Tony-OH

Heim was a cold weather high school kid with a raw stick who was known for his defensive work. As Frobby pointed out, both Sisco and Wynns were ahead of him in the minor league "depth chart" for catching prospects He's a nice story as a player who had to grind in order to eventually develop into a good major league hitter. His defensive abilities at catcher and the ability to switch hit allowed him to keep getting chances when others would not. I clearly remember when he was selected and then bombed pretty hard offensively in his first taste of pro ball, that I was reminded that he was a "cold weather kid, who's bat will take awhile to come around." Clearly that was a true statement. Good on him, but I can't fault the Orioles at the time for moving him and even if they didn't, maybe he doesn't develop the same way? It is a good reminder though when you get cold weather kids out of high school that you are willing to keep running them out there to see if they get it eventually. Most will not though just like most warm weather kids won't make it and there's only so much playing time available. Sometimes guys just needs changes of scenery to keep getting playing time until it clicks.

That was a bomb by Seager to start the game!

By the end of next season we'll know if he's McKenna with more pop, or Zach Watson.

Yeah, no doubt. Schwarber is become quite the three outcome player.

I hate when the same team keeps going to the World Series. The Astros as just too damn good once the playoffs start. I remember when some people on here were laughing at the Astros in the Twitterverse saying the World Series will still go through them. People were pointing to the Orioles 101 wins vs the Astros 90 wins. Orioles had no post season experience, Astros have crazy amount of post season experience. The moment is not too big for them.

Figures, we get red hot Rangers, Astros get choke version of the Rangers. Terrible bullpen. Terrible base running. Just crud.

What the hell kinds of pinch runner is Smith? How did he not tag there? Terrible.

Wow, roped right at the SS.

Gotta root for the Rangers here. So tired of the Astros in the World Series!

He is quite the special post season player.

LeClerc doesn't belong anywhere close to the 9th inning.

Sorry, the 2 was a typo. It was 78 PAs. My fault.

That includes his A+ time. The stats I quoted was just his Bowie splits.

I guess if there was any kinda good news is that he slashed a Rob Deeresque .214/.398/.443/.841 with 5 HR, 19 BB and 31 K in 93 PAs in his last 20 games. While I won't bury him until he gets another full AA season under his belt, his 108 Ks in 288 AA PAs his not only a red flag, but it's an entire fire truck of red lights going off along with sirens. He is a good defensive outfielder and he did hit lefties ok, even at Bowie where he slashed .206/.359/.476/.835, but with still to much miss (29K in 78 PAs). Unless there was something physically wrong with him that we don't know about, to say I'm concerned about his future ability to hit major league pitching can not be understated. He needs to come back a different hitter in 2024 and his rankings will suffer due to his AA numbers.

Maybe? He runs gangly, kinda like Nolan Reimold so maybe he's faster than he appears. I know he's stolen some bases but to me, he looks like he has average speed at best. That's probably enough for left field if he can get good jumps and improve his routes.

Beavers is not a major league CF prospect in my opinion. Unless he improves a lot, I just don't see the jumps and routes or foot speed to play there all the time. Fill in, maybe.

Not yet at least. While Basallo was playing a "playing age" year younger than Tavera and Sosa, they both out performed him in the FCL. The Dominican/Venezuelan scouting under Kobe Perez is really starting to blossom.

@nvpacchi First off, great post above. Can you PM me how you've been able to find AAA statcast data for a season vs game by game? Also, the "gyro" pitch sounds more like a cutter vs slider judging by your descriptions.

Most of the Latin/Spanish players speak well enough English/Spanglish to converse with their teammates. Even ones who use an interpreter in interviews tend to be able to understand and speak some English. Personally I think people are reading too much into this that the Latin American players were not mentioned. Maybe they don't prefer that setting? I agree with you that a lot of them are probably Catholic, who are probably more church/mass focused vs bible study session focused. We saw all season how much everyone got along in the dugouts and on the field. I think this is a non-issue myself.

Actually, I have to say the conversation didn't stray that far. Really the only "religion" discussion was whether Catholics were Christians and even in that discussion it never got heated. It is a fine line we have draw here on the subject, but in the end, if this brings guys together a little bit more it's a good thing. I never got any vibes that they were not inclusive or looked down upon those who did not partake. That is when things get sticky with religion and religion talk.

You will soon!

This is really the key for me here as well. Things that bond a team together outside of baseball, whether that be religion, video games, and other interests is a good thing. I'm not longer in the clubhouse, but from every report these guys have bonded well and it's clear that Elias puts a heavy emphasis on guys being "good club house guys and great teammates."

2022 was really an outlier for Mateo defensively. He was a very inconsistent defender up until 2022 and then was an inconsistent defender in 2023. It's not overly surprising that he regressed closer to his norms.

Lots of ways this can play out like you posted above, but if I had to look into the "crystal ball" I could see this combination being the main one: 1B: Mayo 2B: Westburg SS: Holliday 3B: Henderson I think Ortiz if not traded can mix in at 2B/SS/3B and very well could make Westburg expendable in trade as the everyday 2B. Don't get me wrong, I personally think Ortiz is an everyday SS, but Holliday is a special player and I don't know if they are going to be willing to play him at 2B vs SS. Norby to me will be traded or moved to LF where he could end up being a 4th outfield type, especially if they can get him some CF experience. The good news is I would be comfortable with multiple players at multiple positions: Mayo: 1B/3B (though you will have to deal with the bad errors at times) Henderson:: 3B/SS Holliday: SS/2B Ortiz: 2B/SS/3B Westburg: 2B/3B

I've honestly never even heard of that.