MLB Network: Adley Rutschman: Difference Maker

[Tony-OH]

https://www.mlb.com/video/adley-rutschman-s-improvements

Really good piece and fun to watch to former major leaguers fawn over Adley, but this was eye opening to me:

Now that's some bat speed.

[Tony-OH]

"Let the process do it's thing, and stick with that!" Rutschman on how he focuses on winning the pitch to pitch battles vs looking at the numbers.

https://www.mlb.com/video/rutschman-talks-rookie-season?q=rutschman&cp=CMS_FIRST&qt=FREETEXT&p=0

[Hank Scorpio]

Just watched this. It was fantastic... 

This guy is the captain. We've lucky to have him.

[Gurgi]

I want the home run power to show up.  

One thing that gives me some pause is Adley never dominated in the minors.  Where Wieters totally destroyed the ball in the minors.   So I want to totally believe in Adley but the lingering disappointment of Wieters is still there.   Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

[Just Regular]

6 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

Adley career 261 PA and 162 Game Avg of 7.1 WAR.

Bench career 8674 PA and 162 Game Avg of 5.6 WAR.   If I range select just the 1968 to 1980 good years, it gives 6.3 WAR per 650 PA.

Strong start, strong start.

First 40 games Bemboom and Chirinos were pacing towards I believe 2-3 Wins under replacement.    Its a perfect storm like we'll probably never get again (Urias isn't bad if Gunnar Pipps him), but this is I guess what a 10-win improvement through one roster spot resembles.

Let's see what 2023 Grayson Rodriguez can do in place of this year's worst Bulk guy.

[Ohfan67]

12 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I want the home run power to show up.  

One thing that gives me some pause is Adley never dominated in the minors.  Where Wieters totally destroyed the ball in the minors.   So I want to totally believe in Adley but the lingering disappointment of Wieters is still there.   Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

If that’s what is important to you, then I’ve got good news for you. Adley had a significantly higher OPS as a minor leaguer than Bench did. 

[Hank Scorpio]

13 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I want the home run power to show up.  

One thing that gives me some pause is Adley never dominated in the minors.  Where Wieters totally destroyed the ball in the minors.   So I want to totally believe in Adley but the lingering disappointment of Wieters is still there.   Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

Just watch his at bats. He's not Matt Wieters. Much quieter, much better pitch recognition, FASTER (he can actually run), etc... he's much more of an athlete than Wieters was.

[InsideCoroner]

17 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I want the home run power to show up.  

One thing that gives me some pause is Adley never dominated in the minors.  Where Wieters totally destroyed the ball in the minors.   So I want to totally believe in Adley but the lingering disappointment of Wieters is still there.   Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

You realize Johnny Bench has the highest career WAR of any catcher to ever play the game, right? If that’s the case then I think you’re bound to be disappointed with Adley. 

[LookinUp]

44 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I want the home run power to show up.  

One thing that gives me some pause is Adley never dominated in the minors.  Where Wieters totally destroyed the ball in the minors.   So I want to totally believe in Adley but the lingering disappointment of Wieters is still there.   Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

Aside from Wieters' arm and occasional ability to crush a ball very far, nothing in his game really comes close to Adley, IMO. 

I was immediately unimpressed by Wieters. Particularly by his bat speed. From day 1 his swing looked long and slow to me. Part of that was expectations. If he was a border line top 100 guy, I may have been thrilled. 

I was immediately impressed by Rutschman and continue to be more impressed as time goes on. He's going to end up much better than Wieters.

[jabba72]

He's probably going to finish 2nd in the ROY voting, which reportedly makes this year count on the service clock. 

[survivedc]

44 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Just watch his at bats. He's not Matt Wieters. Much quieter, much better pitch recognition, FASTER (he can actually run), etc... he's much more of an athlete than Wieters was.

I don’t think the importance/value of his speed can be overstated. I mean the guy was part of a double steal last week and beat the throw!

[Moose Milligan]

24 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

He's probably going to finish 2nd in the ROY voting, which reportedly makes this year count on the service clock. 

I think there's a chance, albeit a small one, that he can nab the ROY.  

We saw this last year with Wander Franco.  Wander came up late but was a beast, he put up 3.5 WAR in 70 games and finished third.  AR is at 2.8 in 64 games.  He'll get more time.

It's a WAR race, that's almost really it.  Arozarena won it last year with a 4.1 WAR in 141 games.  Franco just didn't have enough time.

Julio Rodriguez is at 4.0 WAR in 96 games and 145 more at bats.  It'll take a lot, a hell of a lot for Adley to catch his WAR total.  But even if he doesn't, even if he gets close I think he can still win if his OBP, OPS and OPS+ are all higher.  His OBP is certainly higher, and he's not far behind in OPS and OPS+.  

He can get it and I'd love for him to get there.  The Julio Rodriguez love might have cooled off a little bit since he went on the IL but he's back soon.  It'll be a really good race.

 

1 hour ago, Gurgi said:

I want the home run power to show up.  

One thing that gives me some pause is Adley never dominated in the minors.  Where Wieters totally destroyed the ball in the minors.   So I want to totally believe in Adley but the lingering disappointment of Wieters is still there.   Wieters was a solid ML player for eight years or so but I want Johnny Bench level play.

Stop being silly.  There's so much more to baseball than hOmE rUn PoWeR!!!!111

[jabba72]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

I think there's a chance, albeit a small one, that he can nab the ROY.  

We saw this last year with Wander Franco.  Wander came up late but was a beast, he put up 3.5 WAR in 70 games and finished third.  AR is at 2.8 in 64 games.  He'll get more time.

It's a WAR race, that's almost really it.  Arozarena won it last year with a 4.1 WAR in 141 games.  Franco just didn't have enough time.

Julio Rodriguez is at 4.0 WAR in 96 games and 145 more at bats.  It'll take a lot, a of a lot for Adley to catch his WAR total.  But even if he doesn't, even if he gets close I think he can still win if his OBP, OPS and OPS+ are all higher.  His OBP is certainly higher, and he's not far behind in OPS and OPS+.  

He can get it and I'd love for him to get there.  The Julio Rodriguez love might have cooled off a little bit since he went on the IL but he's back soon.  It'll be a really race.

 

Stop being silly.  There's so much more to baseball than hOmE rUn PoWeR!!!!111

I was under the assumption AR only has to finish top two to get a year of service time. To me winning ROY is an OK personal achievement but doesn't really mean future success either.  I would take an MVP award over ROY anyday. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

I was under the assumption AR only has to finish top two to get a year of service time. To me winning ROY is an OK personal achievement but doesn't really mean future success either.  I would take an MVP award over ROY anyday. 

He does have to get in top 2, but I'd like to see him win it.  

I'm not sure what winning an MVP instead of ROY has to do with anything.  I hope he can win both.  

[jabba72]

I was just saying If you're handing out awards, I prefer an MVP.