AJ's approach: Are you fine with it?

[weams]

Jones' speed definitely helps him on offense. Fangraphs has him at +5 in baserunning runs, 5th in the AL. He's also 9th in the AL in infield hits, with 15. My issue with OrioleDog's statement is that I don't know what data supports his conclusion that power/speed guys age better than "one dimensional guys."

He's just fantastic. That is really what I think.

[BohKnowsBmore]

I think Vlad is a good example of why using BB% to measure plate discipline can be misleading. Guerrero, for all his terribly free-swinging ways, isn't going to swing at 4 pitches in the left-handed batter's box. The key for Jones to draw more walks is to hit more home runs.

edit: to answer the OP's question, I am fine with Jones' approach as long as he doesn't start pressing when the opposing team starts throwing him junk. With Davis and Cruz slumping behind him, it's bound to happen. His walk rate will come around if he keeps hitting. He is clearly making strides in recognizing and laying off the junk. I think that his lack of walks is partly because he's just not missing the ball when it's in the zone.

Only because he is going to put the second one into play.

Yea... we're talking about this guy:

[video=youtube;7Bqj3jynJnU]

[El Gordo]

What you see is what you get. Third among MLB CF in fWAR and UZR. I'm fine with that and wouldn't want to monkey with it.

[Aristotelian]

Vlad was known as an aggressive free swinger. Yet his BB rate was actually double AJ's. That should put into perspective how crazy bad AJ's plate discipline is. I don't know whether it would kill his game to go up there with a different approach. I do know that he is a flawed player who cannot be truly elite with his current approach.

I was hoping that we would make "great strides" in plate discipline--in fact I started a thread to track it in April when it looked like he had drawn a bunch of walks and was seeing a lot of pitches. However, he has reverted to his career norms--3.67 PPA like always and actually on track for a career low in BBs.

[hoosiers]

I like Drungo's thoughts about continued incremental improvement of the kind we are seeing this year.

It will only take one or two more incremental improvements to get the OBP north of .330 and that OPS moving toward .900.

Even without any more improvement, it is a very productive CFers we have.

[weams]

Only because he is going to put the second one into play.

If it bounced. He has longer arms.

[foxfield]

Adam gets plenty of grief here, but this is an excellent thread. Am I fine with AJ's approach? Well, that is a very loaded question, because it brings his biggest negative to the forefront. His inability to lay off of pitches out of the zone. It looks like it would be easy to those watching. Simply don't swing.

That said, what we have in Adam Jones is one of the best players in the game maturing and becoming a star right in front of us. Adam has improved almost across the board every year he has been here. He validates by himself the Bedard trade every day he plays. He loves being an Oriole as much as anyone has in a generation. Adam also want's the pressure of delivering a championship to Baltimore. He is an emotional leader, a major reason the clubhouse seems to be a place where players want to be and when we DO win an AL EAST or a World Series, it will be in many ways because he accepted the challenge to make it happen while we essentially were still a team that sucked.

So, reading this thread has helped me to realize, that Adam Jones is not only the best player on the Baltimore Orioles, but he is one of the better players in the league. And given his drive to improve, I do not think it is out of the question that one day we will look back and be amazed that he used to swing at everything.

SimplyAJ?

Simply Awesome!!

Get on his back. Let's Go Orioles!

[Frobby]

He's just fantastic. That is really what I think.

You like him better than I do. But he's 28 years old, and a four-time all star. What's not to like about that? And I think this may be his best season -- so far. That won't stop me from cursing him the next time he strikes out on a pitch nowhere near home plate.

[weams]

Adam gets plenty of grief here, but this is an excellent thread. Am I fine with AJ's approach? Well, that is a very loaded question, because it brings his biggest negative to the forefront. His inability to lay off of pitches out of the zone. It looks like it would be easy to those watching. Simply don't swing.

That said, what we have in Adam Jones is one of the best players in the game maturing and becoming a star right in front of us. Adam has improved almost across the board every year he has been here. He validates by himself the Bedard trade every day he plays. He loves being an Oriole as much as anyone has in a generation. Adam also want's the pressure of delivering a championship to Baltimore. He is an emotional leader, a major reason the clubhouse seems to be a place where players want to be and when we DO win an AL EAST or a World Series, it will be in many ways because he accepted the challenge to make it happen while we essentially were still a team that sucked.

So, reading this thread has helped me to realize, that Adam Jones is not only the best player on the Baltimore Orioles, but he is one of the better players in the league. And given his drive to improve, I do not think it is out of the question that one day we will look back and be amazed that he used to swing at everything.

SimplyAJ?

Simply Awesome!!

Get on his back. Let's Go Orioles!

Anyone who was there when they came back from NY in 2012 knows how hungry and disappointed these guys were. This team is good enough to make Steve Pearce a star for a couple months.

[foxfield]

You like him better than I do. But he's 28 years old, and a four-time all star. What's not to like about that? And I think this may be his best season -- so far. That won't stop me from cursing him the next time he strikes out on a pitch nowhere near home plate.

Nor should it stop you. And I think you are correct it may be his best season so far...as was last year...and the year before that.

[MrOrange82]

Vlad was known as an aggressive free swinger. Yet his BB rate was actually double AJ's. That should put into perspective how crazy bad AJ's plate discipline is. I don't know whether it would kill his game to go up there with a different approach. I do know that he is a flawed player who cannot be truly elite with his current approach.

I was hoping that we would make "great strides" in plate discipline--in fact I started a thread to track it in April when it looked like he had drawn a bunch of walks and was seeing a lot of pitches. However, he has reverted to his career norms--3.67 PPA like always and actually on track for a career low in BBs.

There are numerous pages (and pages) of posts explaining why the bolded is a negative exaggeration (at best) and flat-out wrong (at...most likely).

Right this second, out of all the position players in MLB, AJ is 5th in fWAR. If that's not elite, then I suppose you're waiting for the apologies of a few hundred MLers who aren't Mike Trout.

AJ's not an OBP machine. But he's fine as-is.

[weams]

You like him better than I do. But he's 28 years old, and a four-time all star. What's not to like about that? And I think this may be his best season -- so far. That won't stop me from cursing him the next time he strikes out on a pitch nowhere near home plate.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hMr3KtYUCcI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's a helluva start,

It could be made into a monster

If we all pull together as a team.

[weams]

You like him better than I do. But he's 28 years old, and a four-time all star. What's not to like about that? And I think this may be his best season -- so far. That won't stop me from cursing him the next time he strikes out on a pitch nowhere near home plate.

He's Pink. He's the man of this team.

[MrOrange82]

You like him better than I do. But he's 28 years old, and a four-time all star. What's not to like about that? And I think this may be his best season -- so far. That won't stop me from cursing him the next time he strikes out on a pitch nowhere near home plate.

IMO, you could remove almost every other player from the O's roster, and none of their absences would have the same impact as AJ's would to the team's prospects. I don't like wild swings, but he's earned a lot of latitude in that arena.

[DrungoHazewood]

Vlad was known as an aggressive free swinger. Yet his BB rate was actually double AJ's. That should put into perspective how crazy bad AJ's plate discipline is.

About 1/3rd of Vlad's career walks were intentional. His UIBB rate was 5.5%. Jones' is 4.5%. Not counting the intentionals, per 100 PAs Vlad walked one more time than Jones. And Vlad almost certainly had more unintentional-intentional walks where the pitcher just wanted nothing to do with.