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

[interloper]

18 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

This kid will be in Baltimore long after Buck is gone. I would have laughed too.

Lol wow. And that makes Buck's advice invalid somehow? You're a smart dude huh.

[foxfield]

 

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

And as a good leader does, he leaves things on a positive note. It's classic counseling. Start with the good, give them the things they need to improve on, judge their reaction, react to those reactions, then try and leave things on a positive note.

Yes exactly....people are missing the point that Buck going public is to do two things... 1)  He is keeping expectations down while speaking positively about a prospect.  2)  He is diverting your attention from the fact that he was probably told he is not a third baseman...of course he didn't say that publicly.

18 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

This kid will be in Baltimore long after Buck is gone. I would have laughed too.

But you see...you will never be in Baltimore without a ticket....with or without Buck.  And that was his point.  No?  

[Legend_Of_Joey]

No one wants to talk about how it was mentioned that Mountcastle will probably be moved across the diamond or in the outfield too?

Also @Luke-OH, when the players were venting, it was towards the end of the season after Mountcastle had been there for over a month and a half. It was less "man, he is struggling there to adjust" and more "he is struggling and not learning."

[Legend_Of_Joey]

19 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

This kid will be in Baltimore long after Buck is gone. I would have laughed too.

Not if he gets traded.

Plus if Mountcastle is all bat and doesn't adjust, while the league does, it could make his bat useless.

[Tony-OH]

16 minutes ago, GoldGlove21 said:

Manny Machado walked a total of just 49 times in about 1000 plate appearances in 2013 and 2014. Adam Jones has very low walk numbers in his career. Trying to preach plate discipline is great, but it is not like the Orioles have a lot of that on the major league roster. I think challenging guys is motivation and Buck identified what he wanted the kid to work on, but if he can't play defense he will not be in Buck's everyday lineup. I think the defense is a more glaring factor than his walks.

Look at their walk rates compared to Mountcastle in the minors.

[tntoriole]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Worth mentioning, it’s not like everything Buck said about Mountcastle was negative.   

“But he’s got a chance to be really good.

“Try to keep in mind that he just turned 21.   We had a good talk today.   With the young guys, I like to let them do a little self-evaluating, let them grade themselves out.”

 

Yes, and Ryan probably must know on some level that for Buck Showalter to be thinking enough about him to be talking about him in an interview and giving him some constructive criticism in person is not something that many other minor league players are getting and likely would be thankful just to be on Buck’s radar.  

[sportsfan8703]

I like what Buck is doing. This wave of players is already too far gone.  But let’s focus on Hays,  Mountcastle, etc....  Maybe Buck will stick around and we will aim to play a different style of baseball. I think Buck has just been trying to win with the hand he’s been dealt. 

[waroriole]

This is why I love Buck. Hard truths will hopefully make him a better player 

[Tx Oriole]

5 hours ago, Dark Helmet said:

Maybe Buck should preach that same messages to guys at the major league level.

That's for sure.

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

I think Buck's comments today were ludicrous. This kid must have pissed his pants laughing. He's a big time prospect who's going to put up big numbers and he is going to make a ton of money doing it by the time he's 27. 

If he doesn’t learn some plate discipline, he won’t be nearly the hitter he was at Frederick.    Major league pitchers will feast on guys who don’t wait for strikes.  

[Hallas]

2 hours ago, GoldGlove21 said:

Manny Machado walked a total of just 49 times in about 1000 plate appearances in 2013 and 2014. Adam Jones has very low walk numbers in his career. Trying to preach plate discipline is great, but it is not like the Orioles have a lot of that on the major league roster. I think challenging guys is motivation and Buck identified what he wanted the kid to work on, but if he can't play defense he will not be in Buck's everyday lineup. I think the defense is a more glaring factor than his walks.

As a 19 year old, Manny walked 10.5% of PAs in AA.

As a 20 year old, Jones walked 6.7% of PAs in AAA.

With a 3% BB rate, Mountcastle is going to have trouble translating anything against even better pitching.  Especially when you consider that pitchers would stop pitching to him even in the minors if he were a true threat.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

So now Buck cares about plate discipline?  

[atomic]

17 minutes ago, Frobby said:

If he doesn’t learn some plate discipline, he won’t be nearly the hitter he was at Frederick.    Major league pitchers will feast on guys who don’t wait for strikes.  

Adam Jones didn't walk much in minors.  

[Tx Oriole]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think it is good business to embarrass any of your employees in public.

No it's not. I've have witnessed it before. It's embarrassing to the employee. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

18 minutes ago, Hallas said:

As a 19 year old, Manny walked 10.5% of PAs in AA.

As a 20 year old, Jones walked 6.7% of PAs in AAA.

With a 3% BB rate, Mountcastle is going to have trouble translating anything against even better pitching.  Especially when you consider that pitchers would stop pitching to him even in the minors if he were a true threat.

Mountcastle could be an outlier like Vladimir Guerrero, but yeah he should probably try to be a bit more selective at the plate.