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Nick Markakis - 15.8 IFFB%


CaptainRedbeard

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Here are few things that I have noticed and even commented on in GT's: Nick started choking up all of the time, not just when he was behind in the count - this lead to better contact but absolutely no power. Why? Weakness? A couple of weeks ago he went back to hands on the knob and he started driving the ball again. His batting eye, which used to be the best on the team, has been very inconsistent. He seems like he is guessing a lot more this year. Why? To compensate for a slow bat?

Finally, he has been dropping his shoulder ala Chris Davis, but does not have enough power to do anything other than pop out to infielders. Why? Maybe too much crouch and he tries to straighten out of it to make contact? Needless to say I am no threat to Jim Presley...:rolleyes:

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He's had one month this season where he has slugged over .375. He's hitting under .245, with an OPS under .595, and a slugging percentage of .280 since the ASB.

He very well may be the worst player in the game.

I'm not sure if he's the worst everyday player but since June 1st as Eddie83 pointed out, Markakis numbers are horrible. His inability to even drive the ball with 1st an 3rd one out, bases loaded etc. has cost the O's some key runs. Pop up machine. At some point if you're Buck you have to bench him and start someone else.

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He has to be hurt. I don't see any other explanation for his dramatic step change in performance.
IDK, watching him flail on that FB at about neck high tells me it's more than injury - he looks lost. If he is injured he should be rested; if he is not injured, he should be rested.
He broke his hamate bone in May last year and hit well when he returned in July/August. He had 8 homers at the end of May this year and was on pace for 40 doubles. If Nick's poor performance is due to injury, it's something that happened after May of this year, not before.

Everyone knows Nick is my favorite player, but he's worthless at the plate right now. I feel like he's failed the last 10 or so times he's been up with a runner on third and less than two out, and he's usually someone you can count on to hit the ball hard somewhere even if he doesn't get a hit in that situation. He really looks clueless up there right now. He needs to sit.

Thanks guys, especially Frobby - this is what I was looking for. I forgot that Nick had started off so effectively. That really doesn't jive with the ST neck injury unless he somehow re-injured it, and I feel like we would have heard about that or at least noticed it.

I think it has to be a combination of both lingering injury and confidence/approach. I've noticed him choking up on the bat far more frequently, even when not in two strike counts. It's like he's just trying to stay alive up there rather than trying to drive a pitch into the gaps like classic Markakis.

I don't want to turn this into a "bash Nick Markakis" thread...
He's had one month this season where he has slugged over .375. He's hitting under .245, with an OPS under .595, and a slugging percentage of .280 since the ASB.

He very well may be the worst player in the game.

This isn't really adding anything to the conversation...:confused:

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Here are few things that I have noticed and even commented on in GT's: Nick started choking up all of the time, not just when he was behind in the count - this lead to better contact but absolutely no power. Why? Weakness? A couple of weeks ago he went back to hands on the knob and he started driving the ball again. His batting eye, which used to be the best on the team, has been very inconsistent. He seems like he is guessing a lot more this year. Why? To compensate for a slow bat?

Finally, he has been dropping his shoulder ala Chris Davis, but does not have enough power to do anything other than pop out to infielders. Why? Maybe too much crouch and he tries to straighten out of it to make contact? Needless to say I am no threat to Jim Presley...:rolleyes:

I have noticed the choking up...I do think his bat has been slow. He never tries to pull the ball anymore, even offspeed stuff he tries to take to LF.

The shoulder drop, if true, is especially worrisome. I haven't noticed that but will work on it. Dropping the shoulder is an effort to create more of an uppercut swing and that's just not Nick's game. That would be the #1 thing I have seen in this thread that would explain the pop-ups. Maybe's he's doing it (consciously or subconsciously) because he knows his power production has been so poor?

I have also noticed that every team has been shifting their CF over into the LF gap and that has been taking away hits from him. I'm sure he was defended like that before, but in the past he had the ability to occasionally make them pay with a shot to RF. That Nick Markakis is just nonexistent right now.

I'm sure Buck keeps playing him because of his defense. To be fair, our next best option for RF is probably Jason Pridie, and I wouldn't expect Buck or any other manager to bench their $15 million RF still under contract for another year for a journeyman.

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I agree that Nick should sit--but who replaces him? I guess against lefties you can put Morse or (eventually) Pearce out in RF; either would be an upgrade at the plate over Markakis. Against righties I guess you could use Urrutia or Flaherty, but I can't say that I'd feel much more confident with either of them at the plate than I feel with Markakis.

One thing that I can be sure of is that all of those options are inferior to Nick from a defensive standpoint.

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There are many reasons why the O's are .500 since the break, but I think offensively Nick is a big part of that. Well, he has to be. And if posters want to see the O's contend seriously and heavily, then they'll have to rationalize around what having Markakis in the lineup does to the team's overall chances in the future. A full season of this next year, in a corner outfield position, is a no-no.

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I think that regardless of whether Markakis is hurt, or just in an incredibly horrible slump, that he has to come out of the regular lineup. Morse has experience in RF and has the arm to play there. Apparently Urrutia must be seen as a liability in the field.

One huge problem is that - incredibly - the Orioles have no RH hitting outfielders at Norfolk or at Bowie that they can bring up. (Trayvon Robinson at Bowie is a switch hitter). When they traded LJ Hoes, that was it. With Pearce going to the DL, Josh Willingham might have been a nice addition along with Morse, but there were rumors of knee problems.

Honestly, I don't see how the Orioles could leave themselves so vulnerable to LH pitching, especially after Reimold went down again, and given the fact that we have played like crap against LH pitching. Markakis failures have been a large part of that problem.

At this point, I would plug Morse into RF, especially against LH pitching and maybe even against some RH pitching, too., and just go with McLouth in LF.

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I could live with all those numbers if he found a way to get the runner in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. He's 0 for the century in that department. It's hard for me to admit b/c I like the guy so much, but he's just atrocious in all facets of his offensive game. I too believe, he should sit for a game or two, especially vs LHP.

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Nick markakis, as he has been playing since June 1st, is not a corner outfielder on a playoff team. He's just not. We can't make the playoffs and go on a consistent run with a guy putting up nothing at the plate the way nick has.

He was batting second or third on a dynamo offensive team for most of the year.

Now you can't even justify batting him anywhere other than ninth (and you really can't even justify that). His numbers really are that bad and it's no longer a SSS, he's been awful for months.

If buck doesn't sit him against lefties and "bad matchup" righties it could very well cost us a playoff birth. Tony Larussa would pull the plug on nick at this point. Hell Farrell pulled the plug on middlebrooks one of the sox top prospects mid way through the season.

I know nick is a vet and it might not be a hugely popular "clubhouse move" and maybe that's what buck is worried about, but come on, at some point you can't keep looking the other way and pretending its not happening because that will REALLY lose the clubhouse.

It's already cost us multiple games when he did it with Johnson early this year before giving him some time off.

Nick needs at least a week, maybe longer, to clear his head and maybe get some strength back, but running him out there to put up the numbers he is putting up and batting him anywhere but ninth is just a HUGE mistake at this point and we can't keep ignoring it because of our sentimental feelings about nick.

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Whats his IFFB% since June 1st? Has to be close to 25% Agree that somethings not right with him this year. The only thing that could maybe help is rest. I dont think he is an everryday player at this point. Markakis might be a more 130 game type OF, that needs an extra day off every week.

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Now hear this. Buck Showalter WONT bench Nick Markakis. He's a "veteran" player.

That is all.

This. I know many of you guys want to see him benched, but we all know Buck won't do it. He didn't bench JJ, Strop, or Arrieta, and how many games did those guys cost us? He just simply won't do it. It frustrates the hell outta me. I mean it's pretty bad when I'm sitting on the couch and I see Nick come up to bat and I literally say to myself, "here comes a pop-up" like I did today. It's pretty bad when a fan can predict what's going to happen, so I want to know exactly what is going through Buck's mind when Nick comes up to bat versus some dude sitting on the couch. He has to be thinking the same scenario, right?

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