Gunnar Henderson 2021

[NCRaven]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

And yet professional basketball players can be fine the year after HS, professional football players can be fine after a couple years of college and professional tennis players can win Grand Slams before being old enough to vote.

Odd how this one sport is so different.

That's because it is different.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, NCRaven said:

That's because it is different.

Just like all the other ones are different.

 

[NCRaven]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Just like all the other ones are different.

 

I agree.  Personally, I think that baseball is generally more difficult than basketball or football.  There's a greater variety of skills that have to be mastered before you're competent at the major league level.

[Pickles]

7 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Just like all the other ones are different.

 

Yes.  Now you're catching on.

[seak05]

It's interesting to see the same issue resurfacing at Bowie that hurt him at Aberdeen, and I don't mean the strikeouts per se...it's that so many of the strikeouts are looking 

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, seak05 said:

It's interesting to see the same issue resurfacing at Bowie that hurt him at Aberdeen, and I don't mean the strikeouts per se...it's that so many of the strikeouts are looking 

I can't say this for a fact, but I do know that the O's are very very big on swing decisions. Knowing the count, tmking a good approach and not expanding even with 2 strikes. I don't know if he's looking at strike 3 that's over the plate or many that are just off the plate, but the belief is that the umpiring gets better at higher levels so the O's aren't knocking guys for taking strike three that's 2-3 inches outside, for example.

[seak05]

4 hours ago, LookinUp said:

I can't say this for a fact, but I do know that the O's are very very big on swing decisions. Knowing the count, tmking a good approach and not expanding even with 2 strikes. I don't know if he's looking at strike 3 that's over the plate or many that are just off the plate, but the belief is that the umpiring gets better at higher levels so the O's aren't knocking guys for taking strike three that's 2-3 inches outside, for example.

Yeah, but this is like 7-8 in a row. That theory would hold for an occasional extra strikeout, and creating a slightly higher strikeout rate...not for this volume 

[Just Regular]

A nice compliment from ESPN McDaniel, who picked him in his writeup today on one prospect for each team taking the biggest step forward in 2021, and offhand mentioned him as a Top 50 candidate:

Gunnar Henderson, SS

RHP Grayson Rodriguez was my preseason pick for pitcher breakout and he's now clearly the top pitching prospect in baseball (ninth overall) after starting the year at 30th on my list. C Adley Rutschman moved from second to first with Wander Franco's graduation, but also earned it with a stellar performance. There are five other viable candidates in my mind: LHP D.L. Hall (rose from 97th on the preseason list to 35th on the midseason list), SS Gunnar Henderson (reached Double-A at age 20 with a three-true-outcomes-heavy breakout year, just missed the midseason Top 50), SS Jordan Westburg (late-blooming plus athlete also reached Double-A in his first pro season), 3B Coby Mayo (teenage power bat raked at Low-A) and RHP Kyle Bradish (preseason sleeper made a big move, as some predicted, to viable MLB rotation piece).

[Tony-OH]

On 9/16/2021 at 12:26 PM, Frobby said:

Did that.   It’s posted elsewhere in this thread.   Don’t forget there were some convoluted rules at one time requiring players who got a bonus in excess of $4,000 to be on the major league roster for a while.    That led to a lot of premature debuts and then the players would be sent down when their required time was up.  

Interesting, i never knew that.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Interesting, i never knew that.

It affected guys like Koufax, Kaline and Killebrew.   Overall about 60 players over 19 years.  An explanation and a list here:
https://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Bonus_Babies.shtml

[Prayin4Reign]

On 9/16/2021 at 2:35 PM, NCRaven said:

I agree.  Personally, I think that baseball is generally more difficult than basketball or football.  There's a greater variety of skills that have to be mastered before you're competent at the major league level.

The game would most likely suffer in every way imaginable.  I think if a player is heads and shoulders ahead of the competition they're facing, teams are going to promote regardless of service time.  

Machado was 20 years old, two years out of high school when the Orioles brought him up.  They had seen enough, plus they were in a position to succeed.  They had plenty of incentive to promote him. 

I think the style of basketball has changed dramatically today, and it's probably not too far fetched to assume that's because of so many one and done's.  No one has time to teach the fundamentals. It's become an isolation game.  

[sportsfan8703]

Machado also was added to a team that was maximizing his value(in terms of team success), and it wasn’t being wasted on a last place team. He could’ve hit 9th and just played good defense and it would’ve been worth it. 
 

I’m excited about the season Gunnar had. Hopefully we get to follow him in the AFL. 

[sportsfan8703]

7 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

A nice compliment from ESPN McDaniel, who picked him in his writeup today on one prospect for each team taking the biggest step forward in 2021, and offhand mentioned him as a Top 50 candidate:

Gunnar Henderson, SS

RHP Grayson Rodriguez was my preseason pick for pitcher breakout and he's now clearly the top pitching prospect in baseball (ninth overall) after starting the year at 30th on my list. C Adley Rutschman moved from second to first with Wander Franco's graduation, but also earned it with a stellar performance. There are five other viable candidates in my mind: LHP D.L. Hall (rose from 97th on the preseason list to 35th on the midseason list), SS Gunnar Henderson (reached Double-A at age 20 with a three-true-outcomes-heavy breakout year, just missed the midseason Top 50), SS Jordan Westburg (late-blooming plus athlete also reached Double-A in his first pro season), 3B Coby Mayo (teenage power bat raked at Low-A) and RHP Kyle Bradish (preseason sleeper made a big move, as some predicted, to viable MLB rotation piece).

I’m surprised to see Bradish mentioned as being top 100ish.  I always say Westburg is underrated. I guess I’ve been underrating Bradish.

[Pickles]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

It affected guys like Koufax, Kaline and Killebrew.   Overall about 60 players over 19 years.  An explanation and a list here:
https://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Bonus_Babies.shtml

Roberto Clemente too.

It's almost as if- even HOFs- benefit from MiL play.  Crazy.

[Frobby]

5 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I’m surprised to see Bradish mentioned as being top 100ish.  I always say Westburg is underrated. I guess I’ve been underrating Bradish.

I think their synopsis of him is a bit exuberant.  He’s been quite inconsistent.