Gunnar Henderson 2023

[Bemorewins]

1 minute ago, Aristotelian said:

I agree we shouldn't be hasty about it, but we may need to at some point and it could be good for him. Kelenic would be a comp. He got 300 AB's his rookie year and another 160 last year. Now he is back with a Mateo-esque .988 OPS. 

At the point that he needs to be sent down, it would be better to trade him. We have a glutton of talent in the infield within the org. We have great talent on the left side of the Major League infield, the AAA infield, and 3B and SS of the future behind all them. 

Again, I believe in Gunnar’s talents but for as talented as he is, within this organization right now, he is not irreplaceable. There are only 2 players IMO within the org who are irreplaceable, Adley and Grayson.

In this scenario where you mentioned, we would be better served to move Gunnar while his value is extremely high, then wait on him for 2 years. By then, we will be staffed completely across the infield and there won’t be a place for him anyway. And we will still have the dilemma that we have now of too many good players and not enough spots. And then we will have to still make a hard choice between Gunnar and Mayo.

[TommyPickles]

I feel like this point has been made ad nauseam, but I wish they'd just move Frazier to a bench role.

I'd like to see Henderson, Urias, and Mateo out there just about every day. 

Mateo has over 1.000 OPS against both righties and lefties this season. He needs to be out there every day.

Urias has a higher career OPS against righties and lefties than Frazier. His 2023 OPS (.760, 114 OPS+) is about .100 points higher than Frazier's (.663, 85 OPS+)

Gunnar needs to get opportunities against righties and lefties to develop his game. We're 20-9 despite his numbers against LHP (which, to be fair, have only been 30 PA and he's walked 8 of those).

 

 

[HandsomeQuack]

14 minutes ago, TommyPickles said:

I feel like this point has been made ad nauseam, but I wish they'd just move Frazier to a bench role.

I'd like to see Henderson, Urias, and Mateo out there just about every day. 

Mateo has over 1.000 OPS against both righties and lefties this season. He needs to be out there every day.

Urias has a higher career OPS against righties and lefties than Frazier. His 2023 OPS (.760, 114 OPS+) is about .100 points higher than Frazier's (.663, 85 OPS+)

Gunnar needs to get opportunities against righties and lefties to develop his game. We're 20-9 despite his numbers against LHP (which, to be fair, have only been 30 PA and he's walked 8 of those).

 

 

Yes please! Let Frazier spell Urias, Henderson, and the corner outfielders as needed.

Interestingly, Urias is better lifetime against righties than against lefties (.785 OPS vs .691 OPS), but the K and BB rates are similar so that may be somewhat due to BABIP noise.

[DirtyBird]

21 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

Again, I believe in Gunnar’s talents but for as talented as he is, within this organization right now, he is not irreplaceable. There are only 2 players IMO within the org who are irreplaceable, Adley and Grayson.

I would put Cowser, Kjersted and Povich on the no-trade list list also, due to upside and lack of depth at their positions in the organization.

[DirtyBird]

21 minutes ago, TommyPickles said:

I feel like this point has been made ad nauseam, but I wish they'd just move Frazier to a bench role.

I'd like to see Henderson, Urias, and Mateo out there just about every day. 

Mateo has over 1.000 OPS against both righties and lefties this season. He needs to be out there every day.

Urias has a higher career OPS against righties and lefties than Frazier. His 2023 OPS (.760, 114 OPS+) is about .100 points higher than Frazier's (.663, 85 OPS+)

Gunnar needs to get opportunities against righties and lefties to develop his game. We're 20-9 despite his numbers against LHP (which, to be fair, have only been 30 PA and he's walked 8 of those).

Yes! The reason Henderson can't hit is because of Frazier.

[HandsomeQuack]

19 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Yes! The reason Henderson can't hit is because of Frazier.

Henderson, for all his struggles, has still been better than Frazier so far offensively.

[Bemorewins]

31 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

I would put Cowser, Kjersted and Povich on the no-trade list list also, due to upside and lack of depth at their positions in the organization.

Kjerstad I can see the case for. Because other than Mounty we don’t have another player of his profile.

I love Cowser, but he is definitely not irreplaceable. We have to make a place for him as it is now, by moving Santander out of the outfield. He’s definitely NOT displacing Mullins or Hays, the way that they are playing.  And I definitely don’t agree on Povich. He does not profile to be anything that we don’t already have. If we had to trade him as part of a package in order to get a top rotation starter, I would do so in the blink of an eye.

[joelala]

3 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

No.

First of all, Kelenic got his swing in check along with his approach and started seeing a sports psychologist this past offseason.  Kelenic's success has nothing to do with being sent back to the minors.

https://theathletic.com/4443635/2023/04/26/mariners-mets-jarred-kelenic-adjustments/

 

Gunnar shouldn't be sent down.  Quite frankly, his walks are too valuable to create a void in the lineup because he isn't hitting.  It'll be hard to replace a .361 OBP which is 5th on the team between Adley, Mateo, Cedric and Urias.

He's proven everything he can at the minor league level.  He's gotta figure it out now.  Even if he's struggling, walks don't slump.  They keep the inning going, they keep him valuable and they keep getting him on base so others can drive him in.  

I'm fairly confident that he'll start to hit eventually, the only thing that gives me pause is the fact that he's not great against breaking balls.  But that can change, too.

To me he looks like he doesn’t believe in his ability to do damage when he swings, which I’d argue a sports psychologist could help. And based on his struggles against lefties throughout his (short) career and his trouble against breaking stuff this year, it’s also entirely conceivable that his swing may need to be tweaked. It’s not as if the Kelenic comp is some sort of death sentence but if this continues, I’m not sure how you could not see the similarities. 
 

 

[joelala]

1 hour ago, DirtyBird said:

OK, Gunnar should not be on the team right now. He is not performing well, his approach at the plate currently stinks. He draws walks, but also strikes out at about a 35% rate, which are completely unproductive outs. He is the worst in the biggest situations of the game. His defense has been shaky. And, after his hot start last season, he was very bad at the plate down the stretch.

The same people who don't think Gunnar should go down to get regular AB's to reevaluate himself are the same ones that complain about our prospects wasting time in AAA now.

Bingo. 

[Just Regular]

Maybe Gunnar just needs some bulletin board material.

Some Yankee fan* was talking smack about how 14 months ago everyone knew Anthony Volpe was the #1 prospect in baseball, and the Orioles had some random fringe Top 100 type, and then for like an entire baseball season the Baltimore guy got lucky and outplayed the next Jeter.    Gunnar Henderson didn't even grow up loving the Yankees.

Now, the entire baseball world can see the truth.

*may or may not be bulletin board strawman

[interloper]

11 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Maybe Gunnar just needs some bulletin board material.

Some Yankee fan* was talking smack about how 14 months ago everyone knew Anthony Volpe was the #1 prospect in baseball, and the Orioles had some random fringe Top 100 type, and then for like an entire baseball season the Baltimore guy got lucky and outplayed the next Jeter.    Gunnar Henderson didn't even grow up loving the Yankees.

Now, the entire baseball world can see the truth.

*may or may not be bulletin board strawman

I was thinking the other day he needs to unload on an ump and get ejected or something. Or someone plants a fastball in his back. Something to piss him off and stop thinking so much. Direct the frustration at someone else rather than himself. 

[Just Regular]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

I was thinking the other day he needs to unload on an ump and get ejected or something. Or someone plants a fastball in his back. Something to piss him off and stop thinking so much. Direct the frustration at someone else rather than himself. 

I thought the throw on his web gem last night might have been a worm turning.     Mateo was right behind him like Manny and Hardy, but Gunnar cut it like the 3B should if he can, and the throw height to Mountcastle was even correct.     

We'll see - there's nothing to do but let him play baseball, even if it gets a tick or two worse from where it is now, which isn't so bad.

 

[Moose Milligan]

Gunnar has himself a new Topps card as part of their living set:  https://www.topps.com/cards-collectibles/online-brands/living-settm/topps-mlbr-living-setr-card-620-gunnar-henderson.html

Looks like a pissed off biker, IMO.

[sportsfan8703]

No Gunnar to start tonight.  We're sparing him from Grienke's breaking balls.  

[byrdz]

13 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Gunnar has himself a new Topps card as part of their living set:  https://www.topps.com/cards-collectibles/online-brands/living-settm/topps-mlbr-living-setr-card-620-gunnar-henderson.html

Looks like a pissed off biker, IMO.

Jax from SoA