Heston Kjerstad 2022

[ShoelesJoe]

Batting .477 in his last eleven games. Ya, I think he's ready for a promotion. 

[RZNJ]

One thing strange is that milb has him at a groundball/flyball rate of 4.25 which is absurdly high.  I don't see many over 2.  Flyball guys are usually less than 1.   I would expect him to be more of a flyball guy or neutral.  I'm sure that comes down to more normal levels.  Just an odd number despite great overall numbers. 

[Just Regular]

I didn't jinx the streak as in garbage time top of 9th he lined a single over the shortstop's head.

I hadn't noticed what RZNJ had about GB/FB ratio but last night was strikeout, crushed line drive over LF wall, ground ball, line drive single.    The first inning strikeout was by Mason Denaburg, a 2018 1st round high school pitcher still in Low-A ball four years later.   It looks like his 2021 was lost, presumably to injury, following Covid 2020.  I guess like Grayson he'll be 40-man eligible this winter.

Pre-game a lot of the guys were running warm up sprints on the grass as we got to the ballpark, and the moment we saw that Kjerstad did seem to be off on his own a little bit from the big group.   He's Crash Davis and Nuke LaLoosh all at once on this roster.

Our first time seeing Delmarva and the Fred Nats park.   I heard an observation recently New Yankee is a shopping mall with a field in the middle.    I got the same vibe here, seating capacity around 5000 was full, as half hour before game walk-ups on fireworks Friday standing room tickets were all that was left.   A nice amount of the perimeter is millennial-friendly standing room type areas, and the concessions were high end for a minor-league ballpark.    Plenty of suites and clubs for Low-A in the DC suburbs, naturally.

An idea I'd never seen executed in a ballpark before is one of the concession areas was more like a convenience store.

He didn't pitch but the home team program featured them having Tom Glavine's kid in the bullpen.

[Tony-OH]

8 hours ago, RZNJ said:

One thing strange is that milb has him at a groundball/flyball rate of 4.25 which is absurdly high.  I don't see many over 2.  Flyball guys are usually less than 1.   I would expect him to be more of a flyball guy or neutral.  I'm sure that comes down to more normal levels.  Just an odd number despite great overall numbers. 

I think that's why he's probably still there though I expect him to get moved to Aberdeen by next Tuesday. He popped a homer yesterday which was a good sign, but a lot of groundball singles. 

Still, it's hard to nitpick on a guy hitting .433 with a .515 wOBA. 

[OriolesMagic83]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

I think that's why he's probably still there though I expect him to get moved to Aberdeen by next Tuesday. He popped a homer yesterday which was a good sign, but a lot of groundball singles. 

Still, it's hard to nitpick on a guy hitting .433 with a .515 wOBA. 

How's his EV?  Those must  be some hard hit ground balls to keep finding holes.  At this point, the O's might as well keep him in Delmarva till the All Star break.  Maybe that was the plan all along. 

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

1 for 1, OPS at 1.146, I was in the pro-patience category but this seems like wasted time, time for Aberdeen.

[jdwilde1]

Now 2-2 with a walk.  Average is up to .452.  He’s putting up high school numbers.  Promote the man.

[OriolesMagic83]

1 hour ago, jdwilde1 said:

Now 2-2 with a walk.  Average is up to .452.  He’s putting up high school numbers.  Promote the man.

Maybe he can earn a promotion if he gets his average to .500.  lol

[Tony-OH]

10 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

How's his EV?  Those must  be some hard hit ground balls to keep finding holes.  At this point, the O's might as well keep him in Delmarva till the All Star break.  Maybe that was the plan all along. 

No idea since MLB treats minor league statcast information like state secrets. It really doesn't matter, he's clearly too good for this level which is a good thing after so long off. 

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

No idea since MLB treats minor league statcast information like state secrets. It really doesn't matter, he's clearly too good for this level which is a good thing after so long off. 

From Roch’s blog on Thursday, Elias didn’t sound like he was in any big hurry to move him:

“We’re so happy for him,” Elias said. “It’s not surprising that he’s found his stride so quickly, just because we think he’s such a natural hitter, but what he went through, it was really a long amount of time and two different types of rehabs. I don’t think this is something that most people could have gotten through and gotten back out on the field, so it’s pretty incredible. And we’re going to be mindful that, even as well as he’s hitting, he’s coming off a pretty severe hamstring in the spring, and a year-plus of not playing at all.

“We’ll take it as it comes. There’s not going to be a playbook on how to handle him, but certainly it’s not something we’re going to rush.”

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/elias-explains-timing-of-latest-prospect-promotions

My view is, from a health standpoint, playing in Hi A is no different from playing in Low A, so you may as well move him up.   

[IPlayGM]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

From Roch’s blog on Thursday, Elias didn’t sound like he was in any big hurry to move him:

“We’re so happy for him,” Elias said. “It’s not surprising that he’s found his stride so quickly, just because we think he’s such a natural hitter, but what he went through, it was really a long amount of time and two different types of rehabs. I don’t think this is something that most people could have gotten through and gotten back out on the field, so it’s pretty incredible. And we’re going to be mindful that, even as well as he’s hitting, he’s coming off a pretty severe hamstring in the spring, and a year-plus of not playing at all.

“We’ll take it as it comes. There’s not going to be a playbook on how to handle him, but certainly it’s not something we’re going to rush.”

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/elias-explains-timing-of-latest-prospect-promotions

My view is, from a health standpoint, playing in Hi A is no different from playing in Low A, so you may as well move him up.   

Agreed.  To me, there is a big difference between “promoting” based on performance vs “resetting” to your proper level. This seems like the latter. Hell, that reset probably should be Bowie but I certainly understand a level at a time.

[Flash- bd]

36 minutes ago, Frobby said:

From Roch’s blog on Thursday, Elias didn’t sound like he was in any big hurry to move him:

“We’re so happy for him,” Elias said. “It’s not surprising that he’s found his stride so quickly, just because we think he’s such a natural hitter, but what he went through, it was really a long amount of time and two different types of rehabs. I don’t think this is something that most people could have gotten through and gotten back out on the field, so it’s pretty incredible. And we’re going to be mindful that, even as well as he’s hitting, he’s coming off a pretty severe hamstring in the spring, and a year-plus of not playing at all.

“We’ll take it as it comes. There’s not going to be a playbook on how to handle him, but certainly it’s not something we’re going to rush.”

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/elias-explains-timing-of-latest-prospect-promotions

My view is, from a health standpoint, playing in Hi A is no different from playing in Low A, so you may as well move him up.   

 

I guess the thinking is probably something like: we're happy just with the fact that he's playing competitive baseball, and don't really want to challenge him or stress him in the least at the moment. 

But I tend to agree with your last sentence, even though I obviously don't have the insight into his medical situation and what team doctors and specialists are recommending there. 

[Tony-OH]

I have to imagine he will get the promotion to Aberdeen for next week. If he hits well there for a three weeks, then I could see a move to AA to finish the season. If he ends up getting 100 PAs of more in AA, I'd say he exceeded everyone's expectations for this season after the hamstring injury.

[Filmstudy]

He is not in the lineup today for Delmarva.  I have to believe this is a "packing" day for him.

Sign me up for your plan, Tony.  I don't think it's likely to play out for quite 100 AA PAs (probably >3 weeks at Aberdeen), but that would be great.

[Frobby]

40 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I have to imagine he will get the promotion to Aberdeen for next week. If he hits well there for a three weeks, then I could see a move to AA to finish the season. If he ends up getting 100 PAs of more in AA, I'd say he exceeded everyone's expectations for this season after the hamstring injury.

 

23 minutes ago, Filmstudy said:

He is not in the lineup today for Delmarva.  I have to believe this is a "packing" day for him.

Sign me up for your plan, Tony.  I don't think it's likely to play out for quite 100 AA PAs (probably >3 weeks at Aberdeen), but that would be great.

The AA season doesn’t end until Sept. 18.  If Kjerstad moved to Aberdeen this week, he probably could spend six weeks there and still have time to get 100 PA at Bowie.