Why isn’t Stowers here?

[Roll Tide]

4 hours ago, LookinUp said:

The O's paid for their roster decisions last night.

It's the 9th inning, Urias is on first and we hit Mateo.

That's not good. Phillips pinch ran. We had Mateo scheduled with Nevin, Chirinos and McKenna on the bench. If we pinch run for Urias, it should have been McKenna and a really potent bat should have pinch hit for Mateo.

Mateo has had some key Homeruns as he almost did on the first pitch. Stowers strikes out at a pretty high rate….I’m guessing (near 30%?).

Edited August 12, 2022 by Roll Tide

[LookinUp]

31 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Mateo has hot some key Homeruns as he almost did on the first pitch. Stowers strikes out at a pretty high rate….I’m guessing (near 30%?).

My point is that if we want to keep guys in the lineup because of their defense, you should have a bat to go to when needed. We're keeping people in the lineup because of their defense and focusing on defense for our bench. 

Right now, this roster is poorly constructed.

[Sydnor]

3 hours ago, LookinUp said:

The O's paid for their roster decisions last night.

It's the 9th inning, Urias is on first and we hit Mateo.

That's not good. Phillips pinch ran. We had Mateo scheduled with Nevin, Chirinos and McKenna on the bench. If we pinch run for Urias, it should have been McKenna and a really potent bat should have pinch hit for Mateo.

Since July 1, Mateo has an .827 OPS, .352 wOBA, and 129 wRC+. He was a fine option in that spot.

[Roll Tide]

1 hour ago, LookinUp said:

My point is that if we want to keep guys in the lineup because of their defense, you should have a bat to go to when needed. We're keeping people in the lineup because of their defense and focusing on defense for our bench. 

Right now, this roster is poorly constructed.

What @Sydnorsaid 

[DrungoHazewood]

4 hours ago, LookinUp said:

Re: age, I'm not bothered. He's 24. There was a Covid year. He's been ready for months. 

I think he's essentially Santander but more likely to be healthy, play better defense and be cheaper. 

Santander struck out in about 20% of PAs in AAA, and is now striking out a bit over 20% of PAs in the majors.  Stowers strikes out 6% more in AAA, so even if he somehow holds serve on that K rate upon promotion he'll have to have a really smokin' BABIP to hit .250.

[LookinUp]

6 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Santander struck out in about 20% of PAs in AAA, and is now striking out a bit over 20% of PAs in the majors.  Stowers strikes out 6% more in AAA, so even if he somehow holds serve on that K rate upon promotion he'll have to have a really smokin' BABIP to hit .250.

Stowers k's more than Santander, but also walks more than Santander. It seems like he's more of a selective hitter. 

[DrungoHazewood]

20 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Stowers k's more than Santander, but also walks more than Santander. It seems like he's more of a selective hitter. 

Yes, probably.  Santander's development is hard to draw conclusions from because of the combinations of Rule 5 and injury, not that I didn't do exactly that by quoting his AAA K rate.  But Santander went from A ball straight to the Orioles to the DL back to AAA and the majors...  who knows what would have happened if he'd just been on the Stowers track.

[LookinUp]

Yeah, and Santander really has had a nice year at the dish. .199 ISO. 126 wRC+. Good player. Maybe better as a DH though.

[interloper]

On 8/11/2022 at 1:15 PM, ManciniFan said:

Update: Heard a rumor, Stowers will be in Toronto on Monday. 

Aaaand wrong. 

[ledzepp8]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:35 AM, RZNJ said:

Everyone!  Inhale.  Hold it a few seconds.  Exhale.

Your team has the best farm system in baseball.   It has gotten deeper in the last 2 weeks.   The international program is beginning to produce.   The ML team, which no one thought would even be a .500 team, is in contention for a wildcard.

Mike Elias chief focus is player development.    Kyle Stowers is 24 years old.   If he gets called up now, they Orioles will have control through his age 30 season.   Mike Elias says they are having discussions  daily about brining up Stowers.   So why don't they?   First, where's he going to play.  With Vavra at DH most of the time, and Hays, Mullins, Santander healthy, there's not spot for him.   His manager, most likely, is telling him all is fine with Odor at 2B.   In fact, he's probably telling him he wants Odor at 2B.   Tough to argue against it with the team's current situation.

Just looked at video of Stowers from last night.   We forget sometimes that these guys are still learning.   Stowers is learning to cut down on his swing at certain times.  Just watch the video from last night.   Henderson is learning to hit LHP.   Westburg is learning not to get pull happy and put himself into long slumps.   In the long run the team will be better that these adjustments were made before they were called up.   In the short term, you have a total surprise team whose manager is happy with what he's got.  For now.

On paper, there's no doubt that you can upgrade by benching Odor, putting Henderson at 3B and Urias at 2B  or putting Vavra at 2B and putting Stowers into the DH/OF mix.   Hyde and Elias could be wrong.  Maybe they are but Hyde knows his clubhouse and has a good feel for his team.   If the decision is to go with his guys, I'm not going to sweat it.    

Agreed. I get that it's a business and nothing is personal but I would hate to be the guy that takes a team that is exceeding all expectations, is in the hunt for a WC, and benches/cuts multiple players that helped get them there. We can quibble about how much they helped but you know what I mean.

[Gentile4]

For me the question comes down to is Stowers better than Phillips? I'll say yes. Granted Phillips has had some nice AAA seasons, but has not been productive during his stays in the bigs. Stowers has displayed some legit power despite his high K rate, and is clearly better defensively than Santander. DH Santander, play Vavra at 2B at least part of the time, and play Stowers/McKenna in the corner not occupied by Hays. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Gentile4
spelling

[DirtyBird]

5 minutes ago, Gentile4 said:

For me the question comes down to is Stowers better than Phillips? I'll say yes. Granted Phillips has had some nice AAA seasons, but has not been productive during his stays in the bigs. Stowers has displayed some legit power despite his high K rate, and is clearly better defensively than Santander. DH Santander, play Vavra at 2B at least part of the time, and play Stowers/McKenna in the corner not occupied by Hays. 

Wouldn't the question be, would you rather give Stowers AB's every day or have him up to get similar reps to what Phillips is getting currently.

[Bahama O's Fan]

8 minutes ago, Gentile4 said:

For me the question comes down to is Stowers better than Phillips? I'll say yes. Granted Phillips has had some nice AAA seasons, but has not been productive during his stays in the bigs. Stowers has displayed some legit power despite his high K rate, and is clearly better defensively than Santander. DH Santander, play Vavra at 2B at least part of the time, and play Stowers/McKenna in the corner not occupied by Hays. 

I think we also have to ask if he would get regular playing time or sit on the bench alot.

[sportsfan8703]

On 8/12/2022 at 3:31 PM, LookinUp said:

Yeah, and Santander really has had a nice year at the dish. .199 ISO. 126 wRC+. Good player. Maybe better as a DH though.

I think we sell “high” on Santander in the offseason. Whether that is for an MLB player or not is the wildcard. I think we take the best package and buy a SP with prospects that we “like”. 

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Gentile4 said:

For me the question comes down to is Stowers better than Phillips? I'll say yes. Granted Phillips has had some nice AAA seasons, but has not been productive during his stays in the bigs. Stowers has displayed some legit power despite his high K rate, and is clearly better defensively than Santander. DH Santander, play Vavra at 2B at least part of the time, and play Stowers/McKenna in the corner not occupied by Hays. 

No doubt he is better than Phillips, but I don't think we want to call him up to be a pinch runner/5th OF. The question is whether he is better than one of our top 9-10 everyday guys. Right now I see McKenna as the 9th guy and I'm not sure Stowers is better. He is probably better than Odor but Vavra seems to have already pushed Odor.