I'm not even talking about a Bautista type breakthrough at 29 after 1725 Mil PA and 2038 PA in the majors. I'm talking about 950 total PA in the states. Still, his OPS Vs RH was .667 through Aug 23. That's not his ceiling. He's heading up, Nieuwenhuis is heading down. I guess it's possible that Nieuwenhuis has a breakout in his age 31 season, but far less likely. I don't even have to look up how to spell Guillermo Heredia every time though. I can't find a study showing pop is better than OBP, but...I'll take the defense of Heredia foremost, especially when the potential offensive difference is so slight, we're talking about a guy hitting 8th or 9th in a stacked lineup and the better defender still has room to grow.
But I am the big Heredia fan. I get that no projections are showing what I see. I get that people don't see in the season stats that he was 20% better until falling off a cliff from being dinged up late in the season. .387 OPS on a .183 BABIP his last 97 PA didn't look like a simple slump to me. He was OPSing .734 Vs all comers to that point. Nieuwenhuis is .695 career.