162 games of Ryan Mountcastle

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Why are you and Frobby poo pooing Mountcastle's accomplishment? Did I miss where anyone claimed Mountcastle was better than Ripken or that his accomplishment was better than when Ripken made the record? 

He broke it, congrats to him. How this turned into people poo pooing the young man's accomplishment is beyond me.

I don't think anyone was poo-pooing anything, really.  At least I didn't take it that way.  Drungo even said he's not down on Mountcastle.  

Rather, it was just commentary on the difference in MLB between 1982 and 2021.  28 homers for a 21 year old SS in 1982, I'd imagine, would have been unheard of back then.  

I think everyone here's happy for RMC, I don't think anyone's poo-pooing anything.

 

 

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't think anyone was poo-pooing anything, really.  At least I didn't take it that way.  Drungo even said he's not down on Mountcastle.  

Rather, it was just commentary on the difference in MLB between 1982 and 2021.  28 homers for a 21 year old SS in 1982, I'd imagine, would have been unheard of back then.  

I think everyone here's happy for RMC, I don't think anyone's poo-pooing anything.

 

 

Some people can't help themselves to play the "buuutttttttttttttt" game. Talking about the differences in the stadiums and age difference is certainly poo-pooing the accomplishment. Of course, they conveniently left out how the game has changed with specialized pitching and velocity bumps.

The young man set the record. Hopefully AR or Mayo will break it as well.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

Some people can't help themselves to play the "buuutttttttttttttt" game. Talking about the differences in the stadiums and age difference is certainly poo-pooing the accomplishment. Of course, they conveniently left out how the game has changed with specialized pitching and velocity bumps.

The young man set the record. Hopefully AR or Mayo will break it as well.

I do believe I mentioned velocity differences.

Eat it, Drungo.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[Hank Scorpio]

He's got great hands - he pulls them in to get the fat part of the bat on inside pitches a lot. 

I'd like to see him be more selective. He gets himself out a little more than I would like. 

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

He's got great hands - he pulls them in to get the fat part of the bat on inside pitches a lot. 

I'd like to see him be more selective. He gets himself out a little more than I would like. 

Mountcastle deservedly got a lot of attention for breaking Cal’s Orioles rookie home run record.   But I’m focused on another mark he is about to tie and then hopefully break.    With one more walk, Mountcastle will tie Adam Jones’ career high of 39 walks, and with two, he’ll surpass Jones’ high with 40.    I figure that, if as a rookie Mountcastle has already managed to walk more than Jones ever did in a season, that bodes well for him putting up reasonable walk totals and showing reasonable selectiveness as he gains experience.   

Edit: also, he had only 15 walks in the team’s first 81 games, but has 24 in the second half with 13 games to go (plus he missed some time with a concussion in the second half).    So he seems to be making some serious strides on the plate discipline front.   
 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Mountcastle deservedly got a lot of attention for breaking Cal’s Orioles rookie home run record.   But I’m focused on another mark he is about to tie and then hopefully break.    With one more walk, Mountcastle will tie Adam Jones’ career high of 39 walks, and with two, he’ll surpass Jones’ high with 40.    I figure that, if as a rookie Mountcastle has already managed to walk more than Jones ever did in a season, that bodes well for him putting up reasonable walk totals and showing reasonable selectiveness as he gains experience.   

Edit: also, he had only 15 walks in the team’s first 81 games, but has 24 in the second half with 13 games to go (plus he missed some time with a concussion in the second half).    So he seems to be making some serious strides on the plate discipline front.   
 

Part of me thinks that patience and selectivity at the plate has to do with discipline.  If you're a good to great hitter as Jones was and Mountcastle appears to be, pitch recognition is part of that...it has to be.  

But having the discipline to lay off that pitch is a whole different enchilada.  IMO, I think Jones used to try really, really hard.  I seem to recall at the beginning of some seasons, he'd lay off the low and outside slider (his Kryptonite) but you could tell he was holding back with every fiber of his being.  Laying off a low and outside slider for Jones was like trying to keep a pit-bull away from a steak.  God forbid he'd actually get a hit off one, he'd think all of a sudden he could hit them and would be flailing away that them for weeks at a time.

Mountcastle seems to be a bit more disciplined.  If he can draw 60+ walks a year, that'd be pretty fantastic and unexpected.