Ryan Mountcastle 2023

[Hank Scorpio]

His defense isn't great either. We'd be better off with O'Hearn.

I'm not sure he has a lot of trade value other than he's controllable. 

[Spy Fox]

Mountcastle has been lucky he is at one of the few positions without a highly rated prospect at AAA. But the clock is ticking. A full time O'Hearn or Lewin Diaz would have had a decent chance of outplaying him this year so far. And with Cowser's presence likely to push the Santander at 1b experiment further...

I like Ryan and I hope he figures it out but his odds of being part of the next few years' core started out this year meh and have been declining. 

[sportsfan8703]

Mountcastle was spoiled in a way by batting in premium positions in the lineup with no threat of losing his spot/job. Over 162, players have to constantly adjust. Mountcastle is getting phased out and needs to earn his PT. 

Edited June 5, 2023 by sportsfan8703

[bpilktree67]

As bad as he has been at least he isn't Jose Abreu who was the prized replacement everyone wanted us to sign in the off season.  I thought he was in decline and wanted no parts of him but man has he fell off cliff.  1 homer yikes

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Hank Scorpio said:

 We'd be better off with O'Hearn.

 

This might be accurate.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

32 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

This might be accurate.

I’d consider going with a platoon at this point. O’Hearn starts against RHP and Mountcastle against LHP. 

[yark14]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Mountcastle was spoiled in a way by batting in premium positions in the lineup with no threat of losing his spot/job. Over 162, players have to constantly adjust. Mountcastle is getting phased out and needs to earn his PT. 

Mounty is a very likeable guy that is really fun to watch, especially when he is locked in....but you are 100% correct.  He's basically said himself that he won't adjust and be more patient, which is really frustrating.

[Moose Milligan]

6 minutes ago, yark14 said:

Mounty is a very likeable guy that is really fun to watch, especially when he is locked in....but you are 100% correct.  He's basically said himself that he won't adjust and be more patient, which is really frustrating.

I missed where he said that, but if that's accurate, then that's really troubling.

If he doesn't understand that his value is limited because he swings at everything and currently has an on base percentage of .273, maybe he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.  

[jabba72]

I like Mountcastle but a .565 OPS against RHP, at 1B no less, isnt getting it done. He's in serious danger of losing playing time with those numbers. Soon Westburg and Cowser will force the issue to where Mountcastle's struggles are too much to ignore. 

[deward]

2 hours ago, Spy Fox said:

Mountcastle has been lucky he is at one of the few positions without a highly rated prospect at AAA. But the clock is ticking. A full time O'Hearn or Lewin Diaz would have had a decent chance of outplaying him this year so far. And with Cowser's presence likely to push the Santander at 1b experiment further...

I like Ryan and I hope he figures it out but his odds of being part of the next few years' core started out this year meh and have been declining. 

O'Hearn is 29 and has over 1,000 PA in the bigs with a career OPS of .691. Aside from the 170 PA in his rookie year in 2018 and the 54 PA for the O's this year, he's never brought any value with the bat. He strikes me as a pretty classic Quad-A player who will get exposed (again) if you give him a starting role. Diaz is 26 and has a career .567 OPS in 343 PA. He's playing well in Norfolk, but this has also been his best season ever in the minors. Maaaybe one of them can outperform Mounty against RHP over the rest of the year in an expanded role, but I'd hate to be counting on it. Continuing the Santander experiment is probably the better option (in house). Or Westburg.

[Aristotelian]

13 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I missed where he said that, but if that's accurate, then that's really troubling.

If he doesn't understand that his value is limited because he swings at everything and currently has an on base percentage of .273, maybe he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.  

Not sure if this is what they are referring to, but there is a story where Buck confronted Mountcastle in spring training about his lack of walks in the minors and Mountcastle just laughed. The one thing he was told to work on, he didn't change at all. They ended up holding him in AAA that entire year. 

https://www.camdenchat.com/2019/6/27/18760947/baltimore-orioles-ryan-mountcastle-time 

“I said, ‘I noticed last year the whole season you walked 17 times. What was that all about?’” Showalter said. “He starts laughing and I said, ‘Understand, it’s not funny. This won’t work.’

[Moose Milligan]

6 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Not sure if this is what they are referring to, but there is a story where Buck confronted Mountcastle in spring training about his lack of walks in the minors and Mountcastle just laughed. The one thing he was told to work on, he didn't change at all. They ended up holding him in AAA that entire year. 

https://www.camdenchat.com/2019/6/27/18760947/baltimore-orioles-ryan-mountcastle-time 

“I said, ‘I noticed last year the whole season you walked 17 times. What was that all about?’” Showalter said. “He starts laughing and I said, ‘Understand, it’s not funny. This won’t work.’

I forgot all about that.  

That's annoying.  I don't think Mountcastle is dumb...I mean, figuring out that walks are a good thing shouldn't be hard to understand.

So either he knows he could be a better hitter and help the team more by not flailing away and he continues to do so because he runs into one every once in awhile...or, he really can't control himself from swinging at bad pitches.

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

41 minutes ago, yark14 said:

Mounty is a very likeable guy that is really fun to watch, especially when he is locked in....but you are 100% correct.  He's basically said himself that he won't adjust and be more patient, which is really frustrating.

When Mountcastle is locked in he hits the ball better than anyone else on the Orioles. The problem is most of the time Mountcastle is not locked in and he's becoming a worse hitter every season with a declining OPS+ since his rookie season.

 

 

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I forgot all about that.  

That's annoying.  I don't think Mountcastle is dumb...I mean, figuring out that walks are a good thing shouldn't be hard to understand.

So either he knows he could be a better hitter and help the team more by not flailing away and he continues to do so because he runs into one every once in awhile...or, he really can't control himself from swinging at bad pitches.

 

He's been the only one of the young vets- Hays, Santander, Mateo all spring to mind- who hasn't show any improvement in approach.  Santander has almost completely turned his approach around.  Hays and Mateo still fall into bad habits- obviously especially Mateo- but you can see them struggling against them.

Mountcastle just keeps doing what he's always done.  He's probably our most naturally gifted hitter, but that gift in many ways has become a curse.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

17 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

“I said, ‘I noticed last year the whole season you walked 17 times. What was that all about?’” Showalter said. “He starts laughing and I said, ‘Understand, it’s not funny. This won’t work.’

Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop standing in the background when they heard Buck say this to Mountcastle: