Yastrzemski and Reynolds Make 2019 All-Debut Team

[sharksrog]

Giants' right fielder Mike Yastrzemski had been named the right fielder on the 2019 All-Debut team. Former Giants farmhand Brian Reynolds has been named the left fielder. Here is the entire team:

C -- Will Smith (Dodgers, 1.207 OPS)

1B -- Pete Alonso (Mets, .977 OPS)

2B -- Keston Hiura (Brewers, .946 OPS)

SS -- Fernando Tatis (Padres, .969 OPS)

3B -- Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (Blue Jays, .818 OPS)

LF -- Reynolds (Pirates, .913 OPS, traded for Andrew McCutcheon)

CF -- Oscar Mercado (Indians, .779 OPS)

RF -- Yastrzemski (Giants, .868 OPS)

DH -- Yordan Alvarez (Astros, 1.120 OPS)

SP -- Chris Paddack (Padres, 3.44 ERA)

RP -- Nick Anderson (Rays, traded from Marlins at deadline, 3.31 ERA, 14.9 K/9)


That's an amazing all-debut team for ANY year. It's somewhat notable too that a SHORTSTOP with a 1.056 OPS -- Bo Bichette of the Rays (and son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette) -- couldn't make the team. Let's not forget too that Dodgers AAA shortstop Gavin Lux (.410 BA, 1.263 OPS in AAA), hasn't been needed by the so-strong Dodgers, but could still be a September call up or come up even earlier in case of injury. Did we mention a couple of years ago that it was a Golden Age of shortstops (probably now having become THE Golden Age of shortstops)?

This season, or even last, might be the beginning of a Golden Age for newcomers.

[klaiggeb]

Mini-Yaz, at this point, has been so much more than a solid player; he's been amazing.

Such power to all fields from such a little guy.

I'm just hoping this is not an illusion, because if you watch this kid play, and I'm talking about running the bases, knowing where to throw the ball, defense and all of the intangibles we've seen, this kid knows what he's doing out there.

He's been a revelation

Against pitchers he's never seen before, he's put up much, much better numbers than:

Posey
Belt
Crawford
Longoria
Panik

To me, THAT is amazing.

All of those guys have seen most of the pitcher's they've faced multiple times.

But not Mini-Yaz, and he's out performed all of them.

IN fact, all but Longoria should be embarrassed beyond belief.

When he first came up, I thought he was a Gregor Blanco type player.

Now I can see that he's not.

Is this who really really is and will become?

Heck if I know, but right now, it's great to be him!

[sharksrog]

Mike has hit the ball well. It hasn't been simply luck. Yes, he's likely hit over his head. His batting average is .282, and his expected batting average based on how he's hit the ball is 27 points lower. His slugging percentage is .560, which is 55 points higher than his expected. So, yeah, there's been some luck. But hitting .255 with a .505 SLG is still pretty good -- it's above average. Will the park and the luck catch up to Mike? Likely. But it doesn't appear to have been all luck, either.

The park might make it tough to keep up even the .255/.505, but if he can, he would still be darn good even if he WEREN'T performing at today's level. He can play defense and run the bases too!

The one way Mike differs from all these other all-debut team players is that he was picked up for nothing over the winter.

[klaiggeb]

Yaz is smart, has a nice, nice swing, and learns.

You're evaluating him on his minor league metrics, and that is a mistake, I believe, Rog.

I'm looking for him to hit around .270 with 15-20 HRs/year in the future.

[sharksrog]

I thought I made it clear that I was evaluating him based on how he's hit the ball this season according to Statcast. I haven't even looked at his minor league numbers. I wasn't really declaring what I thought he would do in the future, as much as stating the mean to which he might regress.

The Giants' park makes it tough to predict guys, since most -- especially left-handed hitters -- are hurt by the park. Mike has just six homers at home compared to 11 on the road. I certainly haven't studied Mike, but off the top of my head I think he can hit more than 15-20 homers if the ball stays hard. He might struggle on the average though. But again, I don't know how much he's retooled his swing this year, and I haven't look at his numbers very closely.

As far as the SLG you're implying for Mike, I think you could be pretty close or even a little low. Mike's a tough guy not to root for, isn't he?