Riley Greene looks good, wonder what we'll be able to get for him at the trade deadline in 2-3 years...
Nick Maton is apparently going to lead the league in HR this year. Only thing that can stop him is Andre Lipcius stealing too many ABs on his path to 30 HR.
All the beat writers are pumping up Torkelson. The fact that Henning is on it now just validates the fact that he will be hitting .175 in May and sent to Toledo. But at least he makes hard contact
I've never seen this stat before. After looking it up... Torkelson has a .252 wOBA on pitches he's put in play. Torkelson has an expected wOBA of .700 on pitches he's put in play. I'm not sure what the purpose of separating balls put in play compared to just all ABs because xwOBA is a thing by itself.
Does that mean he's unlucky? Because that's a pretty huge variance. Codger me wants to say, "hit em where they ain't!"
The "baseball card" numbers this spring are awful. The underlying/process numbers that tend to be what a larger sample looks like are outstanding. Since it's spring training, I'm not sure any of it means anything. But I would tend to believe more in the underlying numbers than the small sample "baseball card" ones.
Unlucky in a very small sample against who the hell knows what pitchers he's faced in early spring training. So basically all the caveats.
He's hit 2 balls that would have been out of 29 parks that's were caught and had another likely double taken away. Those 10 bases cause a lot of variance in 18 at bats.
Parker Meadows has 2 HR today and 4 this spring. Make or break season for him, but all accounts have been really positive this spring. Very curious to see if he can put it together in AAA.
This is easily the least I've cared about the tigers probably ever. Pulled up a ST boxscore and don't recognize a ton of names
Maton is one of the utility guys we got from Philly in the Gregory Soto trade. He's probably going to start at 3B to start the season. Lipcius is a former 3rd or 4th round pick we recently added to the 40 man. He's not very talented but is having a good spring and might be a utility guy at some point.
I'm going to be annoyed when Schoop and Cabrera are still on this roster getting consistent ABs after Memorial Day. I know there's been a lot of speculation that Miggy won't finish the season, but I'll believe that when I see it. And Schoop needs to be dropped now and those ABs given to someone who can hit above pitcher levels.
who is speculating that besides Henning? I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere. Unfortunately he will be around all season, unless he gets injured
So he throws 89 mph with average spin rates. Nice story, but I can't imagine he ever throws a pitch in the majors.
Moderately? Seems like he's got a good approach and should hit for a good average, but I don't think his defense projects any better than maybe league average, and to this point he hasn't shown a ton of pop. That's allegedly something he's worked on and has shown more of this spring, but we'll see when the games start in the minors how real it is. He'll be in Erie, where the field is smaller and most Tiger prospects see an uptick in HR, so I guess there's that.
I think he and Jung are pretty similar with the same questions, except Keith has a better arm and can probably hang at 3rd while Jung has to play 2nd in a post-shift world.
I was looking at mock drafts and I see where Paul Skenes seems to be flying up draft boards. I have no doubts he would have been the pick under Chase based on what I’m reading about him. Curious what Harris and Metzler prioritize come the Summer.
I have no clue what we're going to do, but Skenes' stat line this year is insane. 48 K/4 BB with 2 R and 8 H allowed in 24.0 IP.
Just read some Keith Law stuff on the draft and he recently said he thinks Skenes is on the verge of passing Dollander, the UT pitcher people were comparing to deGrom. Apparently Dollander has basically lost his slider so far this year, and that was allegedly his best pitch last year.
Jacob Gonzalez, the SS from Ole Miss, has the profile of basically everything Harris talked about wanting in terms of guys who control the strike zone. Law has him 3rd and seems to like him. He's 5th on MLB Pipeline. Doesn't seem like he has the obvious upside you'd want in a top 3 pick, but college SS who can stay at the position and hit go pretty early every year.
Here is what Law said about Gonzalez, Dollander and Skenes in his early March ranking... 3. Jacob Gonzalez, SS, Ole Miss Gonzalez is the safest of the players in the next tier, a high-contact shortstop with a good eye at the plate who rarely chases out of the zone but has no plus tools. He hit more homers in his sophomore year than in his freshman year, going from 12 to 18, but his average dropped to .273 thanks to a huge drop in his BABIP. It looks fluky and I think he’s the highest-floor guy in this group. 5. Chase Dollander, RHP, Tennessee Dollander came into the season as the top college starter, as he sits 95-96, touching 99, with good life up on the pitch and plus control. His slider was a 65 or 70 last year, 83-86 mph with high spin rates and very sharp, short break, but he hasn’t had it in two starts this year, with the pitch flat and barely breaking much of the time. Both homers he’s allowed this year came on sliders that might as well have been sitting on tees for the hitters. He has a decent changeup but barely uses it. He’s a top-10 pick if the slider comes back, but there are too many other college starters right now for him to stay here if he can’t regain it. 9. Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU LSU worked that transfer portal this winter, landing Skenes from Air Force, where he may not have faced SEC-caliber competition but he did have to pitch at 6,000 feet above sea level. He’s been 94-100 mph, sitting 97-98, with a short arm stroke that hides the ball until very close to release. His slider and changeup aren’t as advanced, probably 55s but both inconsistent, with the changeup needing more separation from the fastball and the slider just too variable in shape from pitch to pitch.