Questions about Jorge Mateo

[Sports Guy]

47 minutes ago, Jammer7 said:

The possibility of another team trading for him, good point. We just don’t know what it may have taken to acquire him. The Padres were hoping he could take to a part-time super UT role. That did not happen. He may be one of those guys that in his mind, he IS a SS. And you will have to prove to him that he isn’t. I liked his maturity and body language in the limited looks. He looked confident and glad to be in the position he was in. He looked very uncomfortable at 3B, in contrast.

Mateo just may be a late bloomer. 

Sure he may..but play the odds and they say he’s not.  A better option, like a DeJong, should be brought in to be the SS.  Mateo should be the super UTi guy and if he forces his way onto the field to be an everyday player somewhere, good for him.

As for a team trading for him…he was easily available for any team to trade for him prior to the Padres move and no one did.  Is it possible that he just slipped through the cracks, despite being a top 100 guy that everyone knew about?  Sure, that’s possible but again, it’s not very likely.

You are talking about a guy with a career 748 OPS in over 3000 career MiL PA.  He had a career 325 OBP and at 5 different stops, he had a sub 400 slugging.  The book was out on him.  He took his first MiL at bats in 2012.  Scouts around the league had seen him for years and no one wanted him for more than a PTBNL and no one wanted him as an everyday SS.  
 

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck.  

[Jammer7]

30 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Sure he may..but play the odds and they say he’s not.  A better option, like a DeJong, should be brought in to be the SS.  Mateo should be the super UTi guy and if he forces his way onto the field to be an everyday player somewhere, good for him.

As for a team trading for him…he was easily available for any team to trade for him prior to the Padres move and no one did.  Is it possible that he just slipped through the cracks, despite being a top 100 guy that everyone knew about?  Sure, that’s possible but again, it’s not very likely.

You are talking about a guy with a career 748 OPS in over 3000 career MiL PA.  He had a career 325 OBP and 5 different stops, he has a sub 400 slugging.  The book was out on him.  He took his first MiL at bats in 2012.  Scouts around the league had seen him for years and no one wanted him for more than a PTBNL and no one wanted him as an everyday SS.  
 

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck.  

Agreed. Obviously the Padres would not have waived him if they could have gotten anything of value. I was referring to the year or two before that. 

As far as Dejong, I’m good with that name, in particular. Though I would rather Mateo get the chance to start everyday at SS. Something like that may be coming once the lockout ends. As long as the player they add has some positional flexibility. I do not think Westburg is far off. He may be ready by July. The acquisition of Odor makes me wonder if they will add another middle infielder. 

[Frobby]

49 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Sure he may..but play the odds and they say he’s not.  A better option, like a DeJong, should be brought in to be the SS.  Mateo should be the super UTi guy and if he forces his way onto the field to be an everyday player somewhere, good for him.

As for a team trading for him…he was easily available for any team to trade for him prior to the Padres move and no one did.  Is it possible that he just slipped through the cracks, despite being a top 100 guy that everyone knew about?  Sure, that’s possible but again, it’s not very likely.

You are talking about a guy with a career 748 OPS in over 3000 career MiL PA.  He had a career 325 OBP and 5 different stops, he has a sub 400 slugging.  The book was out on him.  He took his first MiL at bats in 2012.  Scouts around the league had seen him for years and no one wanted him for more than a PTBNL and no one wanted him as an everyday SS.  
 

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck.  

The question here (also Gutierrez) is whether the huge gap between his MiL OPS (.748) and his major league OPS (.644) will narrow.   I remember about ten years ago I looked at a bunch of guys and estimated that the average MiL/MLB OPS gap was about 35 points.   But, there wasn’t a lot of science to my estimate, and of course the gap varies from player to player, especially depending on how old the player was at his MiL stops, etc.   I’d still venture a guess that, given enough reps, Mateo would do a lot better than .644.   FWIW, Steamer projects him at .656, ZiPS .667, and Marcel .695.   The latter might be acceptable for a stopgap, but not for a longer term solution (absent pretty amazing defense).   The first two projections aren’t high enough for defense to make up the gap, IMO.

[sportsfan8703]

Mateo seems to be flying under the radar a bit. For a player that is viewed as raw and toolsy he’s missed pretty much two years of development time at AAA/MLB because of Covid in 2020, and then being out of options and essentially a rule 5 player in 2021. 
 

He had a “good” year in AAA for Oakland in 2019. PCL though. He’s a big time athlete with a cannon arm. The knock on him has been consistency on defense and strikeouts. His 4:1 SO:BB ratio in 30 games for us was a big improvement from his past. SSS. The back injury and the Odor signing, kind of really dampened his “hype”. 

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Mateo seems to be flying under the radar a bit. For a player that is viewed as raw and toolsy he’s missed pretty much two years of development time at AAA/MLB because of Covid in 2020, and then being out of options and essentially a rule 5 player in 2021. 
 

He had a “good” year in AAA for Oakland in 2019. PCL though. He’s a big time athlete with a cannon arm. The knock on him has been consistency on defense and strikeouts. His 4:1 SO:BB ratio in 30 games for us was a big improvement from his past. SSS. The back injury and the Odor signing, kind of really dampened his “hype”. 

I see him as a guy who might become a useful major league player, but is unlikely to be a first division starter.   

[wildcard]

Just now, Frobby said:

I see him as a guy who might become a useful major league player, but is unlikely to be a first division starter.   

Mateo has a strong arm and good range.  In question defensively is his baseball instincts and his hands.   If those two things turn out to be positive he may be a better defensive shortstop than Westburg or Gunnar.    His offense is not expected to be as good as those players but we don't know what level of offense Mateo may be able to maintain.   His speed is an asset but he has to show some plate discipline to  be an everyday player.  There are questions yet to be answered with Mateo.

[Sports Guy]

54 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Mateo seems to be flying under the radar a bit. For a player that is viewed as raw and toolsy he’s missed pretty much two years of development time at AAA/MLB because of Covid in 2020, and then being out of options and essentially a rule 5 player in 2021. 
 

He had a “good” year in AAA for Oakland in 2019. PCL though. He’s a big time athlete with a cannon arm. The knock on him has been consistency on defense and strikeouts. His 4:1 SO:BB ratio in 30 games for us was a big improvement from his past. SSS. The back injury and the Odor signing, kind of really dampened his “hype”. 

He’s flying under the radar because he has had a mediocre at best pro career and isn’t exactly “young” anymore.

I think he’s flying exactly where he needs to be.