One-Offs, 3.22.17
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Mike Zunino has a in-born knack for pulling the ball in the air. In 2017 his grounder:fly ratio was 0.70 and in 2016 it was 0.56; his pull vs oppo last year was 51% to 17%. If he swings and makes contact, the ball is likely going in the air to the power part of the field.
The Brewers noticed this, as he hit three (3) home runs against them on Wednesday, giving him and Dan Vogelbach the team lead at 5 homers. Not that it matters, but 5 homers in 36 at bats prorates to 76 in 550 AB's.
Fangraphs' card on him leads off with "BEWARE! ROTO TRAP!" having looked at his BABIP in 2017 being too high. Alas, such is the folly of reading numbers off the page and not watching a player on the field. Mike Zunino has a legit 170 PWR and every time the ball goes in the air, the fence is going to have 99 kinds of trouble holding it.
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Speaking of which, Dan Vogelbach's Herculean efforts (.391/.509/.848 over 46 AB's) took a cross-block to the ACL when Scott Servais intoned compassionlessly, "We acquired Ryon Healy to play first base every day." I mean, that is PRECISELY what he said.
Now, semantically, philosophically and otherwise there are 17 things wrong with that statement and maybe 2 things right with it. These are one-offs so we'll let you guess most of them. I'll throw in just one: Ryon Healy is not a Joey Votto-class entitlement situation. If -- WHEN -- it becomes apparent that Dan Vogelbach can blinkin' OBP .400 against right hand pitchers, and that's your response, "Well, our intentions were to play Healy and so that's what we must do" ..... well, you wouldn't win any chess games that way; we'll leave it at that.
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Romine and Beckham were the DP combo Wednesday and a Brewer hit a one-hop bullet at Romine, who effortlessly glove-flicked it and then nailed Beckham in the chest with an authoritative feed. Beckham gratefully accepted the assist and then fired the Brewer out by a mile.
Both Andrew Romine and Gordon Beckham remain the same reliable, 200-AB major leaguers that they have been for years. It's a pleasure to watch them play.
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Ichiro got turned around a little bit on a hot shot straight over this head. He twisted this way and that and then had to take it off the fence. Further souring the lemonade, he kicked it just a little bit and slowed his throw into the infield.
He doesn't look as comfortable in LF as he used to in RF. Contrasting all this was a beauteous play that Heredia made later in LF, effortlessly chasing down a bullet on the line. We don't say that Ichiro can't play LF, but if his contribution in LF is +0 that makes it that much harder for him to hold a 4-game-per-week job with the Mariners.
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The media is now full-on nuts about Felix Hernandez starting Opening Day ... against Corey Kluber and the Indians, who are just as liable to kick his butt down the street into next week.
Is it only Dr. D who finds this "Felix on Opening Day!!!!" shtick aggravating? :- / And the threat of what might occur clubhouse-wise, should the manager correctly decide that James Paxton is the better pitcher with the superior chance of BEATING Corey Kluber, even more aggravating?
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We don't say Mike Leake is a Cy Young candidate; especially in Arizona, that little downward snap on his pitches, isn't. He continues to throw these 6 IP, 4 ER starts with 10 hits, to make sure he's ready. But it's like Whalen in that it's just fun to watch the dive at the end of his throws. The Mainframe has Leake scheduled to turn in a nice year as a plus #3 starter, but don't misunderstand it; it's not confusing Mike Leake with Mike Scott. :- ) But with this offense? He could win many, many, MANY game, Commandant.
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Casey Lawrence STARTS a game (?!) tomorrow or so, and he's sporting a 13:1 CTL. A start this late in March, it's pumpkin time, so let's see what he's got. .... and oh by the way Dr. D is getting confused about categories and labels here.
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Altavilla's sitting on a 12:2:0 CTL in only 8 innings. They used to call that "Vintage Eck Territory," back when anybody remembered who Dennis Eckersley was. Dee Gordon has 16 hits and still has that hip torque that suggests a thirst for doubles down the line (he's got 3 homers and 3 doubles/triples for a .630 SLG). And wouldn't we love to see 200 hits out of Jean "Sudden" Segura, who is batting .424 with a .727 SLG.
Enjoy,
Dr D