Yusniel Diaz - failed prospect?

[Ohfan67]

14 hours ago, Frobby said:

In Diaz’s case, I doubt being added to the 40 man roster would affect his motivation level.  The Dodgers paid him $32 mm to sign.   He’s either motivated to reach the majors, or he’s not.   He’s a wealthy man either way.   

Injuries have been a huge factor for him.  What I don’t know is whether some of these injuries could have been prevented through better conditioning.   Certainly not the latest one (turf toe), but some of the soft tissue injuries he’s had.  
 

Diaz “only” got 15.5 million. The rest was the tax the Dodgers payed MLB. Doesn’t alter your point, just clarifying. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Ohfan67 said:

Diaz “only” got 15.5 million. The rest was the tax the Dodgers payed MLB. Doesn’t alter your point, just clarifying. 

Good point.   

[Aglets]

Just realized that Ryan Ripken is outhitting Diaz at Norfolk.  Average wise as well as OPS.   I have nothing further to add.

[glenn__davis]

14 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Just realized that Ryan Ripken is outhitting Diaz at Norfolk.  Average wise as well as OPS.   I have nothing further to add.

Haha, I seriously just came to ask who will have the higher OPS by seasons end, Diaz or Ripken?

[Matt Bennett]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:40 PM, Moose Milligan said:

Ugh, woof.  

I'd go with...DJ Stewart.  Not great, but he's a known quantity of sorts.  He probably is what he is at this point, but maybe he can become a better hitter.  He gets on base at a good clip and once or twice a summer he can go on a tear.  

Diaz hasn't proven anything.  He's always hurt.  DJ Stewart gets hurt a lot, too, but at least he's done something (even if it's not great) at the ML level.  

That said, I'm not particularly excited about that choice.

I think you may need to readjust your memory of DJ Stewart being hurt a lot. 

2015: can’t find any transaction saying he was injured. 

2016: can’t find any transaction saying he was injured. 

2017: Looks like he missed 10 days in the minors for one injury. 

2018: missed 14 days in the minors 

2019: missed 49 days combined for a concussion and right ankle sprain.

2020: no missed time. 

2021: missed first 9 games of the season and that’s it. 

That’s 11 missed days a year. 

20 missed days a year if you are starting from when he debuted in the majors and that’s really being skewed by the “major” ankle injury that kept him out a tad over a month. Just doesn’t seem like an injury prone player to me. 

 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Matt Bennett said:

I think you may need to readjust your memory of DJ Stewart being hurt a lot. 

2015: can’t find any transaction saying he was injured. 

2016: can’t find any transaction saying he was injured. 

2017: Looks like he missed 10 days in the minors for one injury. 

2018: missed 14 days in the minors 

2019: missed 49 days combined for a concussion and right ankle sprain.

2020: no missed time. 

2021: missed first 9 games of the season and that’s it. 

That’s 11 missed days a year. 

20 missed days a year if you are starting from when he debuted in the majors and that’s really being skewed by the “major” ankle injury that kept him out a tad over a month. Just doesn’t seem like an injury prone player to me. 

 

So he's been on the IL every full season that's been played since 2018.  He's not on an Austin Hays level, but he's missed time.  

We can agree to disagree if he gets hurt a lot.  You don't seem to think so, I think he gets hurt more than average.  But that's a pretty weird thing to nitpick considering the rest of the holes in his game.  I realize I said in my previous post that I'd prefer to keep him but I also wouldn't be upset if he wasn't brought back.  

The only thing he brings to the table is OBP skills in a lineup that sorely needs that skill.  The rest of his game is so suspect that that I'm not sure if that OBP skill is worth keeping him around.  

[interloper]

I think you can keep both Stewart and Diaz easily next year. 

[glenn__davis]

On 8/29/2021 at 8:22 PM, glenn__davis said:

Haha, I seriously just came to ask who will have the higher OPS by seasons end, Diaz or Ripken?

It's a tight race going into the final week.  After Diaz went 0-5 with 4 more Ks yesterday, Ripken currently has a .468 OPS compared to .459 for Diaz.  In what has been an almost overwhelmingly positive MiLB season Diaz has certainly been one of the disappointments.

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, glenn__davis said:

It's a tight race going into the final week.  After Diaz went 0-5 with 4 more Ks yesterday, Ripken currently has a .468 OPS compared to .459 for Diaz.  In what has been an almost overwhelmingly positive MiLB season Diaz has certainly been one of the disappointments.

It's hard to be as bad as he has been this year.  I know he had turf toe but it seems to have spread to his bat.  He never really excelled in AA after we acquired him.  What is the best case scenario?  I guess I'd hold onto one more year and release him next year if he's still showing nothing. I wouldn't question it if they release him this winter.

[Sports Guy]

21 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

It's hard to be as bad as he has been this year.  I know he had turf toe but it seems to have spread to his bat.  He never really excelled in AA after we acquired him.  What is the best case scenario?  I guess I'd hold onto one more year and release him next year if he's still showing nothing. I wouldn't question it if they release him this winter.

I would question it because there are way too many guys that should go before him.

This is a lost year, that’s obvious and I agree he is getting closer to that cut bait time.  
 

But let’s see if he can get healthy, get some confidence back and get back to being a solid prospect.

I hope he plays winter ball this year.  

[jamalshw]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

I would question it because there are way too many guys that should go before him.

This is a lost year, that’s obvious and I agree he is getting closer to that cut bait time.  
 

But let’s see if he can get healthy, get some confidence back and get back to being a solid prospect.

I hope he plays winter ball this year.  

I guess it depends on how much they overhaul the roster. There are a ton of guys on the 40-man ahead of him to be cut, but given the 7 guys on the 60-day IL and 7 or so more we need to protect in the Rule-5. That's 14 spots right there and I expect (hope?) we add a couple guys to the roster via free agency, trade (or more likely Rule-5). So we will need at least 15-16 roster spots. To me, that's right about where Diaz fits in on the list. 

[Jammer7]

There is still obviously something wrong. The guy, when healthy, is an elite prospect. Is there something going on, mentally or such? The team knows, and of course we’ll never hear of it. I am not quite ready to call him a failed prospect, but it is close. He certainly had the most disappointing season in the Orioles’ system. DJ, on the other hand, yes. I do think DJ may lose his roster spot to Rob Neustrom. I do not want to hear about a guy who walks a lot when he needs to be driving in runs. He is blown away by average fastballs, constantly late for three years now, except a 10 day stretch. And he is a DH now. Whatever speed he had, is gone. Next!

[Jammer7]

On 8/30/2021 at 11:24 AM, Matt Bennett said:

I think you may need to readjust your memory of DJ Stewart being hurt a lot. 

2015: can’t find any transaction saying he was injured. 

2016: can’t find any transaction saying he was injured. 

2017: Looks like he missed 10 days in the minors for one injury. 

2018: missed 14 days in the minors 

2019: missed 49 days combined for a concussion and right ankle sprain.

2020: no missed time. 

2021: missed first 9 games of the season and that’s it. 

That’s 11 missed days a year. 

20 missed days a year if you are starting from when he debuted in the majors and that’s really being skewed by the “major” ankle injury that kept him out a tad over a month. Just doesn’t seem like an injury prone player to me. 

 

Matt, he is always dinged up. He often sits because he needs a few days for an injury that is not quite bad enough to go on the IL.

This was his year to prove he belonged, this was a huge year for him. And he failed. Power hitters with little or no power over the three years of opportunities, should not get a pass because they walk a lot. He needs to be driving the ball much more. Especially when he is a defensive liability. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Jammer7 said:

Matt, he is always dinged up. He often sits because he needs a few days for an injury that is not quite bad enough to go on the IL.

This was his year to prove he belonged, this was a huge year for him. And he failed. Power hitters with little or no power over the three years of opportunities, should not get a pass because they walk a lot. He needs to be driving the ball much more. Especially when he is a defensive liability. 

While I agree with the rest of this I wouldn't say that Stewart was ever thought of as a power hitter.  I don't think anyone ever expected him to be say a 30 HR guy.

[panick]

1 hour ago, Jammer7 said:

There is still obviously something wrong. The guy, when healthy, is an elite prospect. Is there something going on, mentally or such? The team knows, and of course we’ll never hear of it. I am not quite ready to call him a failed prospect, but it is close. He certainly had the most disappointing season in the Orioles’ system. DJ, on the other hand, yes. I do think DJ may lose his roster spot to Rob Neustrom. I do not want to hear about a guy who walks a lot when he needs to be driving in runs. He is blown away by average fastballs, constantly late for three years now, except a 10 day stretch. And he is a DH now. Whatever speed he had, is gone. Next!

How do you know this?