https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/jj-wetherholt-colson-montgomery-excelling-on-defense

Good read, thanks for sharing.

"I was never asked about my defense," Montgomery said. "Everyone assumed since I was a taller, bigger shortstop that I was going to move to third base. They were only worried about me having to hit homers at third base and stuff like that. I take a lot of pride in my defense because I was overlooked."

It's incredible that things like this still happen. How do scouts get paid to watch a guy full time and not only miss on him as a SS, but miss on him as an elite defensive SS?

Well, it appears that Veneable also has missed the boat as have the White Sox as an org. Heck there's some fans that refuse to give him his due and think he and Acuna are similar.

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

It's incredible that things like this still happen. How do scouts get paid to watch a guy full time and not only miss on him as a SS, but miss on him as an elite defensive SS?

Cuz they're copycats. Baseball is full of them at every level.

1 minute ago, oldsox said:

Cuz they're copycats. Baseball is full of them at every level.

I think it's some form of bias but I think it's more bias towards (often wrong) conventional wisdom. I guess that's a form of copycat, just going with the accepted conclusion (with no real evidence) that taller SSs can't stick at the MLB level.

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

It's incredible that things like this still happen. How do scouts get paid to watch a guy full time and not only miss on him as a SS, but miss on him as an elite defensive SS?

The Colson one is fascinating because by all intents and purposes, he passes every eye test. In fact, guys like Colson sometimes get graded up because they're ++ athletes and athletes sometimes get the benefit of the doubt in areas other players won't.

I've watched Colson for 120+ games now, and he's elite as the word can get. He has huge range, gets to everything, but also has a great first step. His arm is probably only a 40 in strength, but it's an 80 in accuracy and his timing is so impeccable that I'm convinced he probably has more MPH's under there but just never needs to get to them.

I'm just happy to see someone write about Colson. He has to be the most underrated first-year player (first 162 games) in my life of watching baseball. He's on a 6.5 WAR pace over his first 160! That ranks Colson as having a top 15 Rookie Season of ALL-TIME. In the HISTORY of baseball!!! He never gets any pub, doesn't even get to play his natural position everyday on his own club.

Colson is a Superstar, but the league covers him like a supporting piece and the team treats him like some developing player.

Edited 11 minutes ago11 min by Look at Ray Ray Run

Speaking of shortstops, I'm looking for an opinion here. One of the key plays yesterday was McGonigle beating out that hit to deep short in 9th or 10th inning. I think it was 9th. Acuna was the shortstop. Very close play. Could Colson have made the play?

5 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

I've watched Colson for 120+ games now, and he's elite as the word can get. He has huge range, gets to everything, but also has a great first step. His arm is probably only a 40 in strength, but it's an 80 in accuracy and his timing is so impeccable that I'm convinced he probably has more MPH's under there but just never needs to get to them.

It was obvious within like 2 weeks of watching him last year. He never gets a bad hop as he has some of the best reactions you'll ever see despite unorthodox mechanics. Like they don't teach you to take a step back on a chopper and field a ball at your waist but he does all the time. He looks unorthodox because as you said he doesn't rely on a cannon like many elite SS but he gets to the ball so quickly and his transfer is so quick it really doesn't matter.