Gunnar Henderson 2023

[DirtyBird]

46 minutes ago, Alasdaire said:

Fair enough. Obviously it's yet to be determined how proficient pitchers will become at narrowing their target and nibbling.

I don't think it will necessarily help the average batter relative to pitchers. But Gunnar's elite eye and hit tool aren't average.

Elite eye? Wouldn’t that also involve swinging at, and making contact with, hitters pitches?

[dystopia]

5 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Elite eye? Wouldn’t that also involve swinging at, and making contact with, hitters pitches?

That’s not what that terminology is refering to

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Elite eye? Wouldn’t that also involve swinging at, and making contact with, hitters pitches?

Why would having an elite eye have anything to do with making contact? You ever see Mark Reynolds or Adam Dunn play?  Great eye, lots of swing and miss.

Separate skills.

[Orioles0615]

46 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Why would having an elite eye have anything to do with making contact? You ever see Mark Reynolds or Adam Dunn play?  Great eye, lots of swing and miss.

Separate skills.

We gave a big contract to a guy who would look at allot of pitches trying to walk before 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Orioles0615

[baltfan]

39 minutes ago, Orioles0615 said:

We gave a big contract to a guy who would look at allot of pitches trying to walk before 

That dude also looked at balls right down the middle. 

[Barnaby Graves]

Not worried about him at all.

[DocJJ]

I'm not worried about him in the long term- I think he'll be a solid to star level player at some point.

 

I am worried about him for right now- he just seemed "off" during spring training and that same "off" seems to still be present now.  Last night he swung right through back-to-back 93 MPH fastballs in the middle of the zone before flying out to CF.  Neither pitch looked particularly overpowering or hard to hit, and he didn't even make contact at all.  Something just doesn't seem right.  I'm not a hitting coach or anything and I could be totally off base.... 

Sometimes guys do need a "reset" in the minors.  Jared Kelenic comes to mind....   Maybe have him try to work on his stroke at Norfolk and have give Westburg a trial for a bit at 3B?

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, DocJJ said:

I'm not worried about him in the long term- I think he'll be a solid to star level player at some point.

 

I am worried about him for right now- he just seemed "off" during spring training and that same "off" seems to still be present now.  Last night he swung right through back-to-back 93 MPH fastballs in the middle of the zone before flying out to CF.  Neither pitch looked particularly overpowering or hard to hit, and he didn't even make contact at all.  Something just doesn't seem right.  I'm not a hitting coach or anything and I could be totally off base.... 

Sometimes guys do need a "reset" in the minors.  Jared Kelenic comes to mind....   Maybe have him try to work on his stroke at Norfolk and have give Westburg a trial for a bit at 3B?

He was "off" the last few weeks of the season.

I mentioned it but folks shrugged it off.

He'll be fine.

I don't think this is going to break him mentally.

[RZNJ]

8 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

He was "off" the last few weeks of the season.

I mentioned it but folks shrugged it off.

He'll be fine.

I don't think this is going to break him mentally.

They shrugged it off and now your shrugging off his slow start.  Is there a difference?

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

They shrugged it off and now your shrugging off his slow start.  Is there a difference?

I'm not shrugging it off.  I'm less surprised it's happening.

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm not shrugging it off.  I'm less surprised it's happening.

I equate "he'll be fine" to how people reacted when you mentioned his poor finish last year. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I equate "he'll be fine" to how people reacted when you mentioned his poor finish last year. 

Go right ahead.

I disagree since folks generally didn't even acknowledge he struggled last year.

[Gurgi]

4 hours ago, Alasdaire said:

He really, really doesn't want to swing at anything outside of the zone. To the point that he looks visibly disgusted when the umpires miss calls.

Being as absurdly young as he is, I wonder if the times when he gets screwed by umps are messing with his psyche in a way that he hasn't yet learned how to deal with. A 1-1 count suddenly goes to 1-2 even though it was a good take, and then he has to protect the amorphous zone. I would be frustrated too if my approach relied on winning at the margins.

I've said this before, but I think he would absolutely feast with an automatic zone. Not only because he would work even more walks and favorable counts, but also because he's not like Vavra who has similar discipline but only makes meek contact even if it's a pitch he's sitting on. If Gunnar only has to swing at the balls he's waiting on, he has all of the ability to drive them.

 

This..........Gunnar would be a freaking beast with robo ump.  His batters eye is amazing.  

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Go right ahead.

I disagree since folks generally didn't even acknowledge he struggled last year.

You pointed the numbers out.  Everyone saw them and weren't too concerned.  Same as you're not too concerned about his slow start this year.  I still fail to see the difference. 

[Billy F-Face3]

If the TV box is any indicator, I don't trust Robo-Ump either. The box is all over the place on these broadcasts. Sometimes the boundary of the box is sitting right on the middle of the place, and sometimes the top boundary line is sitting belt high on the batter. It's not accurate.

Just like anything computer related, Robo-Ump requires the proper programing and set up to be accurate and consistent. Otherwise, if you make a mistake in the way it's set up, it's going to keep making mistake calls just like a flawed umpire.

No amount of technology can compensate for human error, because humans are what creates the technology in the first place.