Gunnar Henderson 2023

[Bemorewins]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

You are missing that the O's have lost three series in the passed few weeks and the Blue Jays are a dangerous team that would like to pay the O's back for sweeping them in their park.

It's a LONG season, we (like all teams including the Rays) will lose some series. Are the Blue Jays anymore "dangerous" than the Rays, Yanks, Rangers, Braves? We've already played all those teams and done fine. 

Whether win win or lose this series, the rest of our 94 games will still take place. The sky won't fall in on our season.

Baseball is way too long of a season for the team to ride that type of emotional roller coaster of the moment all the way through. The guys would be burned out by August/early September. 

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Baltimorecuse said:

You can't coach Gunnar's power.  I know there is all kinds of stats.  I'll take good old slugging per centage.  

His opposite field power is especially impressive, and always has been.  

It’s interesting to look at Gunnar’s season.  His OBP reached its last high point of .371 on May 5.  At the time, he had a .195 BA and an ISO of .146.   So, he was getting on base a ton but was sacrificing getting hits and power to walk a lot.  He slumped really badly over the next week, with his BA falling to .170, his OBP to a still-solid .341, but his ISO all the way down to .140 for a .310 SLG.  Since then, he’s changed his approach, being considerably more aggressive and swinging for power.  Over the last 24 games he’s at .321/.361/.641.   He’s walking WAY less (5 walks in his last 83 PA, compared to 25 walks in his first 126 PA), but he’s driving the ball WAY more (.320 ISO compared to .140 previously).   He’s still striking out a lot, 30.1% in his recent hot streak compared to 29.4% before.   

My takeaway is that it’s sometimes possible to be TOO patient at the plate.  OBP is very important, but you can only sacrifice so much power to achieve it.   I think Gunnar is still looking for just the right balance between patience and aggressiveness.   He’s starting to home in on it.

 

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, Bemorewins said:

It's a LONG season, we (like all teams including the Rays) will lose some series. Are the Blue Jays anymore "dangerous" than the Rays, Yanks, Rangers, Braves? We've already played all those teams and done fine. 

Whether win win or lose this series, the rest of our 94 games will still take place. The sky won't fall in on our season.

Baseball is way too long of a season for the team to ride that type of emotional roller coaster of the moment all the way through. The guys would be burned out by August/early September. 

IMO you are way too comfortable.

[Bemorewins]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

Sounds like you are a little too comfortable.    The O's don't want to look back in October and say if only we had not gone through losing series in late May and June we would have made the playoffs.   All the games count no matter when they are played.   There should be some urgency to getting back to winning series.

This is just yet another example of how differently we see the game and contextualize it. I've been watching baseball for long enough to know that's not a 162 game season works. Have you heard the expression before that "it's a marathon and not a sprint?"

The players and coaches have to pace themselves so that they have some juice when the real "big"games happen down the stretch of the season. I'm sure they will want to win and perform well. But if they don't they still have to get ready to play the next 94 games after Thursday. I don't think that they are going to approach this next game/series any different than they have done the games prior to this one.

[Bemorewins]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

IMO you are way too comfortable.

You do know I'm not getting a check or any part of the revenue regardless of how the games turn out?

I am comfortable watching the Orioles wind and do well. After all it is entertainment. At the end of the day the sun will shine tomorrow and I will have the same life and responsibilities to take care of my family like I had before the game started. #perspective

[Moose Milligan]

59 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

The Yankees probably have to ride it out with Anthony Volpe.     Their first two months this year has basically been the road Elias has not taken.    I do believe the Yankees will get a benefit giving these reps as the season goes along with a young, talented player, but certainly for today the NYY SS production is some of why we are ahead of them.

From BP this morning:

Through Saturday, his on-base percentage was .261 and his 68 DRC+ is the lowest in MLB (minimum 200 plate appearances). His big moment of arrival is running behind schedule.

This is dire for the Yankees on several levels. The club snubbed their noses at the outstanding free-agent shortstop groups over the last two offseasons to keep the job open for the seventh-best overall prospect as per the 2023 preseason Top 101.

Not upset at all about Volpe struggling.  Not in the least.  

 

15 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I'm not trying to rain on your excitement/enthusiasm parade. But we've played 65 games so far this season, which means we have at least 97 games to go. Usually in baseball, "big series" are played in the later part of the season, more towards September and October.

Football can have "big" early and midseason games because there are so few of them, IMO baseball not so much. 

Even if we were to get swept for some strange reason by the Blue Jays, we would still be in front of them in the standings (and still in 2nd place) with 94 games to go.

You do realize that if we hypothetically were to sweep the Jays this week and put 3 more games between us and them, the likelihood of having to play a "big series" against them in August or September decreases, right?

[Just Regular]

I believe these TOR games are highly leveraged for the tournament berth.

With Yordan out awhile and many other injuries, I'll even throw the Astros into the stew.     The AL non-division leaders chasing the three wildcard berths are shaping up HOU-BAL-NYY-TOR, and still maybe LAA or SEA.     One of those first four isn't going to make it, and all of them are perhaps heading for 89-ish wins, or hopefully more in our case.

Thursday, our Toronto margin could be anywhere from 2.5 to 8.5 games.

 

[wildcard]

10 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

You do know I'm not getting a check or any part of the revenue regardless of how the games turn out?

I am comfortable watching the Orioles wind and do well. After all it is entertainment. At the end of the day the sun will shine tomorrow and I will have the same life and responsibilities to take care of my family like I had before the game started. #perspective

I get it.  You don't really give a damn one way or another.

[Bemorewins]

17 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I get it.  You don't really give a damn one way or another.

... Looks like you might have a future in comedy or not... I'm pretty sure most if not all on this board love the O's or they wouldn't be here. It's a long season, they are going to win and lose games. 

If the O's win the series I will be happy and pleased that they did, but will understand that they have 94 to go until (hopefully) the postseason. If they lose, I won't fall apart and will watch to see if they can rebound in the next series.

That's how this thing called baseball usually works.

[InsideCoroner]

21 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I get it.  You don't really give a damn one way or another.

Give me a break. He gives a damn, but as he says, it won't change his life in any substantive way. Or yours. Or mine. It's a leisure/entertainment activity. Yes, your favorite sports team can be the sun around which your life orbits if you wish (and where I live soccer is the oxygen without which people act like they can't live), but regardless of the results of the ALDS, the globe will continue rotating and the sun will rise. 

I absolutely can't wait for them to win another World Series. But even when they do, I know the bills still need to be paid, sick people won't suddenly be cured, and my wife will just roll her eyes regardless. 

[Baltimorecuse]

9 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

... Looks like you might have a future in comedy or not... I'm pretty sure most if not all on this board love the O's or they wouldn't be here. It's a long season, they are going to win and lose games. 

If the O's win the series I will be happy and pleased that they did, but will understand that they have 94 to go until (hopefully) the postseason. If they lose, I won't fall apart and will watch to see if they can rebound in the next series.

That's how this thing called baseball usually works.

No one is going to fall apart that I know.  That's a false argument.  No sport means anything in the end.  I'm a fan.  I care about outcomes.  You're saying in a 162 game season this set doesn't really matter.  I gave you the reasons I think it does.  We'll just have to disagree.  

[Billy F-Face3]

This thread got derailed in a hurry.

[Sports Guy]

Gunnar is now tied with Hays for the third best fWAR on the team(for positional talent), trailing only Mullins and Adley. 

He is .5 away from Mullins and .3 from Adley.

[InsideCoroner]

Gunnar's homer yesterday is tied for the 6th longest homer ever hit at Camden Yards (Miguel Cabrera also hit one 462 feet), and the longest homer ever hit there by a left-handed hitter. 

[Babkins]

Just wanted to say that Gunnar had a terrific catch-and-tag on the CS from McCann yesterday. Reminded me of a certain Oriole shortstop who wore the number 2 more recently.