...... M's 5
The makeshift outfield kicks booty, takes names

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=== Michael Saunders ===

After he hit his two dingers, he went on the postgame and said that he's getting his swing back to where it was in the first half, after "the last few weeks" getting out of synch again.  

It's not clear to me why it's so tough for this amigo to get this one lesson through his thick skull.  He comes to the plate armed with the 1-wood already.  He doesn't need to open those hips up like a long-drive champ.  Just arm-swing for left-center and he'll get him his 25-30 jacks.  When this guy's knees vector at the shortstop, he can hit in the big leagues.

For the last month, he has scored a 1 on a scale of 10 for Shortstop Knee Vectorage.  On the first HR tonight, he scored maybe a 7 (and you'll notice that the ball traveled over the SS's head).  On the second home run, probably a 5.  Slap me silly I wish the guy would just turn the front knee in, or something, and keep that lead hip home.  

Minor light bulb on Saunders:  when he's going bad, his knees go at the second baseman.  When he's going good, they go at the shortstop.  When he's going mediocre, like now, he goes SS on way outside pitches and 2B on other pitches.

Good news is:  this is a guy who can carry a team when he's right.  As he did, for example, Monday, winning our "#5 Starter Game" all by his ownself.  He's got 3 walks vs 2 strikeouts this last week, so maybe he's right again.

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=== Eric Thames ===

He looks like .350 standin' still, like they used to say about Dave Parker.  He lets the ball get deep in the zone, takes a real good look at it.  His launch is snake-tongue quick and the ball jumps off his bat.  Tonight he cleared deep right-center with ease.

So, what's the holdup?  He watches the fastball, watches it, watches it, FIIRRRRES the bat beautifully and ... swings right through it.  Sure enough, his run values on everything below 90 MPH are off the chart, and his run value on fastballs is pathetic.

Bo Jackson used to be like this.  His hand-eye coordination just wasn't MLB-caliber, so he made his living off breaking pitches and 89 MPH fastballs.  (You can hit 30 homers doing that.)  Either Thames will wind up like that, or it's just a case of his being very early in his career.

I know you guys don't want to hear this, but I don't like his chances.  The fact that he has so much trouble with good velocity, despite such a quick bat, that says "hand-eye problemos."  Hope I'm wrong.

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=== John Jaso ===

Another day, another walk.  And a rifle shot to deep LF, the other way.

At the moment, he is one of the best players in organized baseball.

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=== Justin Smoak ===

Is indeed quicker at the plate; he's swinging the pitching wedge from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock.  He's totally lost the flowery, blossomy followthrough, so he's more agile at the plate.  Teddy Ballgame's first rule:  Be quick - quick.

Teddy's second rule:  hit it up the middle.  Have you seen the shift on Smoak?  It says here that the only missing ingredient, now, are the doubles into the left-center gap.  Does anybody remember those during his rookie year?

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=== Trayvon ===

You probably already saw, someplace, that Trayvon had 10-11 putouts or something.  One of them was on another rib-smash against the stands.  At the park, he came up next inning and played "I bee-leeeeeve I can flyyyyyy" and Trayvon was laughing too hard to hit.  Didn't know the P.A. guys could also make rookies carry pink backpacks?

Last year, Trayvon had a revolting hole in his swing, that being offspeed stuff at the knees.  He's just about solved that, and now his strike zone coverage is quite solid.

He's feeling his way, not hitting the ball real hard, but he's leaped a plateau.  Could get interesting real quick here.  Not that the Mariners aren't playing an exTREMEly makeshift outfield during this run.  Did you realize that the 1977 expansion Mariners had a more credentialed outfield than Eric Wedge is using right now?  They did.  I was there, and that 1977 team would have declined to field an outfield of Robinson, Saunders and Thames.  It wanted a more MLB(TM) lineup than that.

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=== The Ballclub Generally ===

For 70 years, people thought that Wrigley Field was an extreme hitter's park.  Then, in the 1990's if we recall, STATS Inc. discovered that it's two parks -- at one time of year the wind blows out, and at the other time of year the wind blows in.

Looks from here like the wind currents have changed, and with them the M's hitters' attitudes have changed.  What are they, 13-1 at Safeco lately?  ... Geoffy worries that a strong finish will mean that the Mariners will not pursue next winter's Prince Fielder.  Dr. D worries that an offensive revival in summer will mean that they forget about closing the roof next April and May.

 

Comments

1
M's Watcher's picture

My bets are on the M's not spending money to move fences, but manage the roof with the temperatures in the early months. Otherwise, in the summer, they might have to get used to double figure scoring with the fences closer in. I don't think they want that.

2

Thames: .286-.322-.500/130 OPS+ as an M!
He's a better chaser of fly balls than I thought he would be. I love the aggressive, go-to-the-next-gear, attitude he had between 1st and 2nd base on his triple last night.
He swings at 50% of the pitches he sees. Gets the bat on 75% of those. Interestingly, he's seeimg more FB's this year. Up from 54% to nearly 59%. Now that might be withing the margin of error and coincidental. And 59% isn't a huge FB total. But it may show pitcher evolution as they see more of him.
But, right now, I'm a holder on Thames. He's got almost exactly a full season of MLB PA's behind him (613 PA's) and he's had 35 doubles, 7 triples, and 17 taters. He surpasses my 50 extra-base rule, by a decent amount, too.
He has value to the M's. Either as an on-the-field piece, or as a value-added trade chit.
What say we watch and see how that plays out.
Trayvon: Liked him last year. There's a bit of a 80's St. Louis Cardinal in him, I think. I think we can discount his Albuquerque tater-barrage as being an altitude-charged anomaly. But even at that, if he can do somthing like his Tacoma line (.265-.331-.409) and hit the ball out a few times, then he's interesting. There is a significant "if" there, however. 2 homers in 220 MLB PA's doesn't light my fire, but he's shown some double ability.
And there is kind of a contagious karma-rich attitude that he brings to the park, or at least it seems to me.
I think it is unlikely that he becomes an everyday, multi-season, COF bat. All the same, he's an interesting 4th OF guy.
He may get washed out in the move of some of our MiLB IF bats to COF, however.
Say, when Romero starts logging a ton of LF/RF innings.
moe

4

Didn't realize that ... hopefully that swinging-thru-fastballs thing is actually just his making sure to let the ball get deep... thass' possible...
Just looking at him swing the bat, Moe, does Thames remind you at all of Al Oliver?  Wiry pull hitter and it seemed like every swing was going to be a line-shot double...
Another guy who was just a dangerous hitter, better than his OPS+, Garret Anderson ... was a bit of a late bloomer but GA always posted RBI totals in excess of his general statlines...
..................
Whatever Thames' future, fact is that he's been a key part of this surge...

5

Oliver is a semi-swing template. Of course Oliver ripped everything. I love the line about line-shot doubles.
I had forgot just how good Oliver was. Had a 13 year full-time run where he hit less that .300 twice. How many guys who have a lifetime .300+ averaga AND 50+ doubles are not in the HOF?
Oliver hit third in the order in 1139 games, just over 50% of his games. He hit 4th and 5th in another 884 games.
Of course, there was no DH for most of those game. But I don't see Thames as that type of MOO guy. But as a 6th or 7th place bat, he might be quite dangerous. If any FA pickup is a COF, or if a Romero-type ends up there, then (because he doesn't play CF) Thames becomes a more expendable guy.
However, he's a .270-.319-.451 career slugger vR. 48 XB hits in 480 PA's.
He's interesting, Doc. Holes for sure...(even against RHP he has only 28 BB's and 112 K's) but the ball jumps off his bat AND he has the correct split. He lends himself to a natural platoon, as long as you have a back-up CF somewhere else in the OF mix.
He has shown some MiLB eye, btw. Walked 82 points in AA, and 71 & 77 in his two AAA stints.
moe

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