Who's Hot and Who's Not?

[Rene88]

I remember last year Wildcard and some others had a who's hot, who's not about players in camp.

Who have you been impressed by? Who hasn't?

We would love to hear your input!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Snutchy]

The two that are impressing me the most are JJ and Rickard.

JJ is taking some very good swings. He's driving the ball. He looks like he's going to have a bounce back season.

Rickard has been very impressive. He may very well wind up being the starting LF/lead-off hitter by May/June. Tampa made a big mistake by leaving him unprotected.

[CaptainRedbeard]

Even with all the sample size caveats, I love this. You can still look for certain variables that stabilize sooner than others, namely K rates, BB rates, power for hitters, velocity for pitchers. That's all I pay attention to in spring training.

HOT:

1) Hardy for sure. He's easily the most exciting development. Reports of swinging completely pain free are obviously good, and it's been reflected in his performance, particularly in driving the ball again. A bounceback from him could go a long way.

2) Schoop has also been great. Displaying the expected power but with only 1 K in 20 ABs. No BB yet, but he has a lot of upside if he improves his plate discipline in either K or BB, and I expect him to in both.

3) Flaherty has come out swinging and with a 5:5 BB/K ratio.

4) On the pitching side, Bundy and Harvey have been up and down in effectiveness but reports of their health and velocity are obviously good.

5) Tanner Scott was electric today, but there's a thread on that already.

6) Oliver Drake with 4 stingy appearances, only 1 hit and a 4/1 K/BB figure. Beato and Cabral have also been sharp and look like good depth options in the Norfolk pen.

NOT

1) Kim obviously. But most think he will come around.

2) Nolan Reimold, Dariel Alvarez, L.J. Hoes, Henry Urrutia, Trey Mancini. Not one sniff of power among them, with doubles from Reimold and Urrutia accounting for the only extra base hits. All are batting .200 or worse. Reimold has a spot on the team but the others want to make a good impression for when need of a callup arises and none are taking advantage.

3) Almost all of the pitchers have been bad, but most worrisome to me is that Chris Lee in particular has looked completely overmatched out there. I haven't been able to watch any of his appearances but he's been battered around in his three games. Despaigne has also performed particularly poorly, making him an even longer shot at breaking with the team.

[sportsfan8703]

Even with all the sample size caveats, I love this. You can still look for certain variables that stabilize sooner than others, namely K rates, BB rates, power for hitters, velocity for pitchers. That's all I pay attention to in spring training.

HOT:

1) Hardy for sure. He's easily the most exciting development. Reports of swinging completely pain free are obviously good, and it's been reflected in his performance, particularly in driving the ball again. A bounceback from him could go a long way.

2) Schoop has also been great. Displaying the expected power but with only 1 K in 20 ABs. No BB yet, but he has a lot of upside if he improves his plate discipline in either K or BB, and I expect him to in both.

3) Flaherty has come out swinging and with a 5:5 BB/K ratio.

4) On the pitching side, Bundy and Harvey have been up and down in effectiveness but reports of their health and velocity are obviously good.

5) Tanner Scott was electric today, but there's a thread on that already.

6) Oliver Drake with 4 stingy appearances, only 1 hit and a 4/1 K/BB figure. Beato and Cabral have also been sharp and look like good depth options in the Norfolk pen.

NOT

1) Kim obviously. But most think he will come around.

2) Nolan Reimold, Dariel Alvarez, L.J. Hoes, Henry Urrutia, Trey Mancini. Not one sniff of power among them, with doubles from Reimold and Urrutia accounting for the only extra base hits. All are batting .200 or worse. Reimold has a spot on the team but the others want to make a good impression for when need of a callup arises and none are taking advantage.

3) Almost all of the pitchers have been bad, but most worrisome to me is that Chris Lee in particular has looked completely overmatched out there. I haven't been able to watch any of his appearances but he's been battered around in his three games. Despaigne has also performed particularly poorly, making him an even longer shot at breaking with the team.

Thanks for the recap. Haven't been able to see much of spring because of the lack of MASN coverage and for some reason I lost the MLB and NBAtv channel through Fios.

Even though this is Flaherty's 4th year it could still be considered a potential breakout year from him. The one we've all been hoping for. A poor man's Zobrist is worth 5+ million in today's game. If he could get his avg above .250 he could put up a nice OPS for a MIF and COF.

Bundy and Harvey being healthy is a plus. Surprised there isn't a thread on the both of them, but I know we believe in inxes here. Bundy threw a nasty change up in yesterday's game, even if he let up some hits.

Kim looks like he needs a month in the minors to see more pitches and get into shape. Maybe it would be easier to send him down if they just kept him playing with the "home" teams and he didn't have to make road trips. Rotate through Bowie and Frederick just to get some AB's.

[Redskins Rick]

Thanks for the recap. Haven't been able to see much of spring because of the lack of MASN coverage and for some reason I lost the MLB and NBAtv channel through Fios. Even though this is Flaherty's 4th year it could still be considered a potential breakout year from him. The one we've all been hoping for. A poor man's Zobrist is worth 5+ million in today's game. If he could get his avg above .250 he could put up a nice OPS for a MIF and COF. Bundy and Harvey being healthy is a plus. Surprised there isn't a thread on the both of them, but I know we believe in inxes here. Bundy threw a nasty change up in yesterday's game, even if he let up some hits. Kim looks like he needs a month in the minors to see more pitches and get into shape. Maybe it would be easier to send him down if they just kept him playing with the "home" teams and he didn't have to make road trips. Rotate through Bowie and Frederick just to get some AB's.

I dont think Kim is out of shape at all, he has been training with Brady. Buck mentioned in Roch's blog and wrote about in another thread here, that Kang was slow in ST too, in making the adjustment to the bigs.

[DJHJR86]

Kim got his first hit yesterday...could he be turning into the "hot" category now?

[sportsfan8703]

I dont think Kim is out of shape at all, he has been training with Brady. Buck mentioned in Roch's blog and wrote about in another thread here, that Kang was slow in ST too, in making the adjustment to the bigs.

Oh I'm not doubting Brady had him working out and he lost some weight. But even Brady can't make someone lose 40lbs in a month. He still had a gut bouncing around on that jog to first when he got HBP yesterday. He's still got some work to do.

[Tx Oriole]

I remember last year Wildcard and some others had a who's hot, who's not about players in camp.

Who have you been impressed by? Who hasn't?

We would love to hear your input!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rickard is. Unfortunately Kim is not at this time. Hope he gets it together. I am

pulling for him. IMO

[waroriole]

Even with all the sample size caveats, I love this. You can still look for certain variables that stabilize sooner than others, namely K rates, BB rates, power for hitters, velocity for pitchers. That's all I pay attention to in spring training.

HOT:

1) Hardy for sure. He's easily the most exciting development. Reports of swinging completely pain free are obviously good, and it's been reflected in his performance, particularly in driving the ball again. A bounceback from him could go a long way.

2) Schoop has also been great. Displaying the expected power but with only 1 K in 20 ABs. No BB yet, but he has a lot of upside if he improves his plate discipline in either K or BB, and I expect him to in both.

3) Flaherty has come out swinging and with a 5:5 BB/K ratio.

4) On the pitching side, Bundy and Harvey have been up and down in effectiveness but reports of their health and velocity are obviously good.

5) Tanner Scott was electric today, but there's a thread on that already.

6) Oliver Drake with 4 stingy appearances, only 1 hit and a 4/1 K/BB figure. Beato and Cabral have also been sharp and look like good depth options in the Norfolk pen.

NOT

1) Kim obviously. But most think he will come around.

2) Nolan Reimold, Dariel Alvarez, L.J. Hoes, Henry Urrutia, Trey Mancini. Not one sniff of power among them, with doubles from Reimold and Urrutia accounting for the only extra base hits. All are batting .200 or worse. Reimold has a spot on the team but the others want to make a good impression for when need of a callup arises and none are taking advantage.

3) Almost all of the pitchers have been bad, but most worrisome to me is that Chris Lee in particular has looked completely overmatched out there. I haven't been able to watch any of his appearances but he's been battered around in his three games. Despaigne has also performed particularly poorly, making him an even longer shot at breaking with the team.

Great recap for those of us who haven't been paying attention yet. Thanks.

[weams]

Thanks for the recap. Haven't been able to see much of spring because of the lack of MASN coverage and for some reason I lost the MLB and NBAtv channel through Fios.

Even though this is Flaherty's 4th year it could still be considered a potential breakout year from him. The one we've all been hoping for. A poor man's Zobrist is worth 5+ million in today's game. If he could get his avg above .250 he could put up a nice OPS for a MIF and COF.

Bundy and Harvey being healthy is a plus. Surprised there isn't a thread on the both of them, but I know we believe in inxes here. Bundy threw a nasty change up in yesterday's game, even if he let up some hits.

Kim looks like he needs a month in the minors to see more pitches and get into shape. Maybe it would be easier to send him down if they just kept him playing with the "home" teams and he didn't have to make road trips. Rotate through Bowie and Frederick just to get some AB's.

No one on the team gets down to first faster than Kim did on his hit. That's not out of shape.

[Redskins Rick]

No one on the team gets down to first faster than Kim did on his hit. That's not out of shape.

Brady said the guy was in shape, and was the first player able to run up his training hill and not puke when getting up there.

[LA2]

Brady said the guy was in shape, and was the first player able to run up his training hill and not puke when getting up there.

Most young South Korean men undergo very rigorous military training for two years under notoriously tough drillmasters and peer pressure. I'm sure Brady's boot camp didn't scare Kim.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Kim got his first hit yesterday...could he be turning into the "hot" category now?

Changing continents and changing leagues. I'm not worried about early struggles from him getting his timing and swing in order. He had some good strikes that were at'em balls before his first hit.

[BohKnowsBmore]

No one on the team gets down to first faster than Kim did on his hit. That's not out of shape.

Reimold always had good speed down the line. Generally better than one would rate his speed playing the OF. I wonder how he holds up in that respect these days.

[LA2]

Reimold always had good speed down the line. Generally better than one would rate his speed playing the OF. I wonder how he holds up in that respect these days.

Lew Ford was another Oriole COF who was surprisingly quick down the first-base line. Interesting that, at least in Reimold's and Kim's cases, that doesn'translate into good jumps on flyballs in the outfield.