Kjerstad still hasn't reported to alternate site [UPDATE: He's reported]

[Sports Guy]

11 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Look who became a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed optimist after all!  It's very heart-warming, thanks.

I guess you didn't say how 'likely' you think this scenario is though.  Personally I'm expecting to see this guy in Baltimore some time in 2023.  Would be thrilled if I'm wrong and your proposal here comes true.

Well, as I said, the best case scenario...how often do best case scenarios work out?  
 

Despite the stupidity of some of the posts about Kjerstad, Elias knows what he is doing and has been an excellent scout in his career.  He obviously believes the guy is talented and has a high upside.  He played in the best conference in college baseball and arguably on the best team (they have been ranked #1 for most or all of this year).  He shouldn’t need a lot of MiL time.
 

 No one has denied his power and perhaps if there is a full season, he’s not looked at as “a reach”.  I’m not worried about power. I want to see if he can hit for a good average and keep the Ks relatively down. If he does that and the power is there, he will move quickly.

The caveat is 2 things:

1) how healthy will he be?

2). If anxiety issues exist (we don’t know if that’s true), does this bout with myocarditis mess with him mentally and is that something he can’t/won’t get over?

Those would be my biggest concerns with him over anything else although #2 may not even be a concern although I guess even if he doesn’t have anxiety issues, you never know how something like that can play on a persons mind.

[Just Regular]

If he's okay this summer, the Arizona Fall League might be an arrow in the quiver to help him catch up a little.

It'll be interesting to watch.   Regular hitters come to spring training, stretch a few days or something, start games and grumble about how the whole process wouldn't need to take this long except for those darned pitchers.   

So whatever is months-long, and I am sure that exact word was not in the tweet by accident, regular baseball wise it is a little bit difficult to imagine.    Obviously they want to take good care of him and manage expectations to hit milestones and have success these first couple months.

[Hazmat]

17 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

If he's okay this summer, the Arizona Fall League might be an arrow in the quiver to help him catch up a little.

It'll be interesting to watch.   Regular hitters come to spring training, stretch a few days or something, start games and grumble about how the whole process wouldn't need to take this long except for those darned pitchers.   

So whatever is months-long, and I am sure that exact word was not in the tweet by accident, regular baseball wise it is a little bit difficult to imagine.    Obviously they want to take good care of him and manage expectations to hit milestones and have success these first couple months.

I was thinking the same.  Perhaps the "months-long" indicates he's on doctor's orders in slowly returning from the bout of myocarditis.  Otherwise, for a top collegiate athlete, I can't imagine it would take more than a few weeks to get up to baseball playing speed, even after a year off from playing.

[LTO's]

In case there was any lingering mystery, Kjerstad was in the Bowie locker room this afternoon per his Instagram. Can’t wait to see all these guys finally get some game action.

[oh-wee-ohs]

11 hours ago, Hazmat said:

I was thinking the same.  Perhaps the "months-long" indicates he's on doctor's orders in slowly returning from the bout of myocarditis.  Otherwise, for a top collegiate athlete, I can't imagine it would take more than a few weeks to get up to baseball playing speed, even after a year off from playing.

I imagine he probably lost a lot of muscle mass from not being able to exercise / workout and will have to build his strength back up.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Glad to hear Kjerstad has been medically cleared and is healthy enough to start working out with the team. Hopefully we see him at OPACY sometime in 2022 and full-time in 2023. 

 

[TheWall]

On 4/20/2021 at 9:44 PM, Moose Milligan said:

Glad he's reporting.  Still think he's a bust.

This is an absurd take. He hasn't even played for us yet. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, TheWall said:

This is an absurd take. He hasn't even played for us yet. 

Put your tongue in your cheek and maybe you'll understand.  

No, he's not a bust.  Yet.  But his first year certainly was a bust.  I'd love to be wrong about him but I'm pretty sure it's difficult to pick up a bat and start dominating at a professional level after being inactive for a year.  Inactive being the key word there...it's not like he could do anything at all.  He's most likely not as strong as he was a year ago, he's going to have to work hard not just at hitting a baseball and fielding his position but simply getting stronger and getting into some sort of playing shape.  

Is he a bust for the future?  No way of telling.  But as it stands right now, his first year has been a bust.

[LookinUp]

On 4/21/2021 at 7:00 AM, Sports Guy said:

I would imagine he starts at Delmarva by early June.  If he plays at a high level there for a few months, he goes to Aberdeen to finish out the year.  Best case scenario is he starts 2022 in Bowie.  Just depends on how good he is and how advanced the bat really is.  
 

If he is what they hope him to be, he’s still on the radar for Baltimore later in 2022.

Seems ambitious to me. I don't he's on the radar for then. Not impossible if he's truly special, but most likely is 2023 or even 2024 at this point.

[Frobby]

On 4/21/2021 at 7:00 AM, Sports Guy said:

I would imagine he starts at Delmarva by early June.  If he plays at a high level there for a few months, he goes to Aberdeen to finish out the year.  

I’m still getting used to the idea that going from Delmarva to Aberdeen is a promotion.  

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I’m still getting used to the idea that going from Delmarva to Aberdeen is a promotion.  

Me too.  I almost wrote Frederick.  

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, LookinUp said:

Seems ambitious to me. I don't he's on the radar for then. Not impossible if he's truly special, but most likely is 2023 or even 2024 at this point.

I’m not going to put any timetable on him.   Let’s see how soon he can play in MiL games, where they start him and how he does.   After a health setback like that, there’s no telling how quickly he’ll progress.   I just hope that eventually he becomes a productive major league player, regardless of exactly how long that takes.

[Sports Guy]

21 hours ago, LookinUp said:

Seems ambitious to me. I don't he's on the radar for then. Not impossible if he's truly special, but most likely is 2023 or even 2024 at this point.

If he’s not on the radar until 2024, he will be a bust without question.

2023 is certainly possible.

As i said, that was best case scenario and it absolutely is.  An advanced college bat, if they live up to the hype, doesn’t need much time in the minors.

Its just totally unknown how much this has taken out of him and when he starts getting into real games. 

[Sports Guy]

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/04/blood-says-orioles-wont-rush-situation-with-kjerstad.html

[Tony-OH]

33 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/04/blood-says-orioles-wont-rush-situation-with-kjerstad.html

Sounds like he has a long way to go to regain the strength and conditioning to play. It found it it interesting that Blood still says they haven't seen him play which tells me he's doing mainly strength and conditioning stuff.

I doubt we see a lot of him this year and may not see him until July or maybe August.