Mountcastle talk

[Tony-OH]

Mountcastle is settling into the type of hitter I expected. I had to argue through the people that kept pointing to his poor K-AA ratios in the minors but they did not take into consideration the high average and the ability to hit the ball hard in and around the strikezone. 

Since May 7th, Mountcastle has slashed .287/.344/.564/.908 with  25 HRs, 16 2Bs in his last 372 PAs. 

I've used the word impact bat and was shouted down by some who thought he was more of a .750 OPS guy because they felt his OBP would be very low. While his defensive values this year have been dragged down by his disasterous LF time, he's settled in to be a solid average defensive 1B.

The future is bright for this young man and the Orioles with him at 1B.

 

[NCRaven]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

The future is bright for this young man and the Orioles with him at 1B.

Agree completely.  Mountcastle will be a beast.  Now we only need a 2B, SS, and 3B and the infield will be set. 

 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Markakis had a lot of prolonged slumps.  Usually multiple per year and he was a selective guy.

See, I’d like to study this in some systematic way.   But it’s hard and time consuming to do.  Yes Nick was somewhat streaky, but for example, how did he compare to Jones in that regard?  I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head, and in any event, you wouldn’t be able to generalize from two examples.  

[Frobby]

22 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I've used the word impact bat and was shouted down by some who thought he was more of a .750 OPS guy because they felt his OBP would be very low. 

Were there a lot of people who thought that?   I’ve always thought most folks here were pretty bullish on MC’s bat.   

I noticed today that MC has now played 156 big league games, just short of one full year, and has 31 homers and 100 RBI.
 

[NCRaven]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Were there a lot of people who thought that?   I’ve always thought most folks here were pretty bullish on MC’s bat.   

I noticed today that MC has now played 156 big league games, just short of one full year, and has 31 homers and 100 RBI.
 

And he's started taking walks; for those who care.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

6 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

And he's started taking walks; for those who care.

In 302 at bats during the first half of this season Mountcastle drew 20 walks. Since the all star break in 142 at bats Mountcastle has drawn 14 walks. 

That is quite the improvement, but it's more likely Mountcastle settles somewhere in between his pre and post all star game walk rates. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=mountry01&year=2021&t=b

[Sports Guy]

To me, the big key for Mountcastle will  be high how can he get his BA/OBP.

The slugging will be there.  I expect him in the 475-575 range pretty consistently.  But how high does his BA and OBp get on a consistent basis?

Can he be a 280/340 type guy.  If so, that is huge for him And this team.

But if he is a a 260/310 guy, that will keep his value down.

[Moose Milligan]

28 minutes ago, Frobby said:

See, I’d like to study this in some systematic way.   But it’s hard and time consuming to do.  Yes Nick was somewhat streaky, but for example, how did he compare to Jones in that regard?  I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head, and in any event, you wouldn’t be able to generalize from two examples.  

Unless you're Tony Gwynn or Rod Carew, you're probably a streaky hitter.  Some guys have longer streaks and slumps than others, but 99% of hitters are streaky guys.  

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Unless you're Tony Gwynn or Rod Carew, you're probably a streaky hitter.  Some guys have longer streaks and slumps than others, but 99% of hitters are streaky guys.  

Hitting is like sex.  It comes in waves.  Or not at all.

[Ripken]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

Hitting is like sex.  It comes in waves.  Or not at all.

Not if you're good at it.   

 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Hitting is like sex.  It comes in waves.  Or not at all.

You're pretty weird.

 

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Were there a lot of people who thought that?   I’ve always thought most folks here were pretty bullish on MC’s bat.   

I noticed today that MC has now played 156 big league games, just short of one full year, and has 31 homers and 100 RBI.
 

I, for one, thought his lack of patience would keep him from being more than a .800 OPS type of player.  I think I predicted he'd be a .780 type of guy.   

[Three Run Homer]

1 hour ago, NCRaven said:

And he's started taking walks; for those who care.

Why wouldn't we care?  Walks are an important way of getting on base, but just as importantly, the plate discipline required to draw walks also means that Mountcastle will get more good pitches to hit, which will help his power numbers.   Mountcastle still gives away some at bats, but at least to my untrained eye he has been much more selective over the last couple of months than he was at the start of the season.   With further improvement (he is still only 24) I think he can have some MVP candidate-type seasons at his peak.  

[NCRaven]

15 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

Why wouldn't we care?  Walks are an important way of getting on base, but just as importantly, the plate discipline required to draw walks also means that Mountcastle will get more good pitches to hit, which will help his power numbers.   Mountcastle still gives away some at bats, but at least to my untrained eye he has been much more selective over the last couple of months than he was at the start of the season.   With further improvement (he is still only 24) I think he can have some MVP candidate-type seasons at his peak.  

I don't disagree.

[Frobby]

17 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I, for one, thought his lack of patience would keep him from being more than a .800 OPS type of player.  I think I predicted he'd be a .780 type of guy.   

I expected that for this year, but was hoping for a bit more long term.   I’d say he’s modestly exceeding what I thought he’d do, assuming he finishes at the pace he’s now on.  Still 15% of the season to go, and hopefully he runs through the tape.