Is it time to consider demoting Mountcastle?

[interloper]

I think it's pretty possible that Mountcastle becomes one of those streaky hitters who is doing just enough with those hot streaks to be solidly valuable. I think what we want to see now is those bad streaks are less .515 OPS (complete non-factor) and more .650 (doing things here and there), while the hot streaks remain the same. 

[Tony-OH]

9 minutes ago, interloper said:

I think it's pretty possible that Mountcastle becomes one of those streaky hitters who is doing just enough with those hot streaks to be solidly valuable. I think what we want to see now is those bad streaks are less .515 OPS (complete non-factor) and more .650 (doing things here and there), while the hot streaks remain the same. 

That will come if he can get his BB% back up to where it was last season. He's going to have to hit .300 in order to get his OBP to a respectable level if he's going to not walk. Saying that, the more he starts hitting balls out of the park the more the walks should come.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

That will come if he can get his BB% back up to where it was last season. He's going to have to hit .300 in order to get his OBP to a respectable level if he's going to not walk. Saying that, the more he starts hitting balls out of the park the more the walks should come.

Aside from his slow start, that's the real disappointment with his game this year.  IMO, it was surprising at his walk rate when he came up.  It's not improved.

Hopefully he can work on it and walk more.  I suppose I shouldn't care if his walks come because pitchers are being more careful around him and throwing more obvious balls out of the zone...and not that his eye is becoming more discerning.  

[Yossarian]

I think the BB% will come up as he sees more major league pitching and starts recognizing pitches that are out of the zone earlier (like before he starts to swing).  He chases a lot of bad pitches out of the zone and pitchers know this.  As he gets more experience, he will get more discipline at the plate.  He is just starting his career and has a lot to learn, but the potential is there.