Jordan Westburg 2023

[maybenxtyr]

22 minutes ago, Frobby said:

What about Westburg reminds you of Hays?  I like both players, but I don’t see them as that similar.  

I believe Westburg will have a much better career when the book is closed on them. I see Westburg as a much more complete player.

[Aristotelian]

I can buy the Hays comparison offensively. The one thing I don't love about Westburg is he is aggressive and is going to have a low walk rate. I could see him putting up similar numbers to Hays. I do like his defense at 2B so far. 

[G54377]

He reminds me of Jason Kipnis, although I think Westburg will be a tad better fielder.

[maybenxtyr]

36 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I can buy the Hays comparison offensively. The one thing I don't love about Westburg is he is aggressive and is going to have a low walk rate. I could see him putting up similar numbers to Hays. I do like his defense at 2B so far. 

I'm not an expert in how stats translate from the minors to the majors, but he's typically had a decent walk rate. I would expect as he gets more comfortable that he'll revert to a bit more patient approach.

[Aristotelian]

4 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

I'm not an expert in how stats translate from the minors to the majors, but he's typically had a decent walk rate. I would expect as he gets more comfortable that he'll revert to a bit more patient approach.

I had to go back and look. You're right, his minors BB% was higher than I thought. Maybe just been spoiled by Adley and Gunnar. 

[maybenxtyr]

4 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I had to go back and look. You're right, his minors BB% was higher than I thought. Maybe just been spoiled by Adley and Gunnar. 

They will do that. I've been pretty high on Westburg since I first saw him at Delmarva. It's not worth rehashing, but I would have loved to seen what he could have done if he'd been up much sooner.

[NCRaven]

1 hour ago, maybenxtyr said:

They will do that. I've been pretty high on Westburg since I first saw him at Delmarva. It's not worth rehashing, but I would have loved to seen what he could have done if he'd been up much sooner.

We might be in firster place with the bestest record in the AL.

[maybenxtyr]

10 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

We might be in firster place with the bestest record in the AL.

Well, that wasn't the point I was making. I was more referring to him and being a little further along in his development. Good try though.

[Rbiggs2525]

I hope he is shagging balls in left field. Would like to see him in the lineup 6 days a week.

[Malike]

Not sure what kind of defense he'll play in a corner spot, but he seems athletic enough to play there. Statcast does have his arm in the 20% percentile, but I'm not sure if that's just a product of playing 2B and not having to really air it out.

[Malike]

2 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

I had to go back and look. You're right, his minors BB% was higher than I thought. Maybe just been spoiled by Adley and Gunnar. 

Gunnar's walk rate has slowed down some. He's at 10.6% which is above average, but not great or excellent, and his K rate is 27.2% which is scaled as awful according to Fangraphs. Average is 8% for walks and 20% for K's.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Malike

[jamorrow91]

22 hours ago, G54377 said:

Granted he only played a handful of games in the minors there, I think he could easily be a respectable corner outfielder if we needed to fit him into the lineup. I feel like things will work itself out though. Inevitably someone will be hurt or need a day off. With the DH and potentially a corner outfield spot, we can have all four of Gunnar/Westburg/Ortiz/Holliday get full time reps if we so desire.

I keep coming back to this as well. Ortiz is a superior infield defender, Gunnar is too and if Holliday is the same or any better on D then Westburg’s most available role may be in the COF.

He could be a nice right handed complement to Cowser & Kjerstad. This is if we assume Hays and/or Santander aren’t in Baltimore beyond next season. I imagine he, Norby, or Mayo eventually end up filling some time in this capacity. 

[jamorrow91]

On 8/12/2023 at 2:25 AM, PsychoBird68 said:

Thats a given, however I not sure if it will be SS or 2B...but I believe Henderson will stay a SS and Holliday will play 2B and Westburg will be at 3B of course they're interchangeable....Westburg could end up being a super utility guy that plays just about everyday if Mayo can stick at 3B, Westburg could rotate thru the infield and the corner outfield positions but I believe Mayo is ticketed for DH and 1B 

Henderson potentially staying at short and Mayo at third would make it really interesting. And this doesn’t even include Ortiz.

If the OF is all left handed in Mullins, Cowser, Kjerstad with Holliday as well and then Adley switch hitting then it’ll be fun to see which of Westburg or Mayo emerges more to fill the RH slugger role. Them and whoever is left long term between Santander, Mountcastle and Hays would be crucial to maintain balance against lefties and righties. 

This optionality and versatility from the group of players is excellent and bodes very very well for the future. 

[Frobby]

Per Kevin Brown, Westburg was clocked at 30.4 ft/sec beating out that throw in the 8th inning tonight.  Statcast has him at 28.9 on the season, good for the 89th percentile.   

@Tony-OH’s scouting report had Westburg at 60 speed.  Fangraphs said 50.  Based on the data we have now, I’d have to say Tony’s grade was conservative, and Fangraphs was a flat miss. 

I’m always surprised when speed grades are off by a lot.  Obviously with other tools, scouts are judging how things will translate at the highest level.  But speed is speed, you can check it with a stopwatch.  Many scouts have been off on Mountcastle, they’ve been off on Westburg, and IMO they’re off on Kjerstad.  I don’t get how that happens with the least subjective of all the tools.  

 

[OriolesMagic83]

On 8/16/2023 at 3:19 PM, Malike said:

Not sure what kind of defense he'll play in a corner spot, but he seems athletic enough to play there. Statcast does have his arm in the 20% percentile, but I'm not sure if that's just a product of playing 2B and not having to really air it out.

I think he would be better than O'Hearn in the,OF.  It's a low bar.