Buck lays into Mountcastle during "reassignment to minor camp" and possible new position?

[atomic]

5 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

He DID tell him in private. Mountcastle laughed about it.

I said it was unnecessary even in private to say if he sees him with 17 walks this season he will be going back to AA again next year.  Buck lets the  veterans do whatever they want and plays them game after game.  

[LookitsPuck]

5 minutes ago, atomic said:

I said it was unnecessary even in private to say if he sees him with 17 walks this season he will be going back to AA again next year.  Buck lets the  veterans do whatever they want and plays them game after game.  

Because they are who they are, atomic. What is Buck going to do...bench Adam Jones for being aggressive? He can't change at this point. It'll make him weaker in other areas.

But Buck has control over the young guys. AS well as he should.

[atomic]

2 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Because they are who they are, atomic. What is Buck going to do...bench Adam Jones for being aggressive? He can't change at this point. It'll make him weaker in other areas.

But Buck has control over the young guys. AS well as he should.

He did nothing with Schoop. He walked 13 times and struck out 122 times. 2 years later he walked 21 times and struck out 137 times.  Schoop is getting paid 8.5 million this year.  Why would Mountcastle listen to Buck when no one on the team cares about walking.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, atomic said:

He did nothing with Schoop. He walked 13 times and struck out 122 times. 2 years later he walked 21 times and struck out 137 times.  Schoop is getting paid 8.5 million this year.  Why would Mountcastle listen to Buck when no one on the team cares about walking.  

KLaw's Twitter followers send him alerts when Schoop walks.

[baltfan]

51 minutes ago, atomic said:

He did nothing with Schoop. He walked 13 times and struck out 122 times. 2 years later he walked 21 times and struck out 137 times.  Schoop is getting paid 8.5 million this year.  Why would Mountcastle listen to Buck when no one on the team cares about walking.  

Buck is differentiating here a little though.  He thinks that Mountcastle doesn't do a good job controlling the strike zone making him susceptible to making easy outs.  The lack of walks in the minors is just proof of this since minor league pitchers don't throw a ton of strikes.  Schoop, for example, walked 50 times in AA.  

I think he is worried that Mountcastle swings at too many bad pitches, not that he doesn't take enough walks.  Those are actually two different things, though admittedly related.  He thinks not Mountcastle will hit .280 in the majors and only walk 20 times, but instead hit .220 because pitchers make him expand the zone.  

[LookitsPuck]

48 minutes ago, atomic said:

He did nothing with Schoop. He walked 13 times and struck out 122 times. 2 years later he walked 21 times and struck out 137 times.  Schoop is getting paid 8.5 million this year.  Why would Mountcastle listen to Buck when no one on the team cares about walking.  

Because it's not something you can just flip a light switch and change once they get to the major league stage.

Ryan Mountcastle is not a major leaguer. His walk rate is a disaster. He's walked 51 times in 1,236 plate appearances. 4%.

Compare it to Schoop in the minors: 157 times in 2,017 plate appearances. 8%.

In 2017 in the minors, Mountcastle walked 17 times in 538 plate appearances. 3%.

Yes, Schoop doesn't walk much in the majors (79 in 2,139 plate appearances). 4%. But he's 26. Ryan is 21. He clearly has things he needs to work on.

 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Because it's not something you can just flip a light switch and change once they get to the major league stage.

Ryan Mountcastle is not a major leaguer. His walk rate is a disaster. He's walked 51 times in 1,236 plate appearances. 4%.

Compare it to Schoop in the minors: 157 times in 2,017 plate appearances. 8%.

In 2017 in the minors, Mountcastle walked 17 times in 538 plate appearances. 3%.

Yes, Schoop doesn't walk much in the majors (79 in 2,139 plate appearances). 4%. But he's 26. Ryan is 21. He clearly has things he needs to work on.

 

I don't know if we can trust the minor league numbers if the kids are actively being told to be aggressive and "figure out what you can't hit".

Furthermore why are they telling the kids that?

[LookitsPuck]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't know if we can trust the minor league numbers if the kids are actively being told to be aggressive and "figure out what you can't hit".

Furthermore why are they telling the kids that?

I'm not so sure we know definitively what they're telling the kids.

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

I'm not so sure we know definitively what they're telling the kids.

See Tony’s first post in this thread. He’s the only one here who actually talks with the minor league staff.

[Ruzious]

15 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Because it's not something you can just flip a light switch and change once they get to the major league stage.

Ryan Mountcastle is not a major leaguer. His walk rate is a disaster. He's walked 51 times in 1,236 plate appearances. 4%.

Compare it to Schoop in the minors: 157 times in 2,017 plate appearances. 8%.

In 2017 in the minors, Mountcastle walked 17 times in 538 plate appearances. 3%.

Yes, Schoop doesn't walk much in the majors (79 in 2,139 plate appearances). 4%. But he's 26. Ryan is 21. He clearly has things he needs to work on.

 

But isn't the facts that he just turned 21 and has hit better in the minors than Schoop cause for optimism - rather than pessimism?  

[LookitsPuck]

4 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

But isn't the facts that he just turned 21 and has hit better in the minors than Schoop cause for optimism - rather than pessimism?  

It's a cause for growth. And how do you push a player to get to the majors when he has things he clearly needs to work on?

I'm not convinced that Buck is all doom and gloom with Mountcastle. Good managers tailor their messaging appropriately to the person. And he clearly thinks Mountcastle needed more direct and alternative messaging.

[LookitsPuck]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

See Tony’s first post in this thread. He’s the only one here who actually talks with the minor league staff.

Right, but that's the thing. There are an infinitesimal amount of back and forth that we're not aware of. With these kinds of discussions, especially with draft babies (he was a 1st rounder...and there can be a "prestige" that goes with that)...there's more behind the scenes. I've heard various things over the years with Buck's management style, and I've rarely disagreed with him. He's a superb manager of people.

[Ruzious]

7 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

It's a cause for growth. And how do you push a player to get to the majors when he has things he clearly needs to work on?

I'm not convinced that Buck is all doom and gloom with Mountcastle. Good managers tailor their messaging appropriately to the person. And he clearly thinks Mountcastle needed more direct and alternative messaging.

As can o corn said, I have no problem with Buck being tough on him.  Doing it in front of the media is what I question.  But my last post was on the negativity shown by posters here - inferring from Buck's comments or their own reasons that they should be negative about Mountcastle.  Seems to me there's a lot to be optimistic about him.  

[LookitsPuck]

1 minute ago, Ruzious said:

As can o corn said, I have no problem with Buck being tough on him.  Doing it in front of the media is what I question.  But my last post was on the negativity shown by posters here - inferring from Buck's comments or their own reasons that they should be negative about Mountcastle.  

Escalation tactics. If he's hardheaded and not listening behind the scenes and in private...is there reason to believe he'll change without an escalation? Good on Buck.

[NCRaven]

Is poor Ryan going to get his feelings hurt and start crying because Buck told us what he said?

Well, there's no crying in baseball!   Rogers Hornsby was my manager, and he called me a talking pile of pigs--t, and that was when my parents drove all the way down from Michigan to see me play the game! And did I cry?  No! No! And do you know why?... Because there's no crying in baseball! There's no crying in baseball, no crying!

I think Mountcastle will be able to handle this just fine.  And might even turn into a better ball player for it.