Schoop and Machado

[CanadianOriole]

Both sub .700 OPS now. It's a smallish sample, they are young for the league, etc. etc. Still expected a little more production. BABIP's are normal - so doesn't seem they've been unlucky. Cause for concern or reactionary unnecessary panic? How do they look at the plate for those who've been watching them?

[waroriole]

Schoop is playing better after a horrendous start. They are both very young for AA. That said, I'd feel a bit more comfortable if they started hitting soon.

[Flash- bd]

Machado was at .810 not so long ago. He's been slumping pretty badly since then. He'll come back up. The trend seems upward for Schoop at the moment, though he's yet to do much but hit singles.

[Gurgi]

LIke RZNJ mentioned.

I expect them to have a better second half as they get more experience.

But I am somewhat worried. Would be better if they were both doing more.

[baltfan]

I'd feel a little better if we saw some more power from Machado. I am worried he is going to be a 10-15 homer guy with mediocre speed.

[Slappy]

I'm at least a little concerned. They are both 19, but so is Jurickson Profar (a younger 19) and he's hitting .291/.363/.491/.853 at AA. The fact is that Schoop and Machado didn't really hit that well at single A either.

[Frobby]

Machado is slumping pretty badly right now. I'd be disappointed if his year-end OPS was sub-.700, or even in the low .700's. But I'm betting he turns it around.

[HokieOs]

I'm a little worried... especially about Schoop. Schoop has been very subpar all year. Machado had been doing well, but he has really seemed to hit a wall right now. I mean, a .373 OPS in the last 10 games (including tonight) is just hideous. Hopefully he can get back to about a mid .700 OPS by the end of the year. But he may need to start next year in Bowie too. If next year doesn't start to show improvement, I'll really become worried. That said, I don't think Machado is going to be an issue. Schoop, I'm not so sure about.

[vab]

I don't see how you can't be worried about Machado unless he's hurt or something. I know he's 19 but I don't think you can find too many "can't miss" type prospects who have struggled like this anywhere in the minors. I think he'll still probably develop into a good player at some point but if the Orioles are still in this thing at the trade deadline and need a piece I don't think trading Machado should be out of the question.

[Scrat1]

I think I've already made it clear that I didn't like the aggressive promotions, especially not for Schoop. Should have, in my opinion, started them in Frederick. I don't actually know anything about prospect development, however, and hopefully the minor league coaches, Machado and Schoop all expose me as a Chicken Little.

[jabba72]

I think I've already made it clear that I didn't like the aggressive promotions, especially not for Schoop. Should have, in my opinion, started them in Frederick. I don't actually know anything about prospect development, however, and hopefully the minor league coaches, Machado and Schoop all expose me as a Chicken Little.

Very aggressive promotions like you said. They've hit a wall no doubt. All of the O's prospects except for Bundy and Avery have been underwhelming to date. Hopefully the scouts are still high on Machado and Schoop for them to have been promoted so early.

[mdterpsrule]

Harper had a .724 OPS at AA and a .708 OPS at AAA. I know Machado isn't anywhere near the hitter harper is, but still it's not unheard of for can't miss prospects to struggle a little.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=harper002bry

[melankfo]

I'd feel a little better if we saw some more power from Machado. I am worried he is going to be a 10-15 homer guy with mediocre speed.

I was asked by another poster in May to elaborate on my concern that Machado -- due to attitude issues -- will not have the good major league career we all expected when he was drafted . I've copied my May post below, as it may be relevant to the current discussion on M's performance:

Sure. This is not based on a lot -- certainly not on any inside info from coaches,etc -- so I could certainly be wrong. But do you ever have a quick impression of a person, or a player, that's strong enough that you just can't dismiss it? I've seen him play in 3 games only -- last year and the year before -- but in one game particularly last year, he starts off making an error at shortstop, and the pattern continues throughout the game: he makes other errors and misplays not officially judged as such. What most struck me is that he didn't respond in a healthy way -- he didn't look at all bothered by any of his poor plays at the time, and even worse he didn't seem to be focusing more in future chances to get a different result. I've rarely seen these two "indifferent" responses together in a player. They mostly care about their performance, and you can see them being especially focused on approaching a ground ball in the right way this time when they just casualed it and let it run up their arm and hurt their team an inning ago. But from Machado no apparent chagrin or apparent attempt to remedy his problem in future chances. To me, that was a very bad sign, even in a very young player. Hope it's just an immaturity/entitlement issue that he'll outgrow, but I'm not counting on it, or him anymore.

[Tony-OH]

I was asked by another poster in May to elaborate on my concern that Machado -- due to attitude issues -- will not have the good major league career we all expected when he was drafted . I've copied my May post below, as it may be relevant to the current discussion on M's performance:

Sure. This is not based on a lot -- certainly not on any inside info from coaches,etc -- so I could certainly be wrong. But do you ever have a quick impression of a person, or a player, that's strong enough that you just can't dismiss it? I've seen him play in 3 games only -- last year and the year before -- but in one game particularly last year, he starts off making an error at shortstop, and the pattern continues throughout the game: he makes other errors and misplays not officially judged as such. What most struck me is that he didn't respond in a healthy way -- he didn't look at all bothered by any of his poor plays at the time, and even worse he didn't seem to be focusing more in future chances to get a different result. I've rarely seen these two "indifferent" responses together in a player. They mostly care about their performance, and you can see them being especially focused on approaching a ground ball in the right way this time when they just casualed it and let it run up their arm and hurt their team an inning ago. But from Machado no apparent chagrin or apparent attempt to remedy his problem in future chances. To me, that was a very bad sign, even in a very young player. Hope it's just an immaturity/entitlement issue that he'll outgrow, but I'm not counting on it, or him anymore.

Or, is it a sign of maturity that he knows even major league ball players make errors and that he'll get many more chances? From everything I've heard Machado is a hard worker who cares deeply about being the best player he can be. Anything to the contrary is pure speculation. I'm not concerned over Machado at all. He's the youngest player in the Eastern League and he's been promoted aggressively throughout his career. He's making a bit too many "lack of focus" errors in the field but again, he's 19-years old. He's plate discipline is ok and that's a big indicator more than anything else at this stage.

As for Schoop, he has too much hand/wrist movement during his load and I think that's causing his inconsistencies at the plate. I really don't understand why the Orioles don't address this issue. Even with the inconsistent load, he's shown quick wrists and bat speed. He probably should have started the year at Frederick but again, the Orioles are trying to challenge their top guys. At the end of the day, he's learning and even if he repeats AA next year he's still ahead of the prospect curve.

[panick]

So a common theme seems to be that these guys were promoted too quickly. Why were they? Didn't Duquette say early on that he didn't think guys should be promoted too fast? Or was he just talking about moving guys to the majors too quickly?

Are these types of quick advances part of the minor league problem many posters have mentioned in the past - the fact that the O's can't develop players?