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Post by Rog on Aug 25, 2017 18:19:03 GMT -5
Good catch, Don. I hadn't noticed that. And your conclusion seems highly logical.
I see that in 28 of his past 37 at bats Ramos has either gotten a hit or struck out. Unfortunately 15 of those times were strikeouts. That means Heliot got 13 hits in his other 22 at bats, which just isn't sustainable.
Heliot must be hitting the ball hard a lot, since he's striking out a ton and still getting lots of hits. But he's going to have to cut down on his strikeouts in order to be a big success.
I hope he gets well soon. I would guess that his season has only 11 more days left. He certainly appears to be the most toolsy player in the system -- even at the age of 17.
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Post by Rog on Aug 25, 2017 18:55:17 GMT -5
This is getting hard to believe. Rhys Hoskins kicks off tonight with a two-run homer his first time up. He's now hit nine homers in his first 54 at bats.
Consider too that like Willie Mays, he went hitless in the first 12 at bats of his career before getting a hit. In his 42 at bats since, he has the nine homers plus 14 runs scored and 21 RBI's.
This is kind of embarrassing from the home team's point of view, but they have called up seven rookies this season. The rookies have batted 456 times. They have the same nine homers Hoskins has hit in 54 at bats. Hoskins has homered nine times as often as the Giants' rookies.
It should be mentioned that the Giants' rookies play in a tough park for home runs. In fact, it is so tough that Hoskins himself managed only two homers in the four games he played here.
What Hoskins has done is truly unreal and possibly unprecedented. What the Giants' rookies have done has been pretty awful. Want to know something else that is bad? Christian Arroyo is just 22, but the average age of the Giants' rookies is higher than Hoskins' age (24 1/2). The Giants' rookies are older, and they're not nearly as good.
The Phillies wouldn't come close to trading Hoskins for all the Giants' rookies put together. We've been talking about giving the young guys a chance. As they have played, for the most part we've seen why they never got their shot before.
We want to see the guys get a chance, but most of the time we're disappointed after we do so.
Meanwhile, the Phillies have taken a guy and had him learn a new position at the major league level and immediately installed him as their cleanup hitter. I would have to say Hoskins has remained unphased.
A lot of the Giants' rookies should be phased -- out.
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Post by Rog on Aug 25, 2017 19:10:57 GMT -5
When the Giants drafted Tim Lincecum in 200, few were more excited than I. And through 2011, he might have been the best and most exciting starter in baseball.
But that season the Dodgers drafted a high school pitcher who has had far more staying power than Tim. Clayton Kershaw is on the DL right now, but is coming back soon.
He will return to action with the lowest ERA of any starter in history with over 1000 innings and who didn't pitch in the dead-ball era. His 2.34 is 42 points lower than Sandy Koufax. It's 64 points lower than Madison Bumgarner.
Only Mariano Rivera's 2.21 has been better among pitchers who didn't pitch in the dead-ball era. And of course, Mariano was a reliever, starting only 10 games in his career.
The past five seasons Kershaw's highest ERA has been 2.13. In no full season has his ERA ever reached 3.00.
As great as Lincecum was for several seasons, Kershaw has been far better. Kershaw has been clearly better than anyone. Except maybe Mariano Rivera.
That said, how cool was it in 2011 when the Giants had Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong? For depth, they also had Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito.
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Post by Rog on Aug 30, 2017 8:36:33 GMT -5
So Monday Rhys Hoskins didn't hit another home run. The best he could manage was 2 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.
When you let the young guys play, you hope they'll PLAY. The odds are much better with a true prospect like Hoskins. And remember that some guy, make that fool, had Christian Arroyo ranked ahead of Hoskins.
Let's just hope the guy WASN'T a fool and actually sees something the rest of us have missed.
Or maybe Jarrett Parker is a left-handed hitting version of Hoskins. Other than the amount and quality of contact, control of the strike zone, and consistent ability to hit with power, I think they're virtually identical hitters. Mirror images.
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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 30, 2017 9:27:37 GMT -5
I don't know the guy who ranked Christian above Hoskins, Rog, but just based upon clear power potential alone, I can't see why anyone would rank Arroyo higher.
Now that said, Christian has amazing hand to eye coordination, IMHO, much better than Hoskins, and his bat is QUICK!
But as I said, power alone should rank Hoskins higher.
As to Parker, I hope everyone is taking note of how much his 'swing and miss' percentage has dropped.
He had some bad luck last night early in the game when he flat out crushed a ball that ended up as a DP.
He's shown he can hit LHP, too.
boly
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Post by Rog on Aug 31, 2017 14:28:02 GMT -5
Jarrett hasn't hit southpaws well in the minors, and he's been at best OK against them in the majors.
Good point about Jarrett's cutting his strikeouts. He did a very nice job between August 14th and 23rd, as was mentioned early in that period. His past games he's been back to his strikeout ways though, fanning seven times in 19 at bats.
Jarrett's season OPS is just .703. As recently as August 12th it was .817.
Jarrett has shown some great fielding, but he's hit like a fourth or fifth outfielder. After hitting the ball hard two out of every five times as a rookie and one in three last season, this year he's hitting the ball hard only once every four times, which for a strikeout hitter is clearly sub par.
As mentioned before, the only mulligan I would give Jarrett is his horrible clavicle injury. That may have affected his contact and certainly seems to have reduced his power.
The reduced strikeouts do offer hope if they continue.
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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 31, 2017 14:55:41 GMT -5
I'm hoping so, too.
But that said, I do not see him as an answer in LF.
I'm still hoping he'll fool us all and begin to hit .250ish with 20-30 HR powre.
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to seeing Slater again.
boly
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Post by Rog on Sept 1, 2017 20:01:09 GMT -5
IIRC I'm not that bullish on Slater either, but I am intrigued. I believe he along with Chris Shaw, Steven Duggar, Tyler Beede and perhaps someone else is going to play in the Arizona Fall League. Christian Arroyo is expected to play in the Dominican Winter League.
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