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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 25, 2017 19:39:00 GMT -5
I like Ryder's swing, but I must admit, my patience is dwindling and dwindling fast.
Still trying to pull everything, still sitting dead read on almost every pitch, still continually fooled by breaking stuff.
Then again, for 3 years, so was Matt Williams.
We'll see, but I, personally, NEED to see adjustments from Ryder that... well, I just haven't seen.
Thus he's not playing versus Greinke today.
boly
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Post by Rog on Aug 26, 2017 9:21:04 GMT -5
Ryder's not being in the lineup last night might have had something to do with giving Buster back-to-back days of "rest." If the Giants were going to sit Ryder for his bat, one would assume they would do so against a left-hander, where he has hit only .125. As Boly mentions, Zack Greinke's being the pitcher might have had an effect.
Ryder has hit the ball hard only 27% of the time and posted only 13% line drives. As Boly mentioned, he has only a 17% opposite field rate, much lower than in the minors. His swinging rate is nearly 14%, and he has swung at 39% of pitches outside the strike zone. Hence, pitchers are throwing him strikes only 44% of the time. In short, he's been kind of overmatched.
Ryder had great numbers (.312/.970) at Sacramento in a hitters' league, but they were propped up by a .353 BABIP and an 18% home run per fly ball rate even as his fly balls were down a bit.
Yes, the numbers do make a difference, if one looks deeply enough.
For instance, one would have looked at Pablo when he came to the Giants, since he hit only .212 with the Red Sox and perhaps worse, only .222 at San Jose and .207 in Sacramento. Pretty discouraging, would we say?
Yet there were silver linings. For the Red Sox, Pablo hit the ball hard 39% of the time, which indicated he had likely hit in bad luck for Boston. In the minors, his average was low, but he walked seven times with only three strikeouts. If one looked below the surface, he could see a flicker of hope.
Pablo hasn't been a great hitter with the Giants, but he has hit .288, which is likely more than those in Boston, San Jose and Sacramento thought he would hit.
It wasn't that Pablo's figures lied. It was simply that most didn't dig deeply enough. Surprising given how much higher Pablo has hit with the Giants, but his hard-hit rate has actually declined. Still, it stands at a career-high 34%.
Pablo isn't the hitter he once was. (For instance, he's struck out about half again as often as his career rate, and his pop rate on fly balls has gone up while his home run rate has declined.) But because he's hit the ball fairly hard this season, he has a chance to once again be a decent hitter.
How many thought Pablo would hit as well for the Giants as he has? Despite his surface numbers when joining the Giants, there were reasons for hope.
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Post by Rog on Aug 26, 2017 9:23:32 GMT -5
Pablo's line drive rate is its highest since his rookie season. He hasn't hit as well for the Giants as his .288 batting average would indicate. But he's shown signs of improving as he has put together more major league at bats.
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Post by Rog on Aug 26, 2017 9:36:10 GMT -5
Incidentally, Pablo is hitting over .300 for the Giants against right-handers. Batting against southpaws still remains a big problem. Pablo is hitting just .121 against lefties this season, and I can remember only one hit with the Giants batting right-handed.
Regarding splits by hand, one could say that figures lie with regard to how Denard Span is hitting against southpaws. Yes, his OPS against lefties this season is only .567, more than 100 points lower than his career OPS against southpaws. One could say that Denard's career figures against lefties lied, that he wasn't nearly as good a hitter as his decent career numbers indicated.
But digging below the surface, we saw that while Denard actually hit BETTER against southpaws than against right-handers early in his career, for years now he has struggled against them.
His story is very similar to Pablo's in that regard. Pablo crushed lefties early in his career, but he has had a rather consistent decline against them ever since.
People who say figures lie and liars figure aren't figuring very accurately themselves. It's about interpretation. And that often takes learning and practice.
Those who say figures lie just haven't figured it out.
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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 26, 2017 10:34:41 GMT -5
My concerns are not just about Ryder, Rog.
About Pablo, too.
1-He's NOT driving in runs. Virtually every time he comes up with RISP, he strikes out, or hits the ball weakly.
2-He's not moving on defense like he used to. Screwing up that little roller last night told me a lot.
3-No power.
For him, this is all like a 2nd spring training, so I'm being patient and tolerant, but so far, all things considered, the reviews are mixed.
boly
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