Mountcastle sure seems to like June

[Moose Milligan]

2 hours ago, eddie83 said:

He needs to be a .285 plus hitter.  
 

Big difference between hitting .250 and .290. 

.040 points.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

Mountcastle's long term streakiness has become an issue. Even if his numbers looks good at the end of the year, if he can not find a way to be more consistent throughout the year he's not an effective player to be on a winning team. The Orioles buried themselves over the first six weeks of the season in no small part due to Mountcastle's absolutely horrid start to the season. He had a similar slow start in 2021.

Since he doesn't have much of a walk tool, he needs to be able to hit for average along with power to provide value. 

You have wonder if being a Florida kid, whether the cold weather really affects him. He struggled in 2017 in his first year in the minors in April, but really didn't have terrible numbers in other years early on. Either way, whether it's weather related or he's just a slow starter, it would be nice if he could find a way to limit those long cold spells where he struggles. 

 

I don't disagree with any of this.  But I think every big league hitter would like to figure out a way to iron out cold streaks.  

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

.040 points.

Did you do that in your head?

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

Did you do that in your head?

I sure did!  He seemed to think there was a big difference between batting .250 and .290 so I wanted to let him know what the difference was!  Yeah, I thought it and then I typed it out!

[Tony-OH]

5 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't disagree with any of this.  But I think every big league hitter would like to figure out a way to iron out cold streaks.  

Most don't go into 6-8 week cold streaks. 

[Just Regular]

I liked a description I heard once about for a Bat really establishing himself in the league, it is about finding paths to keep the hot streaks longer and the cold streaks shorter.   The streaks themselves are inherent to the game.

He'll hit PA 1000 by month end....in terms of how long MLB pitching can discombobulate hitters it is a nice round number.    He's still okay if he is what he is, but another gear may matter if he wants to stay in the top of the lineup.   Will he deserve to hit ahead of Stowers, Gunnar and Westburg this time next year?   Heck, if the Prieto glass is half full, it isn't impossible a correct lineup a year from today for even the $40mm 2023 Orioles is like:

CF Mullins, SS Gunnar, LF Hays, C Adley, DH Santander, RF Stowers, 3B Westburg, 2B Prieto, 1B Mountcastle

Nick Castellanos gained about 20 points of OPS+ in his second thousand PA.

[Frobby]

46 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Mountcastle's long term streakiness has become an issue. Even if his numbers looks good at the end of the year, if he can not find a way to be more consistent throughout the year he's not an effective player to be on a winning team. The Orioles buried themselves over the first six weeks of the season in no small part due to Mountcastle's absolutely horrid start to the season. He had a similar slow start in 2021.

Since he doesn't have much of a walk tool, he needs to be able to hit for average along with power to provide value. 

You have wonder if being a Florida kid, whether the cold weather really affects him. He struggled in 2017 in his first year in the minors in April, but really didn't have terrible numbers in other years early on. Either way, whether it's weather related or he's just a slow starter, it would be nice if he could find a way to limit those long cold spells where he struggles. 

 

I think it’s too soon to judge how streaky he’ll be long term.  In the end, this is only his second full year in the majors.   He may find more consistency over time.  But now that he’s hot, I’m interested to see how the rest of his year goes.   Obviously he won’t stay this hot, but can he avoid any more 4-5 week cold spells?

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Most don't go into 6-8 week cold streaks. 

I'm not saying I disagree.  I just wish there were a way to figure out how accurate that is.  

 

[Frobby]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

I'm not saying I disagree.  I just wish there were a way to figure out how accurate that is.  

 

6-8 weeks is a very long cold streak.  But I think it’s premature to say that will be a frequent thing for Mountcastle.   Really, he’s only had two streaks that long, at the start of 2021 and 2022.   He’s had other cold streaks, but for shorter periods like 3 weeks.  Two long streaks isn’t enough for me to conclude it’s going to be a regular thing.

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

6-8 weeks is a very long cold streak.  But I think it’s premature to say that will be a frequent thing for Mountcastle.   Really, he’s only had two streaks that long, at the start of 2021 and 2022.   He’s had other cold streaks, but for shorter periods like 3 weeks.  Two long streaks isn’t enough for me to conclude it’s going to be a regular thing.

6 weeks doesn't seem to be for some...8 weeks, yeah, I'd agree.  

Two years in a row now, he's been a very slow starter.  I wouldn't be surprised if he starts 2023 very slowly, too.  Some guys just are what they are.

 

 

[Tony-OH]

25 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

6 weeks doesn't seem to be for some...8 weeks, yeah, I'd agree.  

Two years in a row now, he's been a very slow starter.  I wouldn't be surprised if he starts 2023 very slowly, too.  Some guys just are what they are.

 

 

Eddie Murray was a slow starter, but he was surrounded by a team with great pitching and other guys like Singleton and Ripken to pick up the slack before he would ultimately be.. well, Eddie Murray!

[Moose Milligan]

47 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Eddie Murray was a slow starter, but he was surrounded by a team with great pitching and other guys like Singleton and Ripken to pick up the slack before he would ultimately be.. well, Eddie Murray!

Well I guess my laptop and my iPhone are being tracked.  Because I was sitting on the throne a few minutes ago and this popped up on my Twitter feed:

 

 

[SteveA]

Steve Melewski notes that Mountcastle is the fastest home grown Oriole ever to get to 50 HRs, doing it in his 231st game.

[NCRaven]

95% of the references to Mountcastle as a beast are likely mine.  I'm probably premature, but then I am the unofficial Prez of his unofficial fan club.  He lead all rookies in home runs last year and I'd be willing to bet he leads that same group in HR's again this year and that he exceeds last year's 33 dongs even with the LF wall moved back.  He's basically a second year player and if he isn't a "beast" he's becoming more beast like.   Also, I don't think he's anywhere near a finished product and I expect him to get better as he gets more ML experience without being bounced all over the field defensively.

Edit:  If Judge is the standard for being a beast, then there's only one beast in baseball today.

[jdwilde1]

Last night it was mentioned that Mountcastle has 42 HR and 100 RBI in his last 162 games.