Schoop: Projecting Improvement

[BohKnowsBmore]

It seems that there is a fairly decent contingent of Orioles fans that see Schoop's bat as "it is what it is." I agree that there is no guarantee that it will definitely improve, but I think it's silly to assume that he will continue to replicate his age-22 numbers. Others have brought up the growth of guys who have posted significant PA in their age-22 seasons and earlier, so I will spare those. Similarly, I will not bring up the proposed replacements who have not had comparable WAR contributions at the early age Schoop has had.

What I want to focus on is OBP. I believe that some posters here fetishize working pitch counts and walks, but as a rationale baseball fan, I appreciate its importance (huge importance). Many have described Schoop as a hacker, which is fair given his MLB performance thus far. It is often mentioned that OBP/batting eye is a skill that one has or doesn't have, basically that the ability to take a walk is not something that can be counted on as far as development. Many have made comparisons between Schoop and Adam Jones. As much as I love Jones, and do not begrudge his approach, I think this is unfair. Looking at MiL numbers, in his longest stop (555 PA at AA), Schoop posted a 9% BB-rate. Jones never posted greater than a 7.7% rate in the minors, and was frequently well below that. Many SSS's, but Schoop has shown the ability to walk in the minors.

I understand the desire to see him prove it at the MLB level, but I don't understand the pessimism regarding his ability to improve his average and BB-rate considering his MiLB numbers, physical profile and performance thus far.

[WEAVERMAN]

That's right Bo, we have a lot to look forward to with JS. With 140 more games under his belt in 2015, I think we'll see a higher OBP, and 20 dingers. And very solid, if not GG, D.

[cridolphi]

It's tough to tell with Schoop. Most players, you can look at their minor league history and see how they did when they 'repeated' a level. With Schoop, he basically played a full year of Rookie ball in 2010, and had good success. In 2011, he split the year between A and A+, killing it in A, but struggling in A+. That's where you would typically see a guy start the next year back at A+, expecting improvement. Schoop however went straight to AA at that point, and duplicated his A+ struggles (which is actually somewhat impressive). Then the following year, instead of repeating AA and showing improvement, he went' straight to AAA, where he again put up roughly the same numbers as AA and A+.

So, it's actually somewhat impressive that he never really dipped in production when going from A+ to AA to AAA, but we never got to see him have a chance to prove he could improve in a particular level. 2015 will really be his first chance to show he can adjust and get better.

[Frobby]

I haven't seen that much pessimism about Schoop. I think there is very little doubt that he will improve over time. The question is, by how much? A .598 OPS is way below what's acceptable, so he has to improve substantially, not just a little, to keep his job in the long run. Personally, I think he will do so.