Ruzious

Yeah, I think he's still arguably a top 5 talent in all of baseball. With that talent comes enormous expectations - which I imagine many players would wilt under, so I can understand when "Manny's being Manny" and rubs people the wrong way. Not having the "burden" of being one of the best in the world at anything (though I can whine pretty well at times), a lot of people don't give him the slack he probably should get.

The only catcher with as many at bats that has a higher OPS is Gary Sanchez, who OPS'd only .697 last season - though has hit very well in the past. O's need to see what they have with Severino. Tony's suggestion that he be the everyday catcher and not be platooned sounds like the right plan - at minimum till the all-star break, imo.

Manny's a helluvan all-around player and was a credit to the O's, but I think it is fair to say he has under-achieved so far this season, but there's plenty of time for him to turn things around and have an all-star caliber season. His OPS+ of 102 is the lowest of his career since he was 20 years old, and his occasional lacks in hustle can be demoralizing. His defensive versatility is an enormous plus, but he's not the amazing defender he used to be.

I'd guess that big spikes like Severino's would most frequently be with catchers - because of all of the demands of the position. it might not be until later in their careers that they have the time to focus on significant changes to their hitting approach.

My eye test completely w/o regard to stats - Reimold was the single worst LFer I have ever seen wear a major league uniform. Every single ball he had to go back and to his right on was an adventure. The few times I saw him in RF, he wasn't bad - just had zero instincts in LF.

This will be one of the few times I'll disagree with you - so I'm probably wrong. But... Baseball America had him as the 57th overall prospect going into 2017 and 68th going into 2018. And he's hit well so far this season. It's not at all unusual for young catchers to start off poorly in the bigs. Good catchers are so rare that teams will go out of their way in the hopes of getting one and some will have significant interest in Sisco, imo.

The biggest problem is that he plays so deep that routine fly balls often fall in front of him. I don't watch a lot of games, but I've seen that happen a few times. He seems best when he's going back on balls - which makes me wonder why he plays so deep. He's not the worst I've seen in LF (Nolan Reimold), but he's bad.

Nah, they banned me too.

I'm wondering more - What's Sisco's trade value?

You... shall never be invited to the Hanser Alberto Fanclub meetings.

Yup, Koby Allard would be up in the bigs with Mike Soroka if velocity didn't matter. Allard looked like a sure thing before he lost a few ticks. Btw, Soroka is absurdly good.

Good to see him do well - though when he was in the Braves' system, he was not regarded as a prospect.

Oops, for some reason I thought this was the game thread - apologies. Akk, Austin Riley literally just homered.

Is it fair to O's fans when Joey Rickard expands the strike zone batting with the bases loaded? Is it fair to O's fans that Joey Rickard is in the lineup most days? Don't we have like 57 OF prospects in the minors? The Braves Inciarte gets injured, and they just bring up Austin Riley (who was hitting 2 homers seemingly every other game in AAA) to play LF. Where's our Austin Riley? We don't have one? Well, how is that fair? You might say it's foul. Or not.

Or in the non-existent O's scouting report on Gleybor Torrez.

There's no fairness in baseball!

Well, the first 3. Also Hanifee - if he can get back on track.

And Bordick was a bit of a late bloomer - got a cup o coffee at 24, had a lousy hitting year at 25, and then had arguably his best season at 26. Hey, if McCoy can keep his OPS up - not this high but .900 would be great, maybe he'll get that cup of coffee in September. It seems like defensively, he's very reliable - that's a great quality. Imagine him and Bannon getting dual espressos, so to speak, in September - that'd be something - both underdogs making it up the ladder together.

And sure enough, he's hitting better in Bowie than Frederick - has a combined OPS of .998.

If he's healthy, MD's going to be a near NBA sized team, but I don't know if that's a good team. Plodding offenses just don't win consistently, and the lack of easy transition baskets has marred Turgeon's era. With Chol being an amazing shot-blocker - along with Stix, they can play presure D with guys like Morsell, Cowan, Ayala, Wiggins and Scott (who's supposed to be a great defender) - they SHOULD play presure defense - with the shot-blockers back to protect the basket and get more easy transition hoops. His teams have to work so hard to get baskets. MD's got some serious depth - also have the Mitchell twins coming, and Hakim Hart looks like an intersting swingman. And Cowan is the only senior.

So baseball's like politics; you change your stance and get more power... but it takes balls?

Why? Isn't he physically pretty much the same as when the O's drafted him? What's changed about his power potential?

Gotta love that - he gets promoted and immediately shines. He's having a terrific season. I don't know about his range, but he doesn't make a lot of errors - most minor league SS's make a ton of errors. What a step-up he's made offensively this year. But it's only 130 at bats. Sigh. Let's see how he's doing after the next 100 at bats.

Bannon's a good bet to make Luke look good. After hitting his 4th homer today to go along with 10 doubles, he's got his OPS up to about .900, and he's got a lifetime OPS of .920. Yeah, he doesn't necessarily pass the eye test, but he keeps producing at every level they put him at - getting on base and getting xbh's. Alternating between 2B and 3B, he looks more like a 2nd baseman, and his fielding percentage is much better there.

Note to O's: hire Josh Tomlin as a pitching coach when his MLB career is over. Have the O's ever had a 19 year old pitcher (other than Jim Palmer) who can touch mid 90's on his fastball and appears to have the makings of a good changeup?