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Has Gunnar's struggles slowed the promotion of other O's prospects?


wildcard

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3 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Hyde said he has been dealing with it for a few days. Day to day at the moment but we will see how long they are ok with playing a man short.

They aren’t really a man short, due to the Lester call-up.

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Here is another take on Gunnar.    He is not struggling he just can't hit lefties.

When I look at  Gunnar OPS on the season of 712 I say he is struggling.  But if I look at his splits:

Vs righties    223/333/463/796

Vs lefties     132/313/132/444

Its really appears the its more that Gunnar can't hit lefties than anything else.  Yes his average is low versus righties but because he walks his OBP is good and so is his slugging.  

The O's are trying to develop Gunnar as a full time solution at 3B so maybe they just keep send him out there vs lefties.  But maybe with Frazier  not hitting lefties and we don't know about Hicks yet there are times that the O's need to have a guy that can hit left at 3B.

I would think that is right-handed hitting Urias.   But, in fact,  Urias hit righties better that lefties.  735 OPS vs righties; 622 OPS vs lefties in 2023.  And the same was true for 2022.  742 OPS vs righties ;  666 vs lefties.

Lefty Lester didn't even hit lefties well at AAA with a 682 OPS.  I might think Westburg but he only has a 742 OPS vs lefties at AAA and that will probably decrease in the majors.  Ortiz might be the better answer with a 1284 OPS in 2022 and a 972 OPS in 2023 vs lefties  at AAA in a combined 60 at bats.

Anyway if the approach is that Gunnar is not really struggling vs righties which are 70-75% of the pitchers than adding more rookies to the team may be acceptable.  Like Cowser.

Edited by wildcard
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37 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Here is another take on Gunnar.    He is not struggling he just can't hit lefties.

When I look at  Gunnar OPS on the season of 712 I say he is struggling.  But if I look at his splits:

Vs righties    223/333/463/796

Vs lefties     132/313/132/444

Its really appears the its more that Gunnar can't hit lefties than anything else.  Yes his average is low versus righties but because he walks his OBP is good and so is his slugging.  

The O's are trying to develop Gunnar as a full time solution at 3B so maybe they just keep send him out there vs lefties.  But maybe with Frazier  not hitting lefties and we don't know about Hicks yet there are times that the O's need to have a guy that can hit left at 3B.

I would think that is right-handed hitting Urias.   But, in fact,  Urias hit righties better that lefties.  735 OPS vs righties; 622 OPS vs lefties in 2023.  And the same was true for 2022.  742 OPS vs righties ;  666 vs lefties.

Lefty Lester didn't even hit lefties well at AAA with a 682 OPS.  I might think Westburg but he only has a 742 OPS vs lefties at AAA and that will probably decrease in the majors.  Ortiz might be the better answer with a 1284 OPS in 2022 and a 972 OPS in 2023 vs lefties  at AAA in a combined 60 at bats.

Anyway if the approach is that Gunnar is not really struggling vs righties which are 70-75% of the pitchers than adding more rookies to the team may be acceptable.  Like Cowser.

Or the O's need to add a bat the crushes lefties.  

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Respectfully wildcard, the fact that Gunnar is an asset against RHP and a major liability against LHP isn't exactly a new observation.  It's been discussed frequently here (within this very thread in fact).

Ultimately none of our IF players should be inked into the lineup everyday.  Mountcastle has been atrocious against RHP.  Frazier has some good ABs but the ceiling is limited. Mateo's offensive struggles are well-documented.  Gunnar can't hit LHP.  And I like Urias as a whole but he wasn't hitting much before the injury and is hitting even less now. 

There are plenty of ABs to be had for a young infielder (or 2) that can hit.

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13 minutes ago, btdart20 said:

I think Gunnar's in a spot where we can take on more rookie risk (if that's what was holding up any other guys).  

I agree, there appears to be room now that Gunnar has settled in for the next guy to come up and take time to adjust.

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