Scripted
For those amigos who have been too busy calculating the Angels' runs scored, Matt Tuisosopo is sitting on five (5) multi-hit games in a row, with 3 homers and 11 RBI.
He's 11-for-19 in those games and is now listed at 6' 7", 302, the same as Terry Bollea. The Seahawks have threatened holdout Aaron Curry with a local Bo Jackson redux.
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Quick recap for those who became Mariner fans in the last week or two, like Sandy. Or if you missed one or two of the memos along the way...
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1. Tui's dad was a star nose guard for the Chuck Knox Seahawks. His older bro' was an NFL quarterback. Matt himself has Junior-level self-confidence, and for similar reasons.
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2. As a teenager, slid out of the first round of his draft because people thought he was going to go play QB for the Huskies.
In other words, Tui, a 1st-round baseball pick, might have been a better football player than baseball player. In other other words, Tui is a freak of natural talent, even compared to other pro baseball players.
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3. Nabbed 3rd round, given 1st round money by the M's. Roger Jongewaard, sometimes accused of being the best player-development man of the 1990's, compared Tuiasosopo to Ken Griffey Jr. and Rickey Henderson with respect to Tui's level of baseball talent.
For some reason, this amazing quote has never gained traction with Mariner fans.
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4. Signed and in his first two weeks, had approximately 912 base hits.
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5. Spent his minors career playing with guys two to four years older than him.
Tui believers have admired his rare and lethal combination of Mike Piazza opposite-field power, along with the football-style willingness to stick his nose into a slider. Bret Boone and Edgar Martinez were other players in the same template.
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6. Continued to not hit, continued to be promoted more quickly than his performances seemed to justify, and continued to show unsinkable confidence.
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7. At age 20 had a AA season with stats hilariously bad (.183/.218/.259 in 200+ AB's). This led some to ask the question, "Has anybody ever been good in the major leagues, who posted stats this bad?" This debate rolled for a few months over the winter.
For us, the verdict was, if you can't hit upper minors pitching yet, you can't hit it yet. .210 vs. .180 vs .110, it's all the same thing. The guy was in over his head for a few months, but hey, as long as he didn't mind....
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8. At age 21, adjusted and started playing fairly well for his level (AA), though not sabermetrically well.
We fans continued to try to use the paradigm of past results (sabermetrics) rather than the paradigm of physical gifts. On this one, they steered us wrong.
A typical fan quote from an Ultra league on Tui: "I have to question 20HR potential with such a low career slugging in the minors. If you want to invest in a ML 3rd baseman, there are better options out there under the radar. Todd Frazier, Reds comes to mind. He is more like Adrian Beltre (post roids) than not like him. "
Scouts insisted that it wasn't what Tui was doing; it was what he was going to do.
Tui, at 21 and 22, remained PERFORMANCE-wise behind the curve as to blue-chip status. Remained TALENT-wise and PHYSICALLY way ahead of the curve as to blue-chip status.
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9. Came up to AAA at age 22 and hit creditably, 280/360/450. Was studiously ignored by fans. Was called up to the Mariners, who had never wavered in their Golden Boy path for him.
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10. At 23, came to spring training under Capt Jack's and Wok's new administration.
"Suddenly" began kicking tail and taking names, hitting .424/.453/.644 in 63 plate appearances.
Zduriencik placed Tui on the major league Opening Day roster. Z and Wok's affection for the lad was palpable.
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11. In May, was scheduled for surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.
Yes, we know that Tui had actual chips in there, or a doc wouldn't have opened up his arm. But as you Adrian Beltre fans might have noticed over the past three years, the timing of surgeries tend to be rather discretionary. :- )
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12. In mid-July, returned.
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13. August 1 on the dot, Tui started mashing again.
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14. If Matt Tuiasosopo shortly begins having Bret Boone seasons in Safeco -- .300 - 35 - 120 with 110 runs, knocking down the right-center wall, despite 50/120 eye ratios -- D-O-V's surprise coefficient will be 0%.
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Stars & Scrubs calls for the phasing in of cost-effective young talent providing that it is, well, talented.
Hey, we admire Adrian Beltre. Bill James couldn't have said anything nicer than to comp him to Brooks Robinson, bat-wise and glove-wise. The Sox will be needing a 3B, too, and Fenway was made for Adrian. I bet you the Sox have their eye on him.
Wouldn't you love seeing Adrian nab .315 with 38 homers and 128 RBI in Fenway, to go with his Gold Gloves?
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=== Yer Point Bein'? ===
Fans have never gotten Matt Tuiasosopo. The Mariners have never NOT gotten him.
Across three or four administrations, the Seattle powers-that-be have all agreed on this much: when they were ladling out physical gifts, Tui went back for seconds, thirds, and ice cream.
The Mariners didn't even care whether they saw Tui in AAA this year. LOL. It reminds me of the year Chuck Knox drafted Curt Warner -- and then held him out of preseason games, on the basis that "we know what Curt can do." Curt's first reg-season carry was 60 yards down the sideline against the Chiefs. They hit the lights and it was show time.
The May elbow tuneup was Joe Montana-cool. Get the oil changed, detail the interior, make sure all systems are go ... have a good August and begin phasing in the Tui era with the September callups.
Sometimes the suits are awfully good at their jobs.
Cheers,
Dr D