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Wieters' blast tonight

Frobby

By Frobby
in Orioles Talk

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crawjo Major Leaguer Rising Star

crawjo

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Tell that to just about any pitching staff, especially one as erratic as the Orioles.

Wow, if Wieters also has a hand in our pitching staff's performance, his defense is being vastly overestimated. Fortunately, I believe there is very little a catcher can do to improve a staff's ERA, so I continue to hold Wieters' defense in high regard.

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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With ALL the good and bad that has been said about Matt's hitting, I have never doubted his power! The first two years he was up, like 90% of his HRs were opposite field. From both sides. And many no cheapies!

You can call him a mistake hitter, cripple hitter, whatever... but when he hits it... it STAYS hit!. ;)

As Gary Thorne has said. "You can't defense THAT!"
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Say O! Major Leaguer

Say O!

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The total distance does not do last night's homer justice. Target Field is just as difficult as AT&T ballpark to HR to RF. And last night the wind was whipping around the stadium as well.

The ball was crushed. This hit tracker link shows all 2011 HRs at Target Field. Notice how few to RCF. The chart on the webpage shows adjusted factors for wind/temp/etc, but with so little heading out to RCF, I gotta doubt their estimates there.

targetfield_2011_scatter.jpg

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Sports Guy Hangout Grand Counsel

Sports Guy

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Are you seriously insinuating that Wieters is at fault for our ERA or that he hasn't helped it? Like you said, our pitching staff blows.

I want to see more at the plate from him but he's an above average hitting catcher and is the best defensive catcher in the league by leaps and bounds. It's not even close. He is Johnny Bench level good behind the dish.

I am as pissed off about this team as anyone (see my posts from yesterday) but I don't see the need to go out of my way to criticize players. I mean, "But the fact that we have to talk about his defense, as if it is that big of a deal, is terrible," come on, that's just a ridiculous thing to say. Are you telling me if he had 25 homers we wouldn't ALSO be talking about his defense?

If you are talking to me, no I am not.

But his defense is only so much of a big deal, as are his "stellar game calling skills".

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MikeAD Hangout Grand Counsel

MikeAD

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If you are talking to me, no I am not.

But his defense is only so much of a big deal, as are his "stellar game calling skills".

And he was drafted to be an big time offense catcher. His defense is great, as are his game calling/leadership, but that doesn't mean its not an all around disappointment. This far into his career, you'd think he'd be able to at least hit the ball with power on a regular basis.

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SrMeowMeow Hangout Grand Counsel

SrMeowMeow

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And he was drafted to be an big time offense catcher. His defense is great, as are his game calling/leadership, but that doesn't mean its not an all around disappointment. This far into his career, you'd think he'd be able to at least hit the ball with power on a regular basis.

And that's why it's so encouraging to see him crush a homer like this, especially pulled.

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SrMeowMeow Hangout Grand Counsel

SrMeowMeow

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Not like he hasn't done it before. He has teased us in the past but has never come even remotely close to being consistent...at least consistently good.

If you want to be disappointed, nobody's stopping you. But patience is a virtue, especially with catchers.

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SrMeowMeow Hangout Grand Counsel

SrMeowMeow

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Catcher defense is NOT overrated. What it is, is difficult to measure, similarly to 1B but to an even greater degree.

Well, it could be overrated, or underrated. We really don't know what effect catcher defense has yet, especially re: the pitchers he handles.

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nadecir Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

nadecir

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Wieters' can look really good when he guesses right, and not so good when he guesses wrong. His OPS this season is 1.189 ahead in the count, and about .500 even or behind in the count. Wieters did have his first career home run behind in the count against Gio Gonzalez on August 15th. It only took him about 1300 major league plate appearances to get his first home run behind in the count. :clap3:

He crushed last night's home run on a 1-0 pitch, and my guess he was looking fastball and got one. And he certainly didn't miss it.

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Sports Guy Hangout Grand Counsel

Sports Guy

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If you want to be disappointed, nobody's stopping you. But patience is a virtue, especially with catchers.
Really? You are playing this card?

Sorry but this is bs. An elite talent is normally an elite talent right away. We have seen enough top catchers be very good right away.

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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[

And he was drafted to be Jason Varitek 
1997BOS1101000000001.0001.0001.0002.0001998BOS862213156130733174522.253.309.407.7161999BOS144483701303922076468512.269.330.482.8122000BOS139448551113111065608411.248.342.388.730

And he just might be.

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