When are we allowed to get excited about Wieters?

[weams]

Now. We can get excited. Now.

[El Gordo]

Agreed. It certainly helps that we have a believable narrative for an uptick in numbers (his adjustments at the plate, success hitting both LH and RH). We had that during his fantastic April in 2012 as well, though (he was breaking out, as expected, duh).

I wonder if anyone could show his L/R splits in April 2012 vs. April 2014?

Try going here:http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=wietema01&year=2014&t=b

[SticksandStones]

Agreed. It certainly helps that we have a believable narrative for an uptick in numbers (his adjustments at the plate, success hitting both LH and RH). We had that during his fantastic April in 2012 as well, though (he was breaking out, as expected, duh).

I wonder if anyone could show his L/R splits in April 2012 vs. April 2014?

This may be cliche but it's not the numbers for me. He is passing the proverbial "eye test" from the left side of the plate. I LOVE his new batting stance, crouched a bit and his hands explode through the zone, thats a very good thing.

[Frobby]

Agreed. It certainly helps that we have a believable narrative for an uptick in numbers (his adjustments at the plate, success hitting both LH and RH). We had that during his fantastic April in 2012 as well, though (he was breaking out, as expected, duh).

I wonder if anyone could show his L/R splits in April 2012 vs. April 2014?

I can't do that, but...if you look at Wieters' game log from April 2012, what you'll see is that he had an amazing first 9 games (1.212 OPS) but then was unspectacular the rest of April (.680 OPS over 11 games). So really he didn't have a great month, he had a great 9 games. This April was much more steady.

[Redskins Rick]

If everybody isn't excited about Wiety and his current play since opening day this season.

Well, there is just no pleasing them, then.

[Outlander]

I agree about the eye test. His bat looks quicker. He is keeping both hands on his bat more often now from the left side. Even his outs are driven, not weak rollers. Last nite he just missed that pitch in his first at bat. That was a powerful swing. Finally, we have never seen a left handed wieters who would be able to hit that ball out like last nite. I don't even know if we've seen a wieters that can get wood on that pitch. Last nite was the most impressive home run I have ever seen from him.

[Flash- bd]

This may be cliche but it's not the numbers for me. He is passing the proverbial "eye test" from the left side of the plate. I LOVE his new batting stance, crouched a bit and his hands explode through the zone, thats a very good thing.

Agreed, but it's easy to get excited about a stance/feel he is passing the "eye test" when the results are there. Later the results could disappear and we could realize that the brilliant adjustments were all mirage. It helps to have a believable narrative for why this improvement could be "real"--or else we would just say, he's hot, regression to the mean imminent--but ultimately the only thing that's going to prove it so is a longer sample.

Frobby: that's a very good point.

[ShaneDawg85]

FWIW, and yes I know they're counting stats, but Wieters is tops in the AL among all catchers in both OPS & WAR, OPS is by quite a bit. He's off the major league lead in both categories by 4 points in OPS, and 1 point in WAR among all catchers, and is first in WAR among qualifying catchers. It's still early, but even amongst a position with hits and misses like catchers, that's impressive.

[George]

Now would be a good time to get excited about Matt Wieters, even if it's a couple days late. Don't know how long Wieters' offense will last, but I want to enjoy it while I can.

[OriolesMagic83]

I would get excited about Wieters if he could put up an OPS in the low to mid

.800s. He was hitting close to .350 a week ago and has been in a tailspin since. OPS now at .839 and declining fast. Wieters is who he is. A good defensive catcher who hits for low average, doesn't take walks, and has some power. He's a nice player, but the O's can't pay a player like that $15 mill+ per year. If the O's are smart, they will trade Wieters in the offseason and sign someone to platoon w/ Clevenger. That will save about $10 mill and enable the O's to sign Hardy, Davis, or Tillman long-term.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I would get excited about Wieters if he could put up an OPS in the low to mid .800s. He was hitting close to .350 a week ago and has been in a tailspin since. OPS now at .839 and declining fast. Wieters is who he is. A good defensive catcher who hits for low average, doesn't take walks, and has some power. He's a nice player, but the O's can't pay a player like that $15 mill+ per year. If the O's are smart, they will trade Wieters in the offseason and sign someone to platoon w/ Clevenger. That will save about $10 mill and enable the O's to sign Hardy, Davis, or Tillman long-term.

Basically what a lot of us have been saying. I'm also not that excited about the return of 700ish OPS Wieters as our DH for the rest of the year.

[webbrick2010]

If he can't catch he needs to go on DL. We have seen this dance before, I'm betting he has elbow surgery before the All Star game.

[bobmc]

If he can't catch he needs to go on DL. We have seen this dance before, I'm betting he has elbow surgery before the All Star game.