vilehoopster Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 I am really excited about Oscar Colas and so glad he's going to be in RF for the Sox this year. But I am not so naive and overly optimistic to think he's not going to have his struggles, especially with striking out. After seeing how Robert was tearing it up and then hit that terrible slump after pitchers figured him out, I have to believe Colas will have similar struggles. So, what do we realistically hope for from Colas to finally solve that hole in RF and help the Sox win the division? One thing I completely expect is very strong defense, covering a big area and really making a difference with his arm. I'm sure he'll have some bad plays, but overall, I think we fans will be very happy with his D. On offense, again, I really worry about strikeouts and don't expect a high batting average; but I expect some real power too. With the expected help on defense, I expect and would be happy with a .230 average, 20 home runs, and 25 doubles. I think that is realistic and would go a looong way to helping the Sox to win the division. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 767 ops. 100 less than Yoshida's projected 867 with Boston. Solid defense and most runners hesitating on challenging his arm in RF. Good health would be nice too. 2-2.5 fWAR would be fine for a rookie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalChiSox Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Savagery from the opening AB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirmin' for Yermin Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 I NEED a decent bat .750 OPS and a decent fielder his rookie year. Those two combined will make him our best right fielder sinceeee probably Dye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quin Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 13 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: 767 ops. 100 less than Yoshida's projected 867 with Boston. Solid defense and most runners hesitating on challenging his arm in RF. Good health would be nice too. 2-2.5 fWAR would be fine for a rookie. 8 hours ago, fathom said: I see Yoshida is your new Puig 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flavum Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 I was thinking around 725-.750 OPS. More than anything, I hope him and Andrus are a stable force, batting 8th and 9th most of the time. Maybe push the rest of the so-called stars to stay in the starting lineup as much as them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vilehoopster Posted March 29, 2023 Author Share Posted March 29, 2023 “Maybe push the rest of the so-called stars to stay in the starting lineup as much as them“ I agree with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 16 minutes ago, Quin said: It’s ridiculous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 39 minutes ago, fathom said: It’s ridiculous Fine, then Caitlyn Clark...Iowa alums finally get something nice and shiny instead of the usual mired in B10 mediocrity. 1979 was the last Final Four for men's basketball under Lute Olson. No Sweet 16 since last year of Tom Davis in the late 90s who was ironically pushed out for "only" winning first round NCAA tourney games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taz Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Compete for AL Rookie of the Year. Yes, dead serious, I think he has that potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eminor3rd Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 2 WAR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Mercedes Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Need: Good enough defense to keep the first baseman on the bench. A Vaughn rookie year at the plate Expect: a typical rookie learning the pitchers and plate coverage. Average defense with some upside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 The White Sox are trying to rebound after a disappointing year The Chicago White Sox will enter 2023 with major questions in the outfield and at second base, which is not a recycled line from the past 20 seasons of White Sox previews. The Sox went into 2022 with massive exceptions and left the year a major disappointment. Then the team’s offseason was spotty. Andrew Benintendi was brought in on a $75 million deal to shore up one corner outfield slot. The team also brought in pitcher Mike Clevinger, who was the subject of a domestic-violence investigation shortly after he was signed. Clevinger will not be punished by MLB. If this team is going to get back to contention, it will need a strong showing from rookie outfielder Oscar Colas, who has performed well in spring training. It will also need new manager Pedro Grifol to prove he’s the answer. As long as Grifol doesn’t walk batters with 1-2 counts, he’ll be an upgrade for White Sox fans (hahaha). https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-opening-day-30-things-fans-need-to-know-after-an-action-packed-winter-130350327.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 I'll repeat what I said earlier about him in a few recent threads. He worked with the hitting coach in Miami during the winter. Judging from the ST results which we know may not be indicative of what will happen in the season. But this is what I saw. He did not K a lot. He also did not walk a lot. He started hot then faded. He did K a decent amount in the minors but he still manged to hit for a high average and hit for power and many times massive power . Right now I'm not so concerned about his K rate as I am his GB rate which seemed observationally high. I don't know what his GB rate was in the minors so I could be talking out of my ass . I do understand trying to get him to hit like Vaughn , Eloy and Anderson who make it look so easy going to the opposite field. However I am questioning if that was the right approach with Colas. I guess I would've been more comfortable with him just using the same approach as he did in the minors. Yes it would mean more K's and maybe a high batting average isn't very sustainable in the majors when you can't take walks (unless you are Anderson). But we do not want to see Colas turn into Anderson. We want a power hitter and maybe specifically a pull hitter for power who gets the ball in the air and also hits doubles. Didn't see many doubles from Colas in the spring either only 2 with 3 HR's so the OPS was only .703. So my gripe is that maybe the coaches shouldn't have worked so much with him on going the other way. Maybe it zapped some power while cutting down on the K's and turning him into a slappy GB oppo hitter reminiscent of the dreaded Menechino approach. I also think now that he is opening on the 26 to start the season that it doubly magnifies why it was silly not to bring him up last year. He could've used the same approach that he did in the minors and if it didn't appear to be good enough THEN maybe work on him going the other way or at least looking for pitches up andout over the plate or inside and spitting on pitches away rather then just trying to make contact with them like we saw so much from Robert last year . They also could've worked with him on hitting the cut off man and got used to his home field and some fields around the league. The hitting coaches seemed to try to get him ready for the majors without actually seeing how he would do in the majors and then making adjustments. Grifol seemed to specifically talk about Colas when he talked about guys who had things to learn defensively. I seem to remember that when he got to AA he changed something and it was then that his numbers really started to soar even higher in AA then they were in A+. There's nothing inherently wrong in power hitters striking out. There are a lot of great hitters who have high K rates. But he definitely has to figure out how to be more selective and make pitchers come to him. That's when you start to see more pitches in your hitting zone that you can tee off on. Robert has the same problem but at least in the spring it wasn't a K problem for Colas, it became a GB problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hibbard Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 I expect him to stay healthy, and if he does that, I don’t care about his numbers as long as they are above 2 per162. the rest is honestly gravy. I expect much more from our established players. Moncada needs to return to form, Robert needs to turn back into the Nintendo stat machine he looks like when healthy, TA needs to get back to setting the tone, Vaughn needs to take a giant step forward at his natural position, Eloy needs to mash 35-40. If that all happens, Colas can just be in the mix with adjusting to the majors 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vote4Pedro Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 I need 135-140 games out of the kid. No expectations set on the guy except to stay healthy and play. Expectations are low as every prospect the Sox run out there seems not able to make it an entire season to show what they can do (Eloy, Robert, etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 32 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said: I expect him to stay healthy, and if he does that, I don’t care about his numbers as long as they are above 2 per162. the rest is honestly gravy. I expect much more from our established players. Moncada needs to return to form, Robert needs to turn back into the Nintendo stat machine he looks like when healthy, TA needs to get back to setting the tone, Vaughn needs to take a giant step forward at his natural position, Eloy needs to mash 35-40. If that all happens, Colas can just be in the mix with adjusting to the majors See Anderson, Brian...2006...in theory. Until the pressure to hit his weight at least got to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hibbard Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 9 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: See Anderson, Brian...2006...in theory. Until the pressure to hit his weight at least got to him. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Ozzie disliked Anderson and didn’t think he was a real major leaguer. Is that true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjusttyped Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 An OBP over ~.310 with above average defense in RF would be a great outcome for him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 I've watched some Sox highlights and it looks like Colas (as well as Vaughn and Moncada) are going with the lift and launch stroke. Being that is how hitters are supposed to hit now, I'd expect those 3 guys to MASH a lotta home runs. The ball certainly didn't look dead on the home runs I saw hit on replay this spring. So please Mr. Colas and the others, go ahead and lift and pull to the tune of 40ish homers and when you have two strikes just try not to hit into too many DPs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 6 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said: An OBP over ~.310 with above average defense in RF would be a great outcome for him Yes it would and I know I made a long post about his hitting but Believe it or not I want to expand on it. There's one reason why Judge had a historic season. He's a big strong guy who was, in the past ,inside outing the ball trying to go the opposite way to take advantage of the short right field porch or reaching on outside pitches to try to do it. 2021 his walk rate was a career low 11.8 %. 2022 his walk rate went back up to 15.9 % . That's what happens when uyou hit bombs. They don't want to throw you strikes. Last year he pulled 95 balls compared to only 59 the previous year . In other words why have a big strong guy doing something that lessens his power ? It shouldn't have taken him until he was 30 years old to figure that out but it did. Colas is not as tall as Judge. He's actually around 5"11 but he's built like a tank and the best LHH power prospect they have had in a long time playing in a home park that is very conducive to LH power and they are teaching him to go the other way ? Lift and pull when your power bat is capable of hitting 450 ft. bombs . Lift and pull some bombs maybe then you can improve your walk rate. Teaching him to go the other way is just encouraging Colas to swing at outside pitches. Just look middle in and mash . I'll give pitchers props who can consistently hit the outside corner . If you get behind in the count , sure look to go oppo but if you are ahead 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 ,don't try to go oppo just because you get a pitch away . Take it. Draw some walks. You can't get ahead in the count unless you take pitches. You can't take walks unless you take pitches. You hit more HR's taking pitches getting ahead in the count. Pitchers make plenty of mistakes. Learn, turn ,burn . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tnetennba Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Want: ROY Expect: solid rookie season claiming RF for good. Need: competent defence, staying healthy, and lefty power from the bottom third of the order. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Mercedes Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 He seems outwardly as a guy that stays healthy. He is a tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RibbieRubarb Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 10 hours ago, Greg Hibbard said: I seem to recall reading somewhere that Ozzie disliked Anderson and didn’t think he was a real major leaguer. Is that true? After the trade to Texas, Brandon McCarthy told local reporters that he enjoyed the atmosphere more in Texas than Chicago, mainly because he and teammate Brian Anderson were the only two players who weren't married or didn't have a serious girlfriend. “You played with us 162 games and all of a sudden you leave and say you don’t have a friend in the clubhouse, only Brian Anderson? Well, he picked the wrong guy to be friends with.” - Ozzie Guillen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREEDY Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Need: Average or better defense Want: .800 OPS vs RHP. If the team is in the hunt you should be able to find a legitimate platoon partner for him at the deadline and would then end up with nice production at RF. Expect: Slightly below average defense, a horrible OBP coupled with 20 bombs, leading to between 1 and 1.5 WAR. Another Rick Hahn masterclass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.