Can Greiner be a McKenna in 2022?

[JimGinSP]

McKenna’s 6 seasons of milb: 1781 AB’s = .266/.354/.404/.758.  
Greiner’s 3 seasons of milb:  936 AB’s = .230/.337/.359/.696

Greiner had 3 years of high level college ball for what that is worth.  Both will be 25 in spring training.  Of course both have a black hole for 2020.   It certainly seems Greiner is getting squeezed by rising prospects and 4A types like Jones & Martin.  The bat is what it is (meh) and the glove is what it is (hmmm).   Can a rebuilding major league team go into a season with Urias, Mateo, Gutierrez and Greiner holding down 2B, SS & 3B on a daily basis or do you go get Galvis again?

Of course I’d rather see the Orioles offer Kyle Seagar a landing spot once it becomes apparent to he and his agent that his market is limited.  Then Gutierrez is the UTL. 

[ChosenOne21]

I think Greiner can hit sub-200 while providing above average baserunning and shortstop defense if that's what you're asking. More with the bat is possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If Galvis is very cheap, I wouldn't mind a one-year reunion. Would rather pay big for a SS though as the market is overloaded and we can probably get somewhat of a discount on someone good

[wildcard]

Reportedly Grenier is major league ready defensively.   His offense probably makes him a UIF candidate.   He has to be protected from the Rule 5 draft or be exposed.  I am not sure that Elias will protect him but he could.

If he does then he probably begins the season as the AAA shortstop and is available for call up to the majors when injuries hit.  If  Elias does not protect him there is a decent chance he is taken in the Rule 5 draft as a UIF.

I doubt Martin stays on the 40 man roster.  Jones  probably stays but starts the season at AAA.

 

[Frobby]

Fun fact: Grenier was born on Halloween, McKenna was born on Valentines Day.   Grenier is the older of the two by 3.5 months.   

McKenna was younger than Grenier at his various MiL stops.   He was 21-22 when playing AA with a .694 OPS there; Grenier was 24 with a .689.   

In theory, McKenna should be the better big league hitter.   But last year he was horrific in the majors (.559 OPS), while mysteriously acing AAA whenever he was down there (1.106 OPS).   He had kind of a herky-jerky season, playing 117 games between the two levels but gathering only 320 PA.   It went like this:

14 games in the majors, 17 PA

1 game in AAA, 5 PA

9 games in MLB, 16 PA

4 games in AAA, 17 PA

10 games in MLB, 14 PA

12 games in AAA, 57 PA

30 games in MLB, 74 PA

10 games in AAA, 44 PA

27 games in MLB, 76 PA

Not really the ideal development part for a guy who hadn’t been a particularly strong hitter in AA in 2018-19 in AA and of course didn’t play in 2020 except at the alternate site.   

I’d really prefer for Grenier not to get the McKenna treatment in 2022.    I’d like him to be our everyday AAA SS for at least the first half of the season and get regular at bats.   If we need him in the majors at some point in the second half, so be it.

And yes, I know that Grenier’s defense at SS is more important than his hitting, but I also know that you can’t give hundreds of PA to players who have a sub-.600 OPS (McKenna 197 at .558, Martin 414 PA at .575 in 2019/21).   I don’t think Grenier is ever going to be a .700* guy in the majors, but we need to give him a fighting chance at .650+, which means getting some good AAA time in before facing major league pitching, IMO.

As to he defense, I hope he’s better than the disappointing Martin, who can make some spectacular plays at times but hasn’t been steady at all.   I think the goal for Grenier is to be better than Martin both offensively and defensively when he reaches the majors.   To me, Martin is a better yardstick than McKenna.

[JimGinSP]

33 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Fun fact: Grenier was born on Halloween, McKenna was born on Valentines Day.   Grenier is the older of the two by 3.5 months.  

I noticed that!  Did you also notice they are both 5’11” with about 7 lbs difference between them?   McKenna 7 lbs heftier.     Both right handed hitters, I think they could wear each other’s uniforms for a game on the bench and no one would notice!   One more: Greiner went to Oregon State while McKenna was born in Oregon! 

[Tony-OH]

I watched more of Grenier this year than any year before. To me, he's the best defensive shortstop in the system. He's not flashy, doesn't have incredible range or a plus plus arm, but he's about as steady as they come at SS and he's a plus defender at 2B. 

Of course, the issue is the bat and the more I watched the more I saw his struggles against offspeed pitches. I don't know his EVs but he looks to hit fastballs pretty well overall, but really struggled against anything offspeed. 

Once the book got out on him in AA, he really, really struggled slashing .187/.320/.302/.622 over his last 285 PAs (from July on).

Defensively he's major league ready up the middle, but he's going to have to learn how to hit offspeed if he wants any chance of having a major league career.

[sportsfan8703]

McKenna shouldn’t even have been McKenna in 2021. The O’s really yanked him around and he rode the bench a lot. Not exactly what you want for any type of prospect. But now we know that McKenna struggle against big velocity. 

Grenier, if he survives the rule 5, should be the everyday SS in AAA until Westburg arrives, which might only be in 2 months. So Grenier better hit next year in AAA. Like McKenna hit in AAA last year. 

[Yossarian]

You can find a lot of guys - both within and not within the O's system - to hit below the Mendoza line.  I think Grenier would be one.

[sportsfan8703]

I see Grenier getting protected in the rule 5. Both he and McKenna have options. Both will likely be up/down guys until they run out of options or become expensive. Right now McKenna/Grenier profile as #25/#26 players on a “good” team. However, if there bats can come up then we might have borderline starters.