Wieters is pretty bad offensively

[ShaneDawg85]

Thank you. Everyone has criticized me because I have mentioned this throughout the year, and it's good to know that there is someone else out there who recognizes that Wieters is a bust. He is absolutely awful at the plate. He's a great guy with a great arm, but honestly he is the last player on this team I want up at the plate with the game on the line. I would trade Wieters in a second for the right return. I am not glad to be writing this. I could not wait for Wieters to get here. But he was supposed to be a superstar and he's average at best. Everytime he comes up to the plate he either strikes out, hits into a double play, or hits a dribbler. Pitchers completely dominate him and he looks awful.

Please, just stop. If every player who is a bust ends up with multiple All Star appearances and a Gold Glove, let alone at one of the hardest and grueling positions in their sport, I hope every player ends up a bust.

[Brendan25]

How can you honestly say that Matt Wieters is "one of the best players in the league"?

I think he meant at his position. He is one of the best catchers in the league, and that the catcher is a premium position.

[Going Underground]

Wieters is in one of his usual slumps. He should pull out of it around the beginning of August, He was actually hot over the last couple of weeks He was hitting .226 on May 30th. His stats should come in about what he did last year. He might get a couple more RBI's and a few less homers and average might be down a little. The problem is ,he has been batting fourth or fifth most of the year. Your fifth place hitter needs to drive in more then 70 runs a year. That would probably be near the bottom of the league for a fourth or fifth place hitter.

He is ranked around ninth in offensive stats for catchers. he is an Ok hitter at best. Does anyone think he will have a breakout season over the next couple of years? What is he worth when he can't play as much at catcher? He is not a bust but not even close to Mauer or Posey in the hitting part of a catcher.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/c/sort/onBasePct/order/true/minpa/250

[Brendan25]

Wieters is in one of his usual slumps. He should pull out of it around the beginning of August, He was actually hot over the last couple of weeks He was hitting .226 on May 30th. His stats should come in about what he did last year. He might get a couple more RBI's and a few less homers and average might be down a little. The problem is ,he has been batting fourth or fifth most of the year. Your fifth place hitter needs to drive in more then 70 runs a year. That would probably be near the bottom of the league for a fourth or fifth place hitter.

He is ranked around ninth in offensive stats for catchers. he is an Ok hitter at best. Does anyone think he will have a breakout season over the next couple of years? What is he worth when he can't play as much at catcher? He is not a bust but not even close to Mauer or Posey in the hitting part of a catcher.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/c/sort/onBasePct/order/true/minpa/250

I don't think he breaks out but I think we would be much more comfortable with the player that he is if he was hitting 7th in the lineup.

[tennOsfan]

I don't think he breaks out but I think we would be much more comfortable with the player that he is if he was hitting 7th in the lineup.

That's really the bottom line for this squad. We're asking too much out of him b/c of the offensive shortcomings of the lineup as a whole. Put him in the Yankees lineup and his issues aren't big issues considering his defensive presence.

[The Rick]

His .325 wOBA is actually 5 points above average... And I would assume, for a catcher, that's significantly more above average. He numbers standing alone though, not taking into account position, he's simply an average hitter.

One other thing to consider is that when Wieters was coming up and every prospect ranking publication was drooling over him, I don't think anyone knew where the run environment would end up.

[LookinUp]

His OPS hitting left handed is .670 (.714 career). His OPS hitting right handed is .953 (.815 career).

I hate to preach patience, but I think we need to recognize that 1) he's a catcher, who works hard at his position and 2) many switch hitters take longer to develop from both sides of the plate. This isn't your average right-handed hitting left fielder. He has a ton of things to work on.

He clearly needs to work on that LH swing most. He's having a bad year from the left side even by his standards. It's real bad.

I suspect he'll normalize his bat in the +.800 OPS range over the next couple of years, produce a few years with quite high WARs and then see a defensive decline. That's not the superstar we all expected, but he'll be very valuable over the life of his contract.

[EagleOriole]

Clearly this thread was created to get him out of this slump. I assume he will he 8 homers in the next home stand.

[The Rick]

Clearly this thread was created to get him out of this slump. I assume he will he 8 homers in the next home stand.

Tonight would be a good time to start against the effective Jeremy Hellickson who has given up 17 home runs already this year and has a 13.4% HR/FB ratio.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Thank you. Everyone has criticized me because I have mentioned this throughout the year, and it's good to know that there is someone else out there who recognizes that Wieters is a bust. He is absolutely awful at the plate. He's a great guy with a great arm, but honestly he is the last player on this team I want up at the plate with the game on the line. I would trade Wieters in a second for the right return. I am not glad to be writing this. I could not wait for Wieters to get here. But he was supposed to be a superstar and he's average at best. Everytime he comes up to the plate he either strikes out, hits into a double play, or hits a dribbler. Pitchers completely dominate him and he looks awful.

I would not go this far.

[Floater]

Give up batting left handed. Go Righty full time.

[EagleOriole]

Give up batting left handed. Go Righty full time.

In the 3 years preceeding this one his splits are .265/.329 vs lefties and .264/.328 vs righties. He has much more power hitting RH, but this years' splits are not representative of how he has hit RH pitching.

[Tony-OH]

Anyone who thinks Wieters is a bust either doesn't understand the meaning of the word in the context of baseball players or had unreal expectations. When Matt Wieters was drafted Joe Jordan said he saw him as a Jason Varitek-type of catcher. When Matt destroyed the minor leagues it was assumed by many fans that he was suddenly going to be Johnny Bench instead. What Matt has become is a two time All-star catcher who is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. His bat has not come around and he may never be more than an average major league hitter, but an average major league hitter who is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball is certainly a valuable player, and not a bust.

When Wieters came up, no one in the minor leagues developmental staff said much to him about his hitting because he was hitting so well. He penchant for hand and wrist movement during his load means he has an inconsistent load point and can that slightly slow down your reaction time making a hitter susceptible to inside pitching, especially fastballs. He has struggled against good fastball, especially left-handed where his swing is a bit long. Look how much Wieters struggles on the inside pitch as a left-hander.

Wieters must know he struggles with fastballs inside because he rarely swings at them this year from the left-side. (first chart is against two-seam and second against four-seam)

How slow has he been from the left-side? He only has seven hits to the right side of the field against fastballs this year while batting left-handed. (First chart is against two-seam and second against four-seam)

Basically Presley needs to work on helping Wieters get to that inside fastball. Whether he needs to use a lighter bat or have an adjustment with his hands, Wieters can not have that much of an obvious weakness or pitchers will feast on that.

[EagleOriole]

You know, for as much as I didn't like Terry Crowley's approach (aggressive early, not working the count), during broadcasts Palmer always talked about specific drills that players were working on to improve. I am sure that is going on with Presley, but you don't hear much about that.

Is Presley a good hitting coach? I wish I could tell.

[Tony-OH]

You know, for as much as I didn't like Terry Crowley's approach (aggressive early, not working the count), during broadcasts Palmer always talked about specific drills that players were working on to improve. I am sure that is going on with Presley, but you don't hear much about that.

Is Presley a good hitting coach? I wish I could tell.

I have no idea whetehr Presely is a good hitting coach or not, but Wieters' flaws are pretty obvious so hopefully they are being worked on.