The Curious Case Of: Chance Sisco

[Legend_Of_Joey]

A few years ago, I did some threads where I made a case for a player to be called up from AAA to Baltimore and I think it had a 100% success rate.

This will not be one of those threads.

This won't be a bash thread either (by me, atleast. You all can have fun with the pitchforks.)

Originally a shortstop in High School, Sisco switched to catcher with the hopes that it would be a higher skill need. It was. The question was on his defense, as he was basically learning the position through his climb through the minors where other catchers have years of experience to go on. It was his bat that would be the big skill factor.

Sisco raked all through the minors in Low A, High A, and AA, getting awards like a video game.

.371 in the GCL in his draft year.

.340 in his first full season at Delmarva.

.308 in Frederick and .257 in Bowie, getting called up for about 20 games.

.320 in his first full Bowie season.

Since then, .267, .242 and .292 in 3 Norfolk seasons, playing 97, 38 and 45 games respectively.

In his 3rd season at Norfolk (2019), he had his most home runs (10), showing some power that some people said wasn't quite there, as he was going the other way with most of them. At that time, the ball was also changed in AAA and home runs totals rose sharply.

His strike out total rose during his time through the minors, but that tends to happen when you face pitchers that are more consistent around the plate. His walk total hit a high of 61 in 2016 and then went way down, to 32, 16 and 20 the following seasons. He went from 88 k's in 2016 to 99, 36 and 44 the next three seasons.

Tony had mentioned his bat speed seemed slow and he was cheating fastball and falling for the curve, or going the other way on a fastball even when cheating for it.

During his time in the MLB (besides his 10 games in 2017), he has had averages of .181, .210, .214, and .145 (at the time of this post.) Strike outs have gone 66, 61, 44, and 18 (at post.) Walks are 13, 22, 17, and 6. His home run surge in 2019 (8) is the same amount he has hit total in his other MLB seasons (including debut season.)

In a more extreme breakdown, this season he has seen 238 pitches, made contact with 44 and barrelled 1.

1 ball was barrelled.

His bat has seemed to regress sharply after 2019. He has had very minor spurts here and there (his Babe Ruth-esque 2019 when recalled during the summer for a few weeks), but now...Not as much.

What is it? Was he just able to get by in the minors until AAA? Have pitchers figured him out? Extended slump?

This is someone who was a Top 5 prospect and seems to have completely lost what made him that level.

[Philip]

Someone said that the jump from AAA to the majors is the most difficult transition in all of major-league sports. Sisco Just didn’t make it. It’s curious what the decision-makers see that makes them Stick with him.

If I were the catchers down on the farm I would be extremely frustrated.

[now]

Where's his lost twin, Austin Wynns? Sisco used to have a nice looking swing (when he made good contact). Now, he looks as bad as any hitter I've ever seen.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

15 minutes ago, Philip said:

Someone said that the jump from AAA to the majors is the most difficult transition in all of major-league sports. Sisco Just didn’t make it. It’s curious what the decision-makers see that makes them Stick with him.

If I were the catchers down on the farm I would be extremely frustrated.

I always heard the jump to AA was the most difficult one.

[maybenxtyr]

There's no need to bash him, and your really did a nice breakdown for him. I believe in most organizations he would have been a career minor league guy. There was a need for him in Baltimore and he actually showed some glimmers of hope on occasion, but I think this time has come to move on. 

 

I'm not advocating starting Severino over him either. I'd run Wynns and Cumberland out just to get to the finishing point of the season. I understand that the catchers are not solely responsible for the lackluster record, but it's time to start making some moves as this is getting embarrassing.

[Philip]

13 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I always heard the jump to AA was the most difficult one.

Perhaps, but that has not proven to be so with chance.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

16 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

There's no need to bash him, and your really did a nice breakdown for him. I believe in most organizations he would have been a career minor league guy. There was a need for him in Baltimore and he actually showed some glimmers of hope on occasion, but I think this time has come to move on. 

 

I'm not advocating starting Severino over him either. I'd run Wynns and Cumberland out just to get to the finishing point of the season. I understand that the catchers are not solely responsible for the lackluster record, but it's time to start making some moves as this is getting embarrassing.

I was hoping Severino or Sisco would step up this year and prove themselves as being a capable backup catcher to AR. I think that's out of the window now and both players will be out of the organization by the end of 2022 season or sooner. 

[kidrock]

5 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

A few years ago, I did some threads where I made a case for a player to be called up from AAA to Baltimore and I think it had a 100% success rate.

This will not be one of those threads.

This won't be a bash thread either (by me, atleast. You all can have fun with the pitchforks.)

Originally a shortstop in High School, Sisco switched to catcher with the hopes that it would be a higher skill need. It was. The question was on his defense, as he was basically learning the position through his climb through the minors where other catchers have years of experience to go on. It was his bat that would be the big skill factor.

Sisco raked all through the minors in Low A, High A, and AA, getting awards like a video game.

.371 in the GCL in his draft year.

.340 in his first full season at Delmarva.

.308 in Frederick and .257 in Bowie, getting called up for about 20 games.

.320 in his first full Bowie season.

Since then, .267, .242 and .292 in 3 Norfolk seasons, playing 97, 38 and 45 games respectively.

In his 3rd season at Norfolk (2019), he had his most home runs (10), showing some power that some people said wasn't quite there, as he was going the other way with most of them. At that time, the ball was also changed in AAA and home runs totals rose sharply.

His strike out total rose during his time through the minors, but that tends to happen when you face pitchers that are more consistent around the plate. His walk total hit a high of 61 in 2016 and then went way down, to 32, 16 and 20 the following seasons. He went from 88 k's in 2016 to 99, 36 and 44 the next three seasons.

Tony had mentioned his bat speed seemed slow and he was cheating fastball and falling for the curve, or going the other way on a fastball even when cheating for it.

During his time in the MLB (besides his 10 games in 2017), he has had averages of .181, .210, .214, and .145 (at the time of this post.) Strike outs have gone 66, 61, 44, and 18 (at post.) Walks are 13, 22, 17, and 6. His home run surge in 2019 (8) is the same amount he has hit total in his other MLB seasons (including debut season.)

In a more extreme breakdown, this season he has seen 238 pitches, made contact with 44 and barrelled 1.

1 ball was barrelled.

His bat has seemed to regress sharply after 2019. He has had very minor spurts here and there (his Babe Ruth-esque 2019 when recalled during the summer for a few weeks), but now...Not as much.

What is it? Was he just able to get by in the minors until AAA? Have pitchers figured him out? Extended slump?

This is someone who was a Top 5 prospect and seems to have completely lost what made him that level.

1 barreled ball.  At some point you have to move on from this guy.  I’m not quite sure I see one redeeming quality.  At least with a guy like Stewart, he can still get on base and flash a rare home run.

[Bahama O's Fan]

Whichever one the young starting pitchers prefer, that's who would get the bulk of the playing time in my opinion 

[Triple Crown]

Sisco is this year's version of Chris Davis. Move on from this guy he can't hit a major league fastball.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Triple Crown said:

Sisco is this year's version of Chris Davis. Move on from this guy he can't hit a major league fastball.

I thought Chris Davis was this year's version of Chris Davis?

 

Sisco is just a guy eating innings on a team built to lose until such time as management stops gaming the service time of their top prospect.

You replace Sisco with Wynns or Cumberland and nothing really changes except fans move on to the next underachieving player to complain about, instead of the real issues with the franchise.

[Sports Guy]

Play him 4-5 times a week for a month.

[Yardball85]

8 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

A few years ago, I did some threads where I made a case for a player to be called up from AAA to Baltimore and I think it had a 100% success rate.

This will not be one of those threads.

This won't be a bash thread either (by me, atleast. You all can have fun with the pitchforks.)

Originally a shortstop in High School, Sisco switched to catcher with the hopes that it would be a higher skill need. It was. The question was on his defense, as he was basically learning the position through his climb through the minors where other catchers have years of experience to go on. It was his bat that would be the big skill factor.

Sisco raked all through the minors in Low A, High A, and AA, getting awards like a video game.

.371 in the GCL in his draft year.

.340 in his first full season at Delmarva.

.308 in Frederick and .257 in Bowie, getting called up for about 20 games.

.320 in his first full Bowie season.

Since then, .267, .242 and .292 in 3 Norfolk seasons, playing 97, 38 and 45 games respectively.

In his 3rd season at Norfolk (2019), he had his most home runs (10), showing some power that some people said wasn't quite there, as he was going the other way with most of them. At that time, the ball was also changed in AAA and home runs totals rose sharply.

His strike out total rose during his time through the minors, but that tends to happen when you face pitchers that are more consistent around the plate. His walk total hit a high of 61 in 2016 and then went way down, to 32, 16 and 20 the following seasons. He went from 88 k's in 2016 to 99, 36 and 44 the next three seasons.

Tony had mentioned his bat speed seemed slow and he was cheating fastball and falling for the curve, or going the other way on a fastball even when cheating for it.

During his time in the MLB (besides his 10 games in 2017), he has had averages of .181, .210, .214, and .145 (at the time of this post.) Strike outs have gone 66, 61, 44, and 18 (at post.) Walks are 13, 22, 17, and 6. His home run surge in 2019 (8) is the same amount he has hit total in his other MLB seasons (including debut season.)

In a more extreme breakdown, this season he has seen 238 pitches, made contact with 44 and barrelled 1.

1 ball was barrelled.

His bat has seemed to regress sharply after 2019. He has had very minor spurts here and there (his Babe Ruth-esque 2019 when recalled during the summer for a few weeks), but now...Not as much.

What is it? Was he just able to get by in the minors until AAA? Have pitchers figured him out? Extended slump?

This is someone who was a Top 5 prospect and seems to have completely lost what made him that level.

I have never seen a player simply swing and miss through so many hittable fastballs before.  Whatever is wrong with him, it doesn't look like it's getting fixed. 

[Frobby]

14 minutes ago, Triple Crown said:

Sisco is this year's version of Chris Davis. 

Minus $22.4 mm in salary.   

[Gentile4]

Great assessment by OP. I want to like Sisco and have defended the O's hanging onto him, but his lack of production is getting difficult to accept. As Bahama noted, it may be time to figure out which of the four organizational catchers (Wynns and Cumberland) can do the best job helping the young pitchers figure things out. Severino at least occasional resembles a major league hitter.