Heston Kjerstad 2023

[deward]

8 minutes ago, baltfan said:

I like the guy a lot but he was only hitting .200 combing into this game.  He wasn’t lighting it up. 

Now he's hitting .292 with an OPS of a cool 1.122. 

[baltfan]

5 minutes ago, deward said:

Now he's hitting .292 with an OPS of a cool 1.122. 

Yes, early season numbers do swing a ton.  I agree his batting average wasn’t that representative of how he was doing, but he wasn’t banging down the door to get to AAA. 

[Mooreisbetter27]

7 hours ago, baltfan said:

Yes, early season numbers do swing a ton.  I agree his batting average wasn’t that representative of how he was doing, but he wasn’t banging down the door to get to AAA. 

I don't think anyone is banging down the door to get a promotion 6 games into the year. 

[jdwilde1]

8 hours ago, baltfan said:

Yes, early season numbers do swing a ton.  I agree his batting average wasn’t that representative of how he was doing, but he wasn’t banging down the door to get to AAA. 

I know it’s early, but he also raked in Spring training (.381/.409/.810/1.219) and the AZ Fall League (.358/.385/.622/1.007).  And as stated in  deward‘s post, he now has an OPS of 1.122 in a handful of AA games.  Unlike his success at Delmarva, where despite hitting .463 he was not really turning on pitches and generating a lot of power (.650 SLG and only 2 homers in 80 ABs), he is blasting the ball.  If he continues to mash, Elias isn’t going slow-role this guy.  
 

 

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, jdwilde1 said:

I know it’s early, but he also raked in Spring training (.381/.409/.810/1.219) and the AZ Fall League (.358/.385/.622/1.007).  And as stated in  deward‘s post, he now has an OPS of 1.122 in a handful of AA games.  Unlike his success at Delmarva, where despite hitting .463 he was not really turning on pitches and generating a lot of power (.650 SLG and only 2 homers in 80 ABs), he is blasting the ball.  If he continues to mash, Elias isn’t going slow-role this guy.  
 

 

He’ll spend a minimum of two months in AA.   After that, we’ll see if his performance warrants consideration of a promotion.  

[oriole]

Good lord, I can’t be happier to see this guy doing well. I’d had all but written him off with the myocarditis. I love that they’re getting him acclimated at 1B too

[Bemorewins]

4 hours ago, jdwilde1 said:

I know it’s early, but he also raked in Spring training (.381/.409/.810/1.219) and the AZ Fall League (.358/.385/.622/1.007).  And as stated in  deward‘s post, he now has an OPS of 1.122 in a handful of AA games.  Unlike his success at Delmarva, where despite hitting .463 he was not really turning on pitches and generating a lot of power (.650 SLG and only 2 homers in 80 ABs), he is blasting the ball.  If he continues to mash, Elias isn’t going slow-role this guy.  
 

 

Elias has slow played just about everyone not named Gunnar Henderson. And even he didn’t get to skip any levels. 
 

The org depth is too thick and there is really not a lot of room on the Major League side on the positional side of things. So guys will have to wait their turn. 
 

Some will stay with us and some will shine. Others will be traded and may even shine elsewhere. We just have to hope that Elias is one of those GMs that more times than not can tell the difference between who should stay and who should go.

[Tony-OH]

13 hours ago, deward said:

Now he's hitting .292 with an OPS of a cool 1.122. 

Gotta love the early season when a good game completely can turn your season stats around! lol

It's part of the reason to never get too excited or too down on guys through  short stretch.

Saying that, Kjestad has done a good job of controlling the strike zone and hitting the ball hard. No EVs are available, but I would not be surprised if he's not in AAA by late May, early June.

[Frobby]

53 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I would not be surprised if he's not in AAA by late May, early June.

I think you said the opposite of what you meant to say.  

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

I think you said the opposite of what you meant to say.  

Double negatives are confusing but we know what he meant.  Lol

[Tony-OH]

48 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think you said the opposite of what you meant to say.  

 

46 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Double negatives are confusing but we know what he meant.  Lol

What RZNJ said.

[Big Mac]

2 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

Elias has slow played just about everyone not named Gunnar Henderson. And even he didn’t get to skip any levels. 
 

The org depth is too thick and there is really not a lot of room on the Major League side on the positional side of things. So guys will have to wait their turn. 
 

Some will stay with us and some will shine. Others will be traded and may even shine elsewhere. We just have to hope that Elias is one of those GMs that more times than not can tell the difference between who should stay and who should go.

He certainly didn't slow play Cowser and Norby last year or Stowers in 2021.  I think the general consensus is he errs on the conservative side for initial placements and then is willing to aggressively move people up. 

[Bemorewins]

You are right. There are more exceptions that Gunnar. But most would agree that he is conservative in that regard. And this point I don't blame him with moving guys up because there is hardly in place to put them all!

Guys are stacked up at AAA already waiting for graduations, but there is a logjam of Major League position players as well.

The only solution is to make some trades to fill in the big holes in our Major League pitching staff. 

By the way, I believe that this is a great problem to have! As long as we don't squander the embarrassment of riches or fall in love with keeping the wrong guys. We could literally make a trade and trade away 3/4 top 100 guys and still be in very good shape prospect wise. And at the same time staff a serious contender.

Elias please don't mess this up! lol

[deward]

 

 

[Gurgi]

Good thing about AA is that good stats will get attention.  Heston has it in his own hands how far he goes.  If he keeps hitting like this he will move fast.   

Edited April 15, 2023 by Gurgi