I'm not saying trout and goldy live on bad pitches, they certainly feast on mistakes but they just have a larger hot zone and also at least one edge were a perfect on the black strike is not enough.

I mean even trout has a hole up in the zone but he compensates for it by being able to destroy a "perfect" just below the zone strike. Moncada doesn't have that, too far off the middle no matter to what edge and he can't do much with it.

Moncada is a smart hitter who knows his strengths but he needs to make his hot zone a little larger and become good at dominating as least one of the edges (down, up, in or out) to become a little tougher out. Moncada has a good approach but he has fallen behind too often in the past.

He’s 23 and just entering his second full season in MLB. Give him some time.

10 hours ago, dominik-keul@gmx.de said:

But moncada is really extreme in that regard. No hitters covers all 4 edges and everyone hits down the pipe better but good hitters usually have at least one of the 4 edges were they can hammer a borderline strike.

For moncada the hot zone is basically just middle.

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=17232&position=2B&ss=2018-03-28&se=2018-09-30&type=5&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

If you look at for example goldschmidt he dominates middle but also pitches slightly above the zone

 https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=9218&position=1B&ss=2018-03-29&se=2018-09-30&hand=all&count=all&pitch=&season=all&data=&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&type=5

 

For trout it is middle and anything just below the zone and a big part of the inside edge (except high)

https://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=10155&position=OF&ss=2018-03-28&se=2018-09-30&type=5&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat&pitch=&season=all&data=

 

I'm not saying trout and goldy live on bad pitches, they certainly feast on mistakes but they just have a larger hot zone and also at least one edge were a perfect on the black strike is not enough.

I mean even trout has a hole up in the zone but he compensates for it by being able to destroy a "perfect" just below the zone strike. Moncada doesn't have that, too far off the middle no matter to what edge and he can't do much with it.

Moncada is a smart hitter who knows his strengths but he needs to make his hot zone a little larger and become good at dominating as least one of the edges (down, up, in or out) to become a little tougher out. Moncada has a good approach but he has fallen behind too often in the past.

Most of us recognize that the key to being able to hit outside pitches is to hit to the opposite field. If a hitter tries to pull an outside pitch, by rolling his wrists over, it usually results in a ground ball. Anderson has recently learned to go the other way and it is really helping. Given the strong tendency of defenses to employ the shift, the outside pitch is the most productive out of the strike zone pitch to learn to hit. The hole, which those defenses open up, on the opposite side of the field, provides an easy base hit. I'm confident that Moncada has the ability to become a proficient opposite field hitter, but it does require a different mindset. Hopefully, he is working on developing that approach.

You also have to consider he is a switch hitter so he has to develope two swings. Maybe that means it takes him a little longer to develope than some one side hitters. Beltran also wasn't that good his first 3 years and took off in the 4th.

13 minutes ago, dominik-keul@gmx.de said:

You also have to consider he is a switch hitter so he has to develope two swings. Maybe that means it takes him a little longer to develope than some one side hitters. Beltran also wasn't that good his first 3 years and took off in the 4th.

Good point.

I don't like the switch to third base for Moncada.  Lots of throwing errors on the way.  The same experiment failed in Boston.

17 minutes ago, oldsox said:

I don't like the switch to third base for Moncada.  Lots of throwing errors on the way.  The same experiment failed in Boston.

Moncada has looked nothing short of great so far this year at third.  He played all of 8 games for Boston, and committed 1 error.

18 minutes ago, oldsox said:

I don't like the switch to third base for Moncada.  Lots of throwing errors on the way.  The same experiment failed in Boston.

You haven't watched any games yet I assume?  Moncada has looked very good at third; better than he did at second.

24 minutes ago, oldsox said:

I don't like the switch to third base for Moncada.  Lots of throwing errors on the way.  The same experiment failed in Boston.

The only problem I have noticed so far with him at third is his footwork can be a little out of whack at times when he's making the throw to first on a ground ball, which causes his throw to be wild and inaccurate. But that's an easily fixable problem that will get better with experience.

10 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

You haven't watched any games yet I assume?  Moncada has looked very good at third; better than he did at second.

I'm still lukewarm on the move but so far he's looked solid there.  Thing is I'm not convinced he wasn't going to take a big leap at 2B this year had he stayed there.  He made some incredible plays last year as well just had some youthful lapses.  

Moncada had only 5 doubles all year against LHP in 2018 and an OPS of 585 against LHP.  He is 1-1 this year with the double after yesterday's game.   Keep it going.  

Edited April 2, 20197 yr by chitownsportsfan

10 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

You haven't watched any games yet I assume?  Moncada has looked very good at third; better than he did at second.

I could see the throws on the run being an issue. He took to many steps often, and as a result rushed his throws. He got bailed out a couple times by alonso.