Can Mullins have a bad spring .....

[Natty]

What ST has showed us is that we had 7 outfielders  who can really hit. Rickard, Hays, Santander, Diaz, Smith, Young, Jackson.  All of them batted over .300. Mullins can't get his BA over .200. If he continues to struggle at the plate in the regular season, How long before Hyde puts a hitter out there?

[Aristotelian]

4 minutes ago, Natty said:

What ST has showed us is that we had 7 outfielders  who can really hit. Rickard, Hays, Santander, Diaz, Smith, Young, Jackson.  All of them batted over .300. Mullins can't get his BA over .200. If he continues to struggle at the plate in the regular season, How long before Hyde puts a hitter out there?

I would think at least 100 ABs before demoting a guy.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Natty said:

What ST has showed us is that we had 7 outfielders  who hit well for 2-4 weeks.   Rickard, Hays, Santander, Diaz, Smith, Young, Jackson.  All of them batted over .300. Mullins can't get his BA over .200. If he continues to struggle at the plate in the regular season, How long before Hyde puts a hitter out there?

Fixed that for you.    Are you truly going to say that Joey Rickard “can really hit” based on his near-.400 spring batting average?   Eric Young Jr.?     Take a look at how these guys have done in thousands of major league at bats.

To answer your question about Mullins, he’ll get a minimum of two months to show how well he’ll perform.    

[HowAboutThat]

19 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Fixed that for you.    Are you truly going to say that Joey Rickard “can really hit” based on his near-.400 spring batting average?   Eric Young Jr.?     Take a look at how these guys have done in thousands of major league at bats.

To answer your question about Mullins, he’ll get a minimum of two months to show how well he’ll perform.    

I appreciate that ST means little. But maybe it doesn’t? When he was taken in the Rule 5, Rickard had a reputation for a very good eye, and for not striking out much. Top pitching exposed weaknesses, but the fundamental talent remained. What are the possibilities that Rickard, and Santander et al, have benefited from a new approach at the plate?

And now, when opposing pitching is mostly major league level, Rickard continues to hit. He has no homers, but multiple XBH, so it’s possible he’s changed his goal from fences to gap, and the results might be lasting.

what do you think?

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Philip said:

I appreciate that ST means little. By maybe it doesn’t? When he was taken in the Rule 5, Rickard had a reputation for a very good eye, and not striking out much. Top pitching  exposed weaknesses, but the fundamental talent remained. What are the possibilities that Rickard, and Santander et al, have benefited from a new approach at the plate?

especially now, when opposing pitching is mostly major league level, Rickard continues to hit. He has no homers, but multiple XBH, so it’s possible he’s changed his goal from fences to gap, and the results might be lasting.

what do you think?

Flaherty's spring.

[Frobby]

17 minutes ago, Philip said:

I appreciate that ST means little. But maybe it doesn’t? When he was taken in the Rule 5, Rickard had a reputation for a very good eye, and for not striking out much. Top pitching exposed weaknesses, but the fundamental talent remained. What are the possibilities that Rickard, and Santander et al, have benefited from a new approach at the plate?

And now, when opposing pitching is mostly major league level, Rickard continues to hit. He has no homers, but multiple XBH, so it’s possible he’s changed his goal from fences to gap, and the results might be lasting.

what do you think?

 

16 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Flaherty's spring.

I think Rickard is what he is, regardless of what he’s done this spring.   Lest we forget, the year he was picked in the Rule 5 draft, he hit .397/.472/.571 in the spring.   The next year, he hit .291/.451/.473 in the spring.    How’d he do in the regular season those two years?     Then he had an awful spring last year but had his best OPS of his career (.713) during the regular season.    

Pretty decent defender, OK hitter against lefties, can ambush a mistake pitch when he gets one once in a while.    I’m not expecting anything different from him in 2019 just because he hit well in spring training, as he has before.   

[wildcard]

I think Hays will replace Mullins in center whenever Hays is promoted.  Hopefully in about 6 weeks for OD.   Whether Mullins goes back to AAA or stays with the O's is undefined right now IMO.

[Aristotelian]

43 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I think Hays will replace Mullins in center whenever Hays is promoted.  Hopefully in about 6 weeks for OD.   Whether Mullins goes back to AAA or stays with the O's is undefined right now IMO.

Ideally, Mullins will hit at least RHP and Hays will replace Rickard who has shown over his body of work that he is not a good player.

Jackson has also had a great spring with a great resume, no injury concerns, and appears to have a claim on CF in a platoon role.

 

[atomic]

3 hours ago, bobmc said:

Well other than affirming that we have some nuggets in Hays and Diaz and to some extent in Santander.  I would say that is "something".

They ended up exactly where they would have if they played terribly.  New leadership isnt concerned about rewarding players for playing well.

[Sydnor]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

I think Hays will replace Mullins in center whenever Hays is promoted.  Hopefully in about 6 weeks for OD.   Whether Mullins goes back to AAA or stays with the O's is undefined right now IMO.

Do you want Mullins to fail? He has significantly more range in center and will get to balls Hays simply will not. I’ve seen you mention the arm strength, but ignore that Mullins will take away hits if his defense is consistent with how he played in the minors. I hope that Mullins is in center, Hays in right, and Diaz in left at some point this season. That would be exciting and a great result if they all prove to be capable players.