Yusniel Diaz 2021

[jabba72]

2 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

[Yossarian]

I've pretty much written Diaz off as an Oriole.  If he makes it to the bigs, great - let's see what he can do, but I'm not expecting anything other than an injury report from him.

[wildcard]

Diaz should be ready to come off his Bowie rehab and take over RF in Norfolk.

[SteveA]

On 6/20/2021 at 5:17 AM, wildcard said:

Diaz should be ready to come off his Bowie rehab and take over RF in Norfolk.

And he did.

I was wondering...what is the point of assigning a guy to a lower minor league level for rehab?

I get having a major league player go to the minors for rehab.  The games up here "count" and the minors are for player development.

But what is the benefit of Diaz, or Baumann, rehabbing an injury at a Lowe minor league level before returning to the level be was at?

[Ruzious]

41 minutes ago, SteveA said:

And he did.

I was wondering...what is the point of assigning a guy to a lower minor league level for rehab?

I get having a major league player go to the minors for rehab.  The games up here "count" and the minors are for player development.

But what is the benefit of Diaz, or Baumann, rehabbing an injury at a Lowe minor league level before returning to the level be was at?

There seems to be a belief that it is physically safer for the player to rehab at lower levels.  Notice sometimes when a veteran coming off a serious injury starts his rehab at A ball and after a couple games moves up another level for a couple games before returning to MLB.  

Re McKenna, 47 MLB plate appearances isn't enough to make any kind of evaluation.  Remember, most people - especially early in the seaason - were saying last year that Mullins would become - at best - a 4th OFer.  I don't think McKenna has shown the kind of pop that Mullins has, but let's see what he does over the next couple of months.  Remember, in 2018 - he had an amazing .467 OBP at Frederick in 300 plate appearances.  He flopped at Bowie in 2019 and didn't get to play in 2020, so now is his opportunity to show whether or not he should be considered as part of the O's future.  The next couple of months - we should get a better idea on him.  He needs to be ready and healthy.  

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Ruzious said:

There seems to be a belief that it is physically safer for the player to rehab at lower levels.  Notice sometimes when a veteran coming off a serious injury starts his rehab at A ball and after a couple games moves up another level for a couple games before returning to MLB.  

Re McKenna, 47 MLB plate appearances isn't enough to make any kind of evaluation.  Remember, most people - especially early in the seaason - were saying last year that Mullins would become - at best - a 4th OFer.  I don't think McKenna has shown the kind of pop that Mullins has, but let's see what he does over the next couple of months.  Remember, in 2018 - he had an amazing .467 OBP at Frederick in 300 plate appearances.  He flopped at Bowie in 2019 and didn't get to play in 2020, so now is his opportunity to show whether or not he should be considered as part of the O's future.  The next couple of months - we should get a better idea on him.  He needs to be ready and healthy.  

The reason I could see McKenna and Jones coming to the O's soon is because Hays and Santander are hurt and need some time on the IL.   I agree that neither McKenna nor Jones has had enough time at AAA to earn a promotion but some times injuries cause promotions.  Those two would get a opportunity in the Majors and how they do would determine if they stay IMO.

[Tony-OH]

On 6/17/2021 at 4:10 PM, Moose Milligan said:

I know man.  Remove all hope. 

Seriously, like George Carlin said, "**** hope!"  

That's the problem here, everyone has hope.  Remove all hope, things start to look more clear.

All fans have "Hope" that there prospects will be good. Most unfortunately end up disappointing that hope due to various reasons including injuries. 

Diaz has never been able to stay healthy over extended period of time and other than flashes, he hasn't put up numbers that suggests he's going to be anything  other than a 4th outfielder at best. IF, and this is a big IF, if he can can stay healthy and motivated maybe he'll surprise, but he's not a guy I'm counting on to be a big part of a winning future here.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Ruzious said:

There seems to be a belief that it is physically safer for the player to rehab at lower levels.  Notice sometimes when a veteran coming off a serious injury starts his rehab at A ball and after a couple games moves up another level for a couple games before returning to MLB.  

Re McKenna, 47 MLB plate appearances isn't enough to make any kind of evaluation.  Remember, most people - especially early in the seaason - were saying last year that Mullins would become - at best - a 4th OFer.  I don't think McKenna has shown the kind of pop that Mullins has, but let's see what he does over the next couple of months.  Remember, in 2018 - he had an amazing .467 OBP at Frederick in 300 plate appearances.  He flopped at Bowie in 2019 and didn't get to play in 2020, so now is his opportunity to show whether or not he should be considered as part of the O's future.  The next couple of months - we should get a better idea on him.  He needs to be ready and healthy.  

McKenna doesn't have the minor league track record that Mullins had. McKenna had that great year in Frederick and has been mediocre otherwise. McKenna does have some skills, but he can't hit offspeed pitches very well and unless he finds a way to get better at that, he's going to struggle offensively at the major league level.

[MurphDogg]

28 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

McKenna doesn't have the minor league track record that Mullins had. McKenna had that great year in Frederick and has been mediocre otherwise. McKenna does have some skills, but he can't hit offspeed pitches very well and unless he finds a way to get better at that, he's going to struggle offensively at the major league level.

McKenna was also great that fall in Arizona (after the Frederick season in 2018). 

He was probably hurt more than most with not having a 2020 minor league season, with his mediocre 2019 season with Bowie looming larger than it otherwise might have.

He has been hitting in his two weeks at Norfolk though, if he can keep this up maybe we can start saying that he has performed well two of the last three minor league seasons instead of viewing 2018 as an outlier.

I would be pleased if he turns into anything more than a fourth outfielder, but I too am not holding my breath.

[Tony-OH]

3 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

McKenna was also great that fall in Arizona (after the Frederick season in 2018). 

He was probably hurt more than most with not having a 2020 minor league season, with his mediocre 2019 season with Bowie looming larger than it otherwise might have.

He has been hitting at Norfolk though, if he can keep this up maybe we can start saying that he has performed well two of the last three minor league seasons instead of viewing 2018 as an outlier.

I would be pleased if he turns into anything more than a fourth outfielder, but I too am not holding my breath.

I need to see him hit off-speed pitches and good velocity first, something he has not done very much off in my looks at him at AA and AAA and his small sample size in the MLB. Basically pitchers were throwing balls by him in his major league time, but I'm not taking too much off that because he wasn't getting any regular playing time.

Mckenna slashed .234/.327/.357/.684 in 817 AA PAs. He slashed .256/.331/.380/.712 in Delmarva. He went 5-for-8 with two home runs in 2-game stretch this past week that made his overall slash line in AAA this year look good OPS wise. 

He does have some pop, certainly has speed, and defensively is pretty solid overall though he's better suited for Camden's LF. I still think he can provide some value as a 4th outfielder, but I don't think he's going to end up a solid everyday starting outfielder at the major league level because I don't think he'll bring enough with the bat consistently.

[Ruzious]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

The reason I could see McKenna and Jones coming to the O's soon is because Hays and Santander are hurt and need some time on the IL.   I agree that neither McKenna nor Jones has had enough time at AAA to earn a promotion but some times injuries cause promotions.  Those two would get a opportunity in the Majors and how they do would determine if they stay IMO.

I agree with that logic.  Jones hasn't proven he can defend at 2B, and McKenna hasn't proven he can hit consistently, so they haven't necessarily earned a shot in the majors, but if they get it and do well in it, it's a win/win.  It's far from a sure thing, but if one of them hits (figuratively and literally), it's an exciting win for the O's.   

[Moose Milligan]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

All fans have "Hope" that there prospects will be good. Most unfortunately end up disappointing that hope due to various reasons including injuries. 

Diaz has never been able to stay healthy over extended period of time and other than flashes, he hasn't put up numbers that suggests he's going to be anything  other than a 4th outfielder at best. IF, and this is a big IF, if he can can stay healthy and motivated maybe he'll surprise, but he's not a guy I'm counting on to be a big part of a winning future here.

It's fine to hope for guys like AR, Gunnar and G-Rod, IMO.  Completely different to hope for guys like Akin, Lowther, etc.  Not worth the energy.  

It's a shame, I had hope for Diaz.  That lasted almost a whole weekend.  

[wildcard]

17 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

It's fine to hope for guys like AR, Gunnar and G-Rod, IMO.  Completely different to hope for guys like Akin, Lowther, etc.  Not worth the energy.  

It's a shame, I had hope for Diaz.  That lasted almost a whole weekend.  

Diaz is 24, has 3 options left and has at least 3 years before he is eligible for arbitration.   I think he will be around for a while for fans to hope on.

Right now with what the O's have in the majors and minors Akin and Lowther project as relievers after this season.  I can hope on that.

[Gentile4]

2 hours ago, Ruzious said:

Jones hasn't proven he can defend at 2B

I agree, but he has shown he can hit. Wilkerson and Valaika haven't shown they can hit or defend consistently. 

[Moose Milligan]

36 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Diaz is 24, has 3 options left and has at least 3 years before he is eligible for arbitration.   I think he will be around for a while for fans to hope on.

Right now with what the O's have in the majors and minors Akin and Lowther project as relievers after this season.  I can hope on that.

So all it takes is to be relatively young and in the Orioles system for you to hope on a guy?