Núñez vs. Ruiz

[sportsfan8703]

One week is still too early to over react about defense. Of course it’s a concern. We’re really only playing Martin and Escobar at SS. I think Escobar makes it as well. Unless Hanser Alberto unseats him. I’ll stick with my prediction of this to break ST,

SS: Martin 50/50 split

3B: Nunez

Bench:

SS: Escobar 50/50 split(Hanser Alberto?)

Super Utility: Jackson

3B: Ruiz (maybe a 50/50 split at 3rd. No OF time yet)

Backup C

 

Lots of factors still in play. Trumbo DL to start? Does that open up DH for Mancini, thus opening up a true OF spot?  Is Ruiz going to get a look in COF in ST?  If not, a guy like Jace Peterson could make the team. 

Edited March 2, 2019 by sportsfan8703

[OFFNY]

On 2/26/2019 at 8:46 AM, Frobby said:

 

There hasn’t been much discussion of the positional battle at 3B, probably because most people think Núñez hit well enough last year to presumably win a starting spot in 2019.     But I wouldn’t rule out Ruiz just yet. He’s an Elias draftee, and I expect that he’s a better defender than Nunez, who has looked like a butcher so far this spring after seeming to make some progress last year defensively.

 

Also, Ruiz got his spring off to a good start with a 3-run bomb on Sunday. I think that this is an underrated camp battle in terms of the uncertainty over who will earn the spot.   

 

o

 

(May 7th)

 

For the time being, they are both starting ........ Ruiz primarily at 3rd base, and Nunez primarily at DH.

Nunez has a higher OPS (powered by 6 HR's and 5 Doubles), while Ruiz has a higher OBP.

 

o

[Bahama O's Fan]

If we could only keep one, who would you choose?

[Spl51]

2 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

If we could only keep one, who would you choose?

Ruiz.

[sportsfan8703]

Ruiz’s arm is pretty weak for 3rd.  Ideally we’d be in a position to play matchups a bit more with Ruiz and Nunez, but that’s hard to do with a short amount of position players.  

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Ruiz’s arm is pretty weak for 3rd.  Ideally we’d be in a position to play matchups a bit more with Ruiz and Nunez, but that’s hard to do with a short amount of position players.  

I've got tot disagree here. Ruiz has a solid average to slightly above average 3B arm. Defensively he's solid average across the board, but he has below average power for a corner infielder, especially game power. He reminds me a bit of a left-handed version of Craig Worthington.

[interloper]

12 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

If we could only keep one, who would you choose?

Yeah, Ruiz. And I really like Nunez. But you take the guy who can play a good defensive 3B and while he's not a slugger up there, it seems like he can hang and take a walk. 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

 He reminds me a bit of a left-handed version of Craig Worthington.

I remember Worthington being touted as a plus glove at third.  But the retroactively figured metrics says he was pretty bad. Somebody thought he was a great fielder, since he won the IL MVP in '88 with a .722 OPS, and was 4th in the '89 ROY with a .718.

[Redskins Rick]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

I've got tot disagree here. Ruiz has a solid average to slightly above average 3B arm. Defensively he's solid average across the board, but he has below average power for a corner infielder, especially game power. He reminds me a bit of a left-handed version of Craig Worthington.

i think we have been spoiled at 3rd, 1st Brooks, and even Cal some at the end of his career and then Manny all with cannons.

[Spl51]

I feel like Ruiz has been hitting it pretty hard into some bad luck, but I agree he doesn't seem to have as much power as you would think.

[Il BuonO]

12 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

If we could only keep one, who would you choose?

The guy who plays a defensive position and doesn’t run into outs on the bases.

[Redskins Rick]

1 hour ago, Il BuonO said:

The guy who plays a defensive position and doesn’t run into outs on the bases.

If he can also pitch in relief, that is a major plus.

 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I remember Worthington being touted as a plus glove at third.  But the retroactively figured metrics says he was pretty bad. Somebody thought he was a great fielder, since he won the IL MVP in '88 with a .722 OPS, and was 4th in the '89 ROY with a .718.

Yeah, I also remember Ken Gearhart being touted as a good defensive center fielder. He was not good but not as bad as I remember looking back at his defensive metrics that are available now. 

As for Ruiz, he's probably going to be better than -0.7 dWAR, but he might struggle to hit 15 homers. I watched him in BP and was not impressed with his raw power. A right-handed Worthingotn offensively might be more accurate.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Spl51 said:

I feel like Ruiz has been hitting it pretty hard into some bad luck, but I agree he doesn't seem to have as much power as you would think.

His .282 BABIP suggest he's been a little unlucky, but not a ton. His 88 mph EV is slightly under the 89 MPH average this year, but he's only barreled one ball this year giving him  1.1% barrel rate, putting him the bottom 3% of the league. His .222 xBA and .315 xSLG doesn't suggest he's going to suddenly get a spike in offense. 

My guess is he's a .710 OPS guy when it's all said and done. Probly not a guy who will part of a winning future down the road, but a decent placeholder due to his defense being solid average.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Yeah, I also remember Ken Gearhart being touted as a good defensive center fielder. He was not good but not as bad as I remember looking back at his defensive metrics that are available now. 

As for Ruiz, he's probably going to be better than -0.7 dWAR, but he might struggle to hit 15 homers. I watched him in BP and was not impressed with his raw power. A right-handed Worthingotn offensively might be more accurate.

I always assumed that the '89 Orioles were absolutely epic defensively, and we talk about gold glovers all over the diamond and three center fielders with Brady, Anderson and Devereaux.  But those three only played together a handful of times, and they finished 3rd in defensive efficiency in the AL, and 8th of 26 in Total Zone.

And then look at the '88 team and they were 18th in TZ.  I remember them being mostly 35-year-old DHs, but there were 8 worse MLB teams.