Orioles sign OF Nomar Mazara

[jamalshw]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

Nomar Mazara Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Jurickson Profar Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Two guys that came into the league at very young ages.  Profar has had a career resonance and become a valuable part time player in his late 20's.  We haven't talked about Mazara much, but I'm excited to see what our player development can do with him.

Profar .322/.708 career OBP/OPS

Mazara .315/.729 career OBP/OPS

Anyone else think he has a chance to surprise this year?  He hasn't had an above average OPS yet.  He spent his age 25 & 26 seasons in Det & Chi (two teams not known for their player development).  Last year in SD he put up a respectable year at age 27.  He will play this year at 28.  

Chance is the key word. Does he have a chance to? Yes. If asked do I think he will put up a solid year? The answer is no. But it could happen and was certainly worth the minimal investment to find out. 

In 2016 and 2017 he did enough at 21 and 22 years old to expect him to be at least an above average regular for a long time. But he failed to really grow too much from there. Sure, his OPS went up in 2018 and 2019, but his OPS+ was 96. The Rangers gave up on him being anything more than an average (to a tick below average) corner OF which has minimal value. As you noted, from there, his career fell off the table. He completely lost it in Chicago and that carried over to Detorit. 

He was good in a few games in the Dominican Winter League last offseason, dominated the PCL last year and then had another 96 OPS+ season in 55 games with San Diego. 

I don't know if the pandemic shortened 2020 impacted him more than others, if there was an injury, or if being traded away did something to his confidence. Regardless, he clearly lost something and wasn't able to recover in 2021, but his 2022 gives hope that he could be the same guy that showed up last year and in 2018 and 2019: the ever so slightly below league average offensive performer. 

He's got a shot to win the last spot on the bench. He's also got a shot at playing time if Hays or Santander or Stowers go down early in the season before Cowser is ready. I could come up and have a hot streak and surprise. But, I would wager, he'd step in and be serviceable. If he stepped in and finally put up an OPS+ north of 100, it certainly would be a surprising season and one I'd give a low (but none-zero) percentage chance of happening.  

[Just Regular]

I don't know if he can play anymore, but a guy I knew in college liked tracking the best baseball nicknames.

It was The Big Hurt then.

Mazara's The Big Chill isn't a bad one.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

I’ll be surprised if Mazara gets any at bats as an Oriole when the real games count. I see him as a fall back if the Orioles get low on outfield depth, but Stowers and McKenna should be getting at bats before Mazara.

Plus Cowser should be up at some point during the season.

[Frobby]

Pretty good article by Roch about Mazara, with quotes from Scott Coolbaugh and Ryan Flaherty.  
https://www.masnsports.com/blog/coolbaugh-and-flaherty-familiar-with-mazara-s-work

[emmett16]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Pretty good article by Roch about Mazara, with quotes from Scott Coolbaugh and Ryan Flaherty.  
https://www.masnsports.com/blog/coolbaugh-and-flaherty-familiar-with-mazara-s-work

From his quotes and quotes from others, sounds like a great guy with a great attitude.  That checks one of the big boxes for this org.  

[Moose Milligan]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

Pretty good article by Roch about Mazara, with quotes from Scott Coolbaugh and Ryan Flaherty.  
https://www.masnsports.com/blog/coolbaugh-and-flaherty-familiar-with-mazara-s-work

Ryan Flaherty, Padres hitting coach eh? I wonder what wisdom he’s going to impart on Juan Soto?

Can you imagine what’s going through Machado’s head when he’s listening to Flaherty? “Dude, I played with you, I was your teammate. I know you don’t know how to do half this stuff.”

Edited February 21, 2023 by Moose Milligan

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ryan Flaherty, Padres hitting coach eh? I wonder what wisdom he’s going to impart on Juan Soto?

 

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ryan Flaherty, Padres hitting coach eh? I wonder what wisdom he’s going to impart on Juan Soto?

Can you imagine what’s going through Machado’s head when he’s listening to Flaherty? “Dude, I played with you, I was your teammate. I know you don’t know how to do half this stuff.”

Coaches know how to do it.  They just couldn't.

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ryan Flaherty, Padres hitting coach eh? I wonder what wisdom he’s going to impart on Juan Soto?

Can you imagine what’s going through Machado’s head when he’s listening to Flaherty? “Dude, I played with you, I was your teammate. I know you don’t know how to do half this stuff.”

I believe Manny had a role in recommending Flaherty for a job on the staff.   

[emmett16]

14 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ryan Flaherty, Padres hitting coach eh? I wonder what wisdom he’s going to impart on Juan Soto?

Can you imagine what’s going through Machado’s head when he’s listening to Flaherty? “Dude, I played with you, I was your teammate. I know you don’t know how to do half this stuff.”

Flaherty is a baseball lifer, just like his dad.  Imagine he knows a thing or two about hitting.  

 

[NCRaven]

Almost none of these young tech oriented guys that are coming out of the hitting and pitching schools ever played a day in the majors.  Doesn't mean that they can't use the new technologies to identifies ways for players to improve and communicate that information to them.  Flaherty probably fits into that framework.

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I believe Manny had a role in recommending Flaherty for a job on the staff.   

 

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

Flaherty is a baseball lifer, just like his dad.  Imagine he knows a thing or two about hitting.  

 

You two are no fun.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

Flaherty is a baseball lifer, just like his dad.  Imagine he knows a thing or two about hitting.  

 

This isn't excactly comparable, but HOF quarterback Steve Young took his son to Trent Dilfer to coach him up on playing quarterback. Young said playing quarterback came to him naturally and he couldn't effectively teach his son how to play.

Dilfer wasn't as gifted and had to work harder at being an NFL quarterback which ended up making him better suited to coaching. I'm not surprised by Flaherty becoming a well respected baseball coach given he had to work harder than other more inherently talented players.

[emmett16]

3 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

This isn't excactly comparable, but HOF quarterback Steve Young took his son to Trent Dilfer to coach him up on playing quarterback. Young said playing quarterback came to him naturally and he couldn't effectively teach his son how to play.

Dilfer wasn't as gifted and had to work harder at being an NFL quarterback which ended up making him better suited to coaching. I'm not surprised by Flaherty becoming a well respected baseball coach given he had to work harder than other more inherently talented players.

I do believe that is very often the case.