White Sox SP: Dane Dunning (R)

Pirates SP: JT Brubaker (R)

 

1. Tim Anderson (R) SS

2. Yoan Moncada (S) 3B

3. Yasmani Grandal (S) 1B

4. Jose Abreu (R) DH

5. Eloy Jimenez (R) LF

6. Luis Robert (R) CF

7. James McCann (R) C

8. Nomar Mazara (L) RF

9. Nick Madrigal (R) 2B

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 20205 yr by South Side Hit Men
Added SP

McCann at C...interesting.

It's hard to come up with the right word for Grandal's defense in the last two innings last night.  "Abysmal" is the best descriptor I can come up with.

Edit: Of course, some similar skills are required at 1B...

Edited September 9, 20205 yr by BRDSR

Surprised Madrigal didn’t get a seat for running through the sign at third and making a poor choice again on the bases later in the game.

Kid needs to stop pressing. I still love em and have complete faith he will grow into a badass. 

19 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Surprised Madrigal didn’t get a seat for running through the sign at third and making a poor choice again on the bases later in the game.

Kid needs to stop pressing. I still love em and have complete faith he will grow into a badass. 

agreed with everything stated.

23 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Surprised Madrigal didn’t get a seat for running through the sign at third and making a poor choice again on the bases later in the game.

Kid needs to stop pressing. I still love em and have complete faith he will grow into a badass. 

I think these are situations he has taken advantage of in lower competition that have worked for him. He just needs to learn where and when he can do it in the bigs. 

9 minutes ago, yesterday333 said:

I think these are situations he has taken advantage of in lower competition that have worked for him. He just needs to learn where and when he can do it in the bigs. 

Probably never or very rarely.  His hit tool is as advertised.  His athleticism is below average relative to MLB.

Brudabaker throws a ton of sliders, which isn't ideal for this lineup.

47 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Surprised Madrigal didn’t get a seat for running through the sign at third and making a poor choice again on the bases later in the game.

Kid needs to stop pressing. I still love em and have complete faith he will grow into a badass. 

The kid has played in 13 Major League games. Give him a break.

11 minutes ago, chw42 said:

Brudabaker throws a ton of sliders, which isn't ideal for this lineup.

It isnt ideal for any line up. If you saw the game last night they put up a graphic that the Sox were the best at hitting curves/sliders.

Edited September 9, 20205 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

2 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

It isnt ideal any line up. If you saw the game last nigh they put up a graphic that the Sox were the best at hitting curves/sliders.

Yeah, the Sox are the #1 team in baseball in hitting sliders this year. Brubaker is actually an ideal matchup, IMO

Just now, Jose Abreu said:

Yeah, the Sox are the #1 team in baseball in hitting sliders this year. Brubaker is actually an ideal matchup, IMO

Yep. They should pound him tonight. Hopefully it's a laugher

39 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

It isnt ideal for any line up. If you saw the game last night they put up a graphic that the Sox were the best at hitting curves/sliders.

Yeah but how are the splits vs. RHP vs. LHP on sliders? I actually can't find those numbers anywhere. It seems like we absolutely kill lefties with sliders like Boyd, but have issues laying off them vs. RHP. 

 

Edit:

I finally got around to finding some numbers on this. Baseball Savant has Statcast search, which is pretty awesome and lets you get splits on pretty much everything. Anyways, vs. lefties against the slider, the Sox are hitting .250 with a .484 SLG and a .330 wOBA. This is actually the 5th best in baseball. Against RHP vs. the slider, they're hitting .228 with a .439 SLG and a .288 wOBA. This is 11th in baseball. Not as bad as I thought, but also not great. Weirdly enough our best slider hitters are Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez, two guys who do nothing but chase them (both have a 40+% whiff rate on it). EE is absolute trash vs. the slider (no surprise there). Meanwhile, Robert also seems to struggle mightily against the fastball regardless of handedness. Pretty surprising considering the early scouting report on him. It could be that he's refined his approach to hitting off-speed and is no longer sitting fastball. 

Edited September 9, 20205 yr by chw42

31 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Probably never or very rarely.  His hit tool is as advertised.  His athleticism is below average relative to MLB.

That's a freezing cold take right there.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Perfect Vision said:

That's a freezing cold take right there.

He's not a good athlete by MLB middle infield standards, let me clarify I guess.

1 hour ago, BRDSR said:

McCann at C...interesting.

It's hard to come up with the right word for Grandal's defense in the last two innings last night.  "Abysmal" is the best descriptor I can come up with.

Edit: Of course, some similar skills are required at 1B...

Only one game but a pennant race slopfest against a slop team is a bummer. They have not fared well against better teams. Let McCann catch and dole out the DH assignments to whoever.

1 hour ago, DoUEvenShift said:

Give him a break.

I don’t think you understand.

1 minute ago, hi8is said:

I don’t think you understand.

I do. And what does benching him accomplish? He's gonna make mistakes, and he already owned up to the 2 he made last night. So lets put in Mendick or Yolmer who are worse? This is the perfect season for him to learn and there are few enough games as is.

1 minute ago, DoUEvenShift said:

I do.

Agree to disagree, then.

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Probably never or very rarely.  His hit tool is as advertised.  His athleticism is below average relative to MLB.

It's more his decision making. He's taking chances like he is still playing in the PAC 12.

3 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Agree to disagree, then.

Fair enough. If he's still learning to not make these aggressive mistakes I'd rather have him do it in September against the Pirates rather than October when it really matters.

4 minutes ago, ptatc said:

It's more his decision making. He's taking chances like he is still playing in the PAC 12.

Eh, I'm talking more than just his decisions.  His arm strength and quickness at 2B are not what the scouting reports, at least the ones I read, would have you imagine.  I like the kid I'm just saying he's a mediocre MLB athlete and he'll have to play around that going forward.

1 minute ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Eh, I'm talking more than just his decisions.  His arm strength and quickness at 2B are not what the scouting reports, at least the ones I read, would have you imagine.  I like the kid I'm just saying he's a mediocre MLB athlete and he'll have to play around that going forward.

He’s definitely in the bottom percentile in terms of strength. Hopefully he can keep his elite hit tool as pitchers adjust to him.