Mountcastle just had the best at bat of his season

[accinfo]

It is only one at bat but he took two strikes to go down 0-2.  Then he took 2 balls that many times he would have chased for balls.  Fouled two border line pitches, the second he just missed as a double down the right field line.  Then he took a breaking ball he has chased many times before.  Then he crushed a homerun on a 3-2 pitch.  Just is body language looked different for me.  Time will tell but I am hoping he has turned a corner in his very young career.

[Can_of_corn]

He has walked in three straight coming into today.

[kidrock]

Another great AB by Mountcastle.  I’m impressed.

Im not asking for a hall of fame player, I just want to see a player show improvement.  He is currently showing much better maturity.  That makes me happy.

Same with Mullins.  I didn’t need him to be Kenny Lofton, but just showing improvement this year is huge.  Not too many other players who have done that this year.

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

He has walked in three straight coming into today.

And had TWO walks in one of those games.

[Aristotelian]

I remember one April when Adam Jones had a massive spike in pitches per PA. It didn't last much longer and he ended up with a normal Adam Jones year. Will take much more than a couple of walks to convince me he is a changed man.

[interloper]

He had a really nice game at the plate yesterday. Great to see. In addition to the patient at bats and home run, he stung a few balls that were right at guys.

[Frobby]

12 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

I remember one April when Adam Jones had a massive spike in pitches per PA. It didn't last much longer and he ended up with a normal Adam Jones year. Will take much more than a couple of walks to convince me he is a changed man.

Well, sure.   Mountcastle had one walk in 95 PA over 24 games immediately before this recent streak of 5 walks in 4 games. I’m not expecting any long term sea change.   

However, it’s undeniable that he’s pretty locked in on the baseball right now.  It’s nice to see that he was able to fight out of his early season funk, and my guess is his second half of the season will be better than the first half.

 

[Moose Milligan]

Didn't watch last night, but saw he went 2 for 3 with a homer, 3 RBI but almost more importantly, two walks.

Batting average is up to .269, OBP is at .309.  .787 OPS.  

His slumps appear to be the extended type, he was terrible to start the season.  But the flip side, his hot stretches seem to be able to be just as long, too.

[Sports Guy]

I’m old to remember people wanting him/discussing him being sent down.

As Aaron Rodgers would say…R-E-L-A-X

[spiritof66]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Didn't watch last night, but saw he went 2 for 3 with a homer, 3 RBI but almost more importantly, two walks.

Batting average is up to .269, OBP is at .309.  .787 OPS.  

His slumps appear to be the extended type, he was terrible to start the season.  But the flip side, his hot stretches seem to be able to be just as long, too.

In June, Mountcastle is OPSing 1.090. Pretty good, but not quite enough to lead the team. Mullins' OPS for June is1.125, and he's 6 for 6 in steals.

I guess they need to be traded right away, before they cool off. 

 

[Ripken]

Leading all rookies in every major hitting category for June.

Last 30 games overall:

AB   R     H    HR   RBI    BB   SO    SB  AVG  OBP    SLG

110

19

36

10

25

9

32

0

.327

.388

.645

 

 

[jamalshw]

45 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

In June, Mountcastle is OPSing 1.090. Pretty good, but not quite enough to lead the team. Mullins' OPS for June is1.125, and he's 6 for 6 in steals.

I guess they need to be traded right away, before they cool off. 

 

Now, if only Santander could get healthy enough to go on a similar run in July and net us something at the deadline. It seems like all the trade chips have mostly disappeared with Fry having some struggles, Galvis getting injured, Franco and Harvey unable to perform and Santander's injuries and poor performance. Mancini seems to be the only real chip right now unless they do deal Mullins. Given Mancini's a 1B/DH even he may not net too much and if Elias deems what's out there for him to be not enough, we may have a boring deadline. 

[accinfo]

I think we forget he is still considered a rookie.  Any of us if you told us his numbers would be what they are today at the end of June we would have all signed up for it.  Right now pitching to him with what is hitting behind him is not very smart.  

[Frobby]

No doubt the guy is on fire.   It will be interesting to see how long he can sustain the hot streak.   I am pretty optimistic that he’s not likely to have another sustained funk like he did the first five or six weeks of the season.   He was really pressing then, and now that he has his confidence going I don’t think he’ll press like that even if he cools off.    And hopefully he is starting to learn how to lay off certain pitches.   I think he’ll always be a free swinger, but even incremental improvements in plate discipline can pay big dividends for a guy with his bat to ball abilities.  

[Ruzious]

I think the difference is - He's waiting for his pitch.  I think he's bought into this approach - so the hitting coach should get some credit.  He knows he might strike out looking more using this approach, but he won't roll over swinging at pitcher's pitches, and when he does swing, he's going to make consistently good contact.  And listening to Hays after the game last night, he's learning too and is buying in 100% to this approach, so if he stays healthy - expect Hays' numbers to rise.