Ramon Urias gets his chance?

[wildcard]

Three of the four starters for the Mariners are left-handed.   Hyde has not been playing Ruiz versus lefties.  So I expect to see Ramon Urias at 2B for three games in this series.    2B is his best position.   I don't like him at SS even as a backup. Too many errors in his career there.  

So with the Ruiz's 2B experiment on life support because he is not hitting (no surprise there),  Urias gets his chance to show what he can contribute.  

[Aristotelian]

That would be dumb since Rio by far hits lefties better than righties. His .785 OPS vs lefties is actually surprisingly decent. Not that I care to keep seeing Rio, but I hope pitching matchups aren't the determining factor.

[Frobby]

Ruiz obviously is (1) not that good a hitter, and (2) a way better hitter than he has performed in the first 9 games of the season.   The “Ruiz experiment” (as you call it) is about whether he can handle the position defensively.   If he can, the  O’s will have to decide whether his .680-.710 OPS bat plays there.   They aren’t going to abandon the experiment because Ruiz had a bad week and a half at the plate.  

As to Urias, I want to see defensively about him, too.   He made an error in his three innings of work yesterday and looked pretty choppy out there this spring, if I recall correctly.   
 

[DrungoHazewood]

43 minutes ago, wildcard said:

So with the Ruiz's 2B experiment on life support because he is not hitting (no surprise there)...

It wouldn't be April if someone wasn't speculating about a career hanging on the edge on the basis of 35 PAs despite BABIP taking 800+ balls in play to stabilize.

[wildcard]

4 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

It wouldn't be April if someone wasn't speculating about a career hanging on the edge on the basis of 35 PAs despite BABIP taking 800+ balls in play to stabilize.

Maybe you understand why Elias/Hyde are sticking with Ruiz, now at 2B, when he has a 223/294/383/677 in 652 plate appearances with the O's, but I don't.   The only thing I can figure is Elias has not found the right waiver claim to replace him yet. 

When Valaika's 10 days in the minors are up I would call him up and play him everyday at 2B based on his 791 OPS last year.   But that is just me.  Elias/Hyde don't seem to agree.

[wildcard]

5 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

That would be dumb since Rio by far hits lefties better than righties. His .785 OPS vs lefties is actually surprisingly decent. Not that I care to keep seeing Rio, but I hope pitching matchups aren't the determining factor.

Maybe but there he is in tonight's lineup.

Cedric Mullins CF
Trey Mancini 1B
Anthony Santander RF
Maikel Franco 3B
Pedro Severino C
Ryan Mountcastle DH
DJ Stewart LF
Ramón Urías 2B
Freddy Galvis SS

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/04/orioles-lineup-vs-mariners-17.html

[interloper]

There's absolutely no harm in seeing if Urias can get something going this series. 

[Aristotelian]

12 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Maybe but there he is in tonight's lineup.

Cedric Mullins CF
Trey Mancini 1B
Anthony Santander RF
Maikel Franco 3B
Pedro Severino C
Ryan Mountcastle DH
DJ Stewart LF
Ramón Urías 2B
Freddy Galvis SS

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/04/orioles-lineup-vs-mariners-17.html

Nice dude, you were also in sync with Elias on demoting Akins. Credit is due!

I do find it weird, his whole career with the O's they have given him more AB's vs RHP even though he really can't hit RHP. Only 123 AB vs LHP vs 633 AB vs RHB but reverse split. 

[DrungoHazewood]

15 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Nice dude, you were also in sync with Elias on demoting Akins. Credit is due!

I do find it weird, his whole career with the O's they have given him more AB's vs RHP even though he really can't hit RHP. Only 123 AB vs LHP vs 633 AB vs RHB but reverse split. 

I think the most likely case is that he doesn't really have that split, almost no one has a persistent reverse platoon split.  Ruiz' 2016-18 numbers in the minors look like completely normal platoon splits for a lefty.   His 123 AB reverse splits are just SSS randomness.

[DrungoHazewood]

51 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Maybe you understand why Elias/Hyde are sticking with Ruiz, now at 2B, when he has a 223/294/383/677 in 652 plate appearances with the O's, but I don't.   The only thing I can figure is Elias has not found the right waiver claim to replace him yet. 

When Valaika's 10 days in the minors are up I would call him up and play him everyday at 2B based on his 791 OPS last year.   But that is just me.  Elias/Hyde don't seem to agree.

Rio Ruiz' career OPS+: 75

Pat Valaika's career OPS+: 71

Ruiz is 27, Valaika is 28.  Ruiz, by bb-ref's numbers, is a +6 fielder.  Valaika is a -6.

You will probably point out Valaika's 114 OPS+ last year, but that was in just 150 PAs.  The two years before in Colorado he he had a .504 OPS, which is also known as 89% of Chris Davis.

[Natty]

Well I hope Urias can hit. I hope his defense  at 2B is better than what happened yesterday. 

[wildcard]

14 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Rio Ruiz' career OPS+: 75

Pat Valaika's career OPS+: 71

Ruiz is 27, Valaika is 28.  Ruiz, by bb-ref's numbers, is a +6 fielder.  Valaika is a -6.

You will probably point out Valaika's 114 OPS+ last year, but that was in just 150 PAs.  The two years before in Colorado he he had a .504 OPS, which is also known as 89% of Chris Davis.

Those career numbers are misleading.  The big difference between Ruiz and Valaika is that Ruiz has gotten opportunity.   Valaika has had very little opportunity.

Ruiz has had 413 PA, 204 PA, 173 PA in three difference years in the majors.  He has never had higher than a 713 OPS in any of those years.

Valaika had a 195 PA in 2017 and had a 817 OPS.  He had 150 PA last year and had a 791 OPS.  Other than that he was blocked in Colorado by Story and LeMahieu.    

So far, given the opportunity Valaika hits.    Ruiz does not.

[BohKnowsBmore]

12 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think the most likely case is that he doesn't really have that split, almost no one has a persistent reverse platoon split.  Ruiz' 2016-18 numbers in the minors look like completely normal platoon splits for a lefty.   His 123 AB reverse splits are just SSS randomness.

Digging under the hood a little bit, it looks like some of his success against LHP is by dint of facing some truly god awful LH relief pitching. The math doesn't quite seem to add up to where it makes complete sense, but...

• Against starting pitchers, the splits look a lot more normal (.663 OPS against RH starters / .620 OPS OPS against LH starters)
• Of his 6 HR against LHP, only 3 occurred with a LH starter (to start the game), with the other 3 against lefty relievers when the starter was RH 
• That success against lefties seems to be driven by very high BABIP: .341 against LHP; .236 against RHP

I tried to see if he possibly faced a bunch of position players as lefty relievers or something, but having trouble locating that level of detail. Seems like it truly is just SSS weirdness.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=ruizri01&year=Career&t=b

[wildcard]

5 minutes ago, Natty said:

Well I hope Urias can hit. I hope his defense  at 2B is better than what happened yesterday. 

I don't like what I have seen and read about Urias at SS where is was yesterday.  But his defensive numbers are better at 2B.

[DrungoHazewood]

8 minutes ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Digging under the hood a little bit, it looks like some of his success against LHP is by dint of facing some truly god awful LH relief pitching. The math doesn't quite seem to add up to where it makes complete sense, but...

• Against starting pitchers, the splits look a lot more normal (.663 OPS against RH starters / .620 OPS OPS against LH starters)
• Of his 6 HR against LHP, only 3 occurred with a LH starter (to start the game), with the other 3 against lefty relievers when the starter was RH 
• That success against lefties seems to be driven by very high BABIP: .341 against LHP; .236 against RHP

I tried to see if he possibly faced a bunch of position players as lefty relievers or something, but having trouble locating that level of detail. Seems like it truly is just SSS weirdness.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=ruizri01&year=Career&t=b

I didn't do anything like your digging, but my first thought was that the most likely time for him to face a lefty was when the game was 11-2 and nobody was really trying any more.