Should we call up Westburg or Ortiz and shuttle Henderson back down?

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

They also like rushing prospects and developing on the fly at the major league level, so it can be hard to tell.

Two years ago I'd have done it, last year I'd have considered it.  Doesn't make sense in the current situation.

 

I do disagree with the term rush.  I'd say challenge.

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

From A+?? 

Hey, they did it with Jeff Fiorentino, so why not?

(Obviously this is not happening, but it’s looking more and more like Holliday will be in AA by early July at latest.)

[DirtyBird]

No way. Gunnar putting in some nice AB's lately.

[Too Tall]

My wife says HELL NO and she rarely talks like that except to me! Don't mess with her new favorite Oriole. He will be fine.

[NCRaven]

My wife says hell no to me all the time.

[Sports Guy]

7 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Two years ago I'd have done it, last year I'd have considered it.  Doesn't make sense in the current situation.

 

I do disagree with the term rush.  I'd say challenge.

The most overused word amongst baseball fans imo. It really doesn’t exist.

[baltfan]

Absolutely not.  Henderson seems to be making some strides in the last couple of games.  He is hitting the ball harder, not swinging and missing as often, and seems to have made a point of not taking first strikes (I believe he has swung at the first strike 6 straight at-bats).  Apparently this is a strategy that Gallo is employing to some success.  Joey Gallo Is Bashing Again | FanGraphs Baseball

The Rays are one of the smartest organizations out there and chose to intentionally walk Henderson to get to Mateo in the eighth with a runner on 3rd.  They didn't do the same to Hays with Gunnar behind him.  Part of this, of course, was to get to Mateo.  But part of it was also likely what they saw in Henderson.

[interloper]

No, but I wouldn't be opposed to platooning Henderson and Westburg and sending Vavra down. That's not ideal either, but I like it a lot more than just sending Henderson down. 

[Moose Milligan]

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

Just to be contrarian.  

Really, we don't need another thread about this.

[RVAOsFan]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

Just to be contrarian.  

Really, we don't need another thread about this.

[Tony-OH]

Gunnar is struggling over his last 10 games slashing .111/.294/.296/.590 but the Orioles are 6-4 while playing two of the best teams in baseball. My thought is as long as the team is winning, you allow him to take his lumps and hopefully he makes some adjustments. The good news is he has a .111 BABIP over this span so he's gotten very unlucky so you have to expect some improvement based on his "luck" inevitable improving. 

Now, I don't think Henderson gets an unlimited leash but I don't think that time has come, especially with Urias out for a bit. The good news is that Henderson's defense has improved of late at 3B and I feel he's providing some defensive value now even though his overall defensive metrics are poor. 

Westburg and Ortiz are certainly making cases to be on the major league roster so I do think at some point, if Henderson is not showing signs of improvement or goes into a bigger funk, that we could see a move that sees Henderson get reset a bit in AAA. That's probably closer to the end of the month for me.

[Morgan423]

I know everyone has been down on Gunnar all season, but the simple fact remains that he has not been pitched to. 

Like, at all.  I mean, he's walked 24 times in 32 games.  His OBP is still nearly 175 points higher than his batting average!

Of course this has limited his slugging, but do you actually encourage a young, disciplined hitter to chase all the time in order to make more contact with the ball? 

I certainly wouldn't.  I'd try moving him to other parts of the line up where they can't keep pitching around him before I tried anything else at this point.

[baltfan]

I suspect the Orioles look at this upcoming period as a key one for Gunnar. Seems with Urias hurt he is going to be run out at 3rd base daily.  This will give him some position stability which might make him a bit more comfortable.  Hopefully that will translate at the plate.  I am going on record though in saying that the obvious approach change is going to help him snap out of this.  

[baltfan]

1 minute ago, Morgan423 said:

I know everyone has been down on Gunnar all season, but the simple fact remains that he has not been pitched to. 

Like, at all.  I mean, he's walked 24 times in 32 games.  His OBP is still nearly 175 points higher than his batting average!

Of course this has limited his slugging, but do you actually encourage a young, disciplined hitter to chase all the time in order to make more contact with the ball? 

I certainly wouldn't.  I'd try moving him to other parts of the line up where they can't keep pitching around him before I tried anything else at this point.

I am not sure how much of this is him not being pitched to vs. him swinging and missing so much.  If you aren't putting the ball in play, you are going to be more likely to walk.  Still there is no denying he has an excellent eye.  But it should be noted that last year when he hit .252 he wasn't walking as much 16 BB vs. 24BB in 10 more PA.  

[interloper]

15 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Gunnar is struggling over his last 10 games slashing .111/.294/.296/.590 but the Orioles are 6-4 while playing two of the best teams in baseball. My thought is as long as the team is winning, you allow him to take his lumps and hopefully he makes some adjustments. The good news is he has a .111 BABIP over this span so he's gotten very unlucky so you have to expect some improvement based on his "luck" inevitable improving. 

Now, I don't think Henderson gets an unlimited leash but I don't think that time has come, especially with Urias out for a bit. The good news is that Henderson's defense has improved of late at 3B and I feel he's providing some defensive value now even though his overall defensive metrics are poor. 

Westburg and Ortiz are certainly making cases to be on the major league roster so I do think at some point, if Henderson is not showing signs of improvement or goes into a bigger funk, that we could see a move that sees Henderson get reset a bit in AAA. That's probably closer to the end of the month for me.

Yeah sensible take here. Let's see where he (and others) are at at the end of May. 

To me, he just seems to be missing fastballs. Either late, or fouling off, or swinging through them. At the same time, though, he's not up there waving at sliders 6 feet off the plate. So he seems to be just missing. It's a bit curious as to why considering his talent, but we're still in the "Markakis had a worse OPS than Gunnar in similar amount of ML PA's" zone.