TT: Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson: Major League adjustments

[Tony-OH]

17 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I still say Adley should be moved down the lineup. I would bat him second vs righties and 4th vs lefties. 
 

Maybe Adley is different but we have had players talk in the past about his where they bat in the lineup changes their approach. I believe Adley goes for defensive swings just to make contact and get on base at times vs trying to drive the ball.

I am not sure if he would change his approach or not but I would like to see them try.

All of that said, w/r/t this conversation, I think Gunnar is just a more skilled and more talented offensive player.

The overall numbers though don't show a change between batting 1st or 2nd, so it doesn't appear he's changing his approach. He's hitting too many ground balls vs driving the ball at times this season and is rolling over a bit too much on breaking balls. He's still been productive, just not at the level we thought he might be after last year if he took a step forward. But the sophomore "jinx" has happened a lot to players and there is no reason to think he can't have better season ahead of him.

Saying that, he's still having a very good season.

[Sports Guy]

One thing that has unquestionably hurt Adley are the bs strike calls on him on pitches that are clearly balls. He is either first or second in the league in pitches called strikes that should have been balls.

No doubt that hurts him and could make him more defensive in some of his at bats at times.

[Frobby]

37 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

One thing that has unquestionably hurt Adley are the bs strike calls on him on pitches that are clearly balls. He is either first or second in the league in pitches called strikes that should have been balls.

No doubt that hurts him and could make him more defensive in some of his at bats at times.

I also wonder if he’s being scouted a little better now that teams have seen more of him.  I feel that when he’s batting lefty, he hits a lot of liners in the LCF gap that are caught, that maybe weren’t being caught last year because of where the CF was playing.   Last year his wOBA was 12 points over his xwOBA; this year it’s 21 points under his xwOBA.  Better contact, slightly worse results, and I think scouting could be a partial explanation.