Ryan Mountcastle 2018

[Luke-OH]

5 minutes ago, MDtransplant757 said:

How the hell are you not an actual scout for an MLB team? 

First and foremost, I've not made any efforts to do such. As it would be a fairly substantial pay cut (entry level scouts are not highly paid) and I have a wife and young child who I wouldn't want to spend 3/4 of the year away from.

Second, I didn't play baseball at a high level and I've only been writing about baseball for a short amount of time, so if I wanted to be a scout, I'd likely have to start as a bird dog scout (which is low to no pay) and work my way up from there.

I'll use this post to give props to real scouts. It's an extremely tough and often thankless job, that often involves living most of the year out of hotel rooms, watching lots of really bad baseball, doing lots of paperwork, having games rained out, etc. It doesn't pay very well and doesn't offer much job security. It's not just about recognizing talent or breaking down a swing, it's a grind, day in and day out. I'm not a scout, I'm a prospect writer or analyst, scouts are the ones who are at 100s of games a year, diligently trying to cover huge area or player assignments to get reports on all the relevant talent.

[TheDeau52]

3 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

First and foremost, I've not made any efforts to do such. As it would be a fairly substantial pay cut (entry level scouts are not highly paid) and I have a wife and young child who I wouldn't want to spend 3/4 of the year away from.

Second, I didn't play baseball at a high level and I've only been writing about baseball for a short amount of time, so if I wanted to be a scout, I'd likely have to start as a bird dog scout (which is low to no pay) and work my way up from there.

I'll use this post to give props to real scouts. It's an extremely tough and often thankless job, that often involves living most of the year out of hotel rooms, watching lots of really bad baseball, doing lots of paperwork, having games rained out, etc. It doesn't pay very well and doesn't offer much job security. It's not just about recognizing talent or breaking down a swing, it's a grind, day in and day out. I'm not a scout, I'm a prospect writer or analyst, scouts are the ones who are at 100s of games a year, diligently trying to cover huge area or player assignments to get reports on all the relevant talent.

Well, you're still an OG in all of our books. We'll start a GoFundMe.

[weams]

3 hours ago, TheDeau52 said:

Well, you're still an OG in all of our books. We'll start a GoFundMe.

[hoosiers]

RM finished June with an OPS over .900 and is at .947 in four games in July - so five weeks with OPS over .900.

Not sure if this will be an early trend, but RM has only one strikeout in his last five games - with one BB.  I don't expect the K rate to dive down considerably, but it would be nice to see him ratchet down the Ks.

RM has been hitting xbhs and is now up to 20 on the year over 196 PAs - so he has caught up to the 1 every 10 ABs metric.  And this has translated to improving his slugging which is now at .500 for the year.  

RM's ytd OPS of .862 would rank 10th in the Eastern League now that Mullins (.875) is no longer listed as a qualifier.  Again, several high quality prospects ahead of RM on that list including Brendan Rodgers (who RM may pass soon), Vlad Jr and Peter Alonso of the Mets.

[Frobby]

I’d say Mountcastle is about ready for a promotion to Norfolk offensively.   But I’m not sure the O’s will be in any hurry to move him there while he’s working on his defensive issues.    The Tides have Dosch having a pretty good season at 3B, so I don’t think they’d want to demote him or move him defensively to make room for Mountcastle right now.   

[ChuckS]

29 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’d say Mountcastle is about ready for a promotion to Norfolk offensively.   But I’m not sure the O’s will be in any hurry to move him there while he’s working on his defensive issues.    The Tides have Dosch having a pretty good season at 3B, so I don’t think they’d want to demote him or move him defensively to make room for Mountcastle right now.   

I’m fine with leaving him at Bowie the rest of the season but wouldn’t mind seeing him get worked in at 2B. 

Schoop played multiple IF positions throughout his time in the minors so it wouldn’t be unprecedented for a prospect. Doubt we see it though.

[Ballmer Bruce]

Extend Schoop and move him to 3 base.  His arm will easily play there and so will his bat.  Get a  top flight SS prospect as part of Manny deal and move Mountcastle to 2 base. 

[Ohfan67]

1 hour ago, Ballmer Bruce said:

Extend Schoop and move him to 3 base.  His arm will easily play there and so will his bat.  Get a  top flight SS prospect as part of Manny deal and move Mountcastle to 2 base. 

Schoop will be 27 this fall, has a career OPS+ of 97, and has below average range at second. Right now a strong arm is about all Schoop offers at second, much less third. I certainly don’t think the Orioles should bet on him as a third baseman in the future. 

[hoosiers]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

I’d say Mountcastle is about ready for a promotion to Norfolk offensively.   But I’m not sure the O’s will be in any hurry to move him there while he’s working on his defensive issues.    The Tides have Dosch having a pretty good season at 3B, so I don’t think they’d want to demote him or move him defensively to make room for Mountcastle right now.   

I think it has been very rare for you to want to promote a player before I do so this might be the first time.  After RM's AA results last year and the injury early this season, I would let him have a little more time/success at Bowie before moving him.  He still needs to get the BB% up and I would love to see the K rate get closer to 15%.  If RM can replicate the June numbers in July and perhaps improve the BBs and Ks a bit, I think an August promotion to get 100 ABs at Norfolk would be appropriate.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, hoosiers said:

I think it has been very rare for you to want to promote a player before I do so this might be the first time.  After RM's AA results last year and the injury early this season, I would let him have a little more time/success at Bowie before moving him.  He still needs to get the BB% up and I would love to see the K rate get closer to 15%.  If RM can replicate the June numbers in July and perhaps improve the BBs and Ks a bit, I think an August promotion to get 100 ABs at Norfolk would be appropriate.

Yeah, I’d be fine with that, too.   I’m certainly not in the camp where we must promote him immediately.   But I don’t think we’d be rushing him offensively, either.    Overall if I had to choose between promoting him right now vs. waiting to see what happens in July, I’d probably prefer to wait.    Let’s just say I wouldn’t be horrified if it happened sooner.   

[OFFNY]

o

 

(July 6th)

 

Mountcastle was selected to the 2018 All-Star Futures Game.

 

https://twitter.com/Orioles/status/1015267826343477250

 

 

 

 

o

[hoosiers]

Only a few days since the last update, but RM continues to rake.  He has at least a 10 game hitting streak and has only struck out three times in the last 10 games including once today.  He also had a HR and a BB today and is batting .357 in those last 10 games.  RM's OPS is now up to .875 - same as Mullins at the time of promotion and would place Mountcastle in a tie for 8th among those qualifying in the Eastern League.  As good as RM was at Frederick last season, he now has a higher average and OBP at Bowie this year only trailing in slugging by 33 points.  He might not trail that pace for long as he is slugging .600 so far in July!

[bobmc]

7 hours ago, hoosiers said:

Only a few days since the last update, but RM continues to rake.  He has at least a 10 game hitting streak and has only struck out three times in the last 10 games including once today.  He also had a HR and a BB today and is batting .357 in those last 10 games.  RM's OPS is now up to .875 - same as Mullins at the time of promotion and would place Mountcastle in a tie for 8th among those qualifying in the Eastern League.  As good as RM was at Frederick last season, he now has a higher average and OBP at Bowie this year only trailing in slugging by 33 points.  He might not trail that pace for long as he is slugging .600 so far in July!

Boy can hit and was actually involved in a DP yesterday so we know he can occasionally throw from 3B to 2B.  I kid because I love!  

[Aglets]

Could Mountcastle realistically be our primary 3B in 2019? 

How bad is he with the glove?

Keep in mind that Valencia has been our primary so far this year and has a -0.8 dWAR.

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, Aglets said:

Could Mountcastle realistically be our primary 3B in 2019? 

How bad is he with the glove?

Keep in mind that Valencia has been our primary so far this year and has a -0.8 dWAR.

Well, you can start with the fact that he’s never played 2B.   I’d think we’d want him to get some experience there in the minors before handing him a major league job.    Not everyone’s Manny Machado.