Adley’s Conditioning

[baltfan]

Adley has a bit of an odd body.  He tends to look a little heavier in his uniform than others.  There are tons of videos and pics out there in normal clothes where you can see he is in good shape.   This is him shirtless walking around with a 360 deg camera.   He seems in fine shape   He isn’t yoked beyond belief, but that doesn’t mean he is out of shape  

 

[Sports Guy]

The extra weight, if it even existed, may actually help him, not hurt him.

I have talked about this before but years ago there was a story on ESPN about pitchers saying having a little extra weight allowed them get through a long season.

IIRC, Jon Lieber was one of the pitchers it focused on and they just talked about how having the extra weight helped get them through the season.

Now, I’m not sure if other positions feel the same way but I wouldn’t be surprised, especially at C.

Adley did show more power and his best statistical month was Sept. from Jun through Aug, his power was poor. Even through Sept 16, he only had 4 extra base hits in Sept(in 66 PA)

 He had 9 extra base hits in his final 53 PA. As Frobby pointed out, those last 12 games or so really jumped up his numbers.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Sports Guy

[DirtyBird]

6 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

Who is that?

That’s Josie Rutschman.

I am concerned that the family is genetically prone to knee issues.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

The extra weight, if it even existed, may actually help him, not hurt him.

I have talked about this before but years ago there was a story on ESPN about pitchers saying having a little extra weight allowed them get through a long season.

IIRC, Jon Lieber was one of the pitchers it focused on and they just talked about how having the extra weight helped get them through the season.

Now, I’m not sure if other positions feel the same way but I wouldn’t be surprised, especially at C.

Adley did show more power and his best statistical month was Sept. from Jun through Aug, his power was poor. Even through Sept 16, he only had 4 extra base hits in Sept(in 66 PA)

 He had 9 extra base hits in his final 53 PA. As Frobby pointed out, those last 12 games or so really jumped up his numbers.

 

I think catching in July and August is a lot more draining than catching in September.  Also, Hyde backed way off Adley’s catching load in September.  Adley only started at C in 16 of the team’s final 30 games.  

[Jim'sKid26]

31 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think catching in July and August is a lot more draining than catching in September.  Also, Hyde backed way off Adley’s catching load in September.  Adley only started at C in 16 of the team’s final 30 games.  

Catchers wear down over a long season. There is also a cumulative effect of catching multiple games over multiple seasons. For every Sal Perez there are multiple Matt Wieters. Adley is 25. He will play all of 2024 as a 26 yo. He's a FA in 2028 at age 30. This is why I would not extend him. I know this is not a popular opinion but there are better places to spend money, IMHO, better than buying multiple years beyond age 30 for a catcher.

His game is built around his athleticism. I wonder how that will age playing 100+ games per year behind the plate. 

Here's a pretty good article by Tim Burton from the Athletic that makes a lot of good points. He is focusing on J.T. Realmuto who may or may not be a good comp for Adley.

https://theathletic.com/2136719/2020/10/14/jt-realmuto-mets-free-agency/

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Jim'sKid26
add reference

[Frobby]

19 minutes ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

 

Here's a pretty good article by Tim Burton from the Athletic that makes a lot of good points. He is focusing on J.T. Realmuto who may or may not be a good comp for Adley.

https://theathletic.com/2136719/2020/10/14/jt-realmuto-mets-free-agency/

 

Three years after that article was written, Realmuto has put up 13.6 rWAR, basically justifying the entire cost of his 5 year contract.  Chances are high that he will substantially exceed the value of that extension.  

[Jammer7]

I didn’t see any evidence of significant weight gain. Catchers wear down as others have written here. He clearly wore down at times and we were blessed to have McCann. 

The biggest thing I did not like about his year was that he batted lead off far too much. I get all of the reasons they gave for putting him there. I know his batting eye, OBP, etc…, and I don’t agree with it. This is the loudest thing I disagree with Hyde/Elias on. (Maybe the bigger question is who should have batted lead off?) Adley responded well at the end of the season when he was moved down to #2. 

He should be in a run-producing situation on a good offensive team. The bottom of the lineup that preceded him after the first inning did not get on base and let his ability to drive in runs work often enough. He is an elite hitter, and the two strike approach he employed was too picky quite often. He struck out looking far too often. IMHO, I want him looking to do damage. I don’t want him to expand the zone often, but there are times he should be more aggressive with runners on base. Watching him in college, he had an uncanny ability to get big hits to drive in runs. That was a long time ago, Yes, but that is the type of hitter he is.

The only other negative thing I have to say is I sometimes question his pitch calling. In fairness, I wonder how much of that is dictated by analytics staffers, and how much discretion is he given. In several instances, we got hurt this year when Adley called the same pitch and location four consecutive pitches.

He is an outstanding player, and by all accounts, a great teammate and face of the franchise. But for goodness sakes Adley, stop skipping leg day!

[RZNJ]

He may have 

21 minutes ago, Jammer7 said:

I didn’t see any evidence of significant weight gain. Catchers wear down as others have written here. He clearly wore down at times and we were blessed to have McCann. 

The biggest thing I did not like about his year was that he batted lead off far too much. I get all of the reasons they gave for putting him there. I know his batting eye, OBP, etc…, and I don’t agree with it. This is the loudest thing I disagree with Hyde/Elias on. (Maybe the bigger question is who should have batted lead off?) Adley responded well at the end of the season when he was moved down to #2. 

He should be in a run-producing situation on a good offensive team. The bottom of the lineup that preceded him after the first inning did not get on base and let his ability to drive in runs work often enough. He is an elite hitter, and the two strike approach he employed was too picky quite often. He struck out looking far too often. IMHO, I want him looking to do damage. I don’t want him to expand the zone often, but there are times he should be more aggressive with runners on base. Watching him in college, he had an uncanny ability to get big hits to drive in runs. That was a long time ago, Yes, but that is the type of hitter he is.

The only other negative thing I have to say is I sometimes question his pitch calling. In fairness, I wonder how much of that is dictated by analytics staffers, and how much discretion is he given. In several instances, we got hurt this year when Adley called the same pitch and location four consecutive pitches.

He is an outstanding player, and by all accounts, a great teammate and face of the franchise. But for goodness sakes Adley, stop skipping leg day!

He may have elite plate discipline but I wouldn’t call him an elite hitter.  

[Jim'sKid26]

50 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Three years after that article was written, Realmuto has put up 13.6 rWAR, basically justifying the entire cost of his 5 year contract.  Chances are high that he will substantially exceed the value of that extension.  

As I said, Realmuto may not be a reasonable comp for Adley. I was pointing out that the logic is based on the vast majority of catchers and their drop off after age 30. There are definitely exceptions to every rule. In your view is Adley an except to the existing data? He might be. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Jim'sKid26
spelling

[Osornot]

sheesh.. sure hope Adley doesn't read this.  Don't worry dude you don't look fat in that uniform.

If I had an ounce of political correctness / snowflake-ism in me I would be calling y'all out for this egregious hate speech and condition-shaming.  (admin - if I need to delete this statement please feel free or let me know - I do not agree or condone my statements)

Never draft a catcher at #1-1? 

How about:

Never draft a pitcher at #1-1 because "they all break".  I'd rather have a "out of condition" catcher than a broken pitcher.

- tongue-in-cheek -

Never draft a high schooler at #1-1 because they are too young....

Never draft a college senior at #1-1 because they are too old....

Never draft a college senior at #1-1 because the parents are too old....

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

As I said, Realmuto may not be a reasonable comp for Adley. I was pointing out that the logic is based on the vast majority of catchers and their drop off after age 30. There are definitely exceptions to every rule. In your view is Adley an except to the existing data? He might be. 

I have no idea if Adley will be an exception to existing data.  I think it’s always dangerous to make decisions based on the hope that someone turns out to be an exception to a general rule.   But, I also suspect that the Orioles have more sophisticated methods of distinguishing who might age well from who might not than is available to us.   

Two traits Adley has that do age well are plate discipline and leadership.  
 

[Chavez Ravine]

I think it is just that Adley has cute pretty boy locks that distract from how hard he is.

[Matt Bennett]

On 10/14/2023 at 10:41 AM, dystopia said:

Adley's the face of the franchise now

You are thinking of Gunnar Henderson, who is better than Adley at a much younger age and who was just voted Most Valuable Oriole and will soon be named Rookie of the Year and possibly a Gold Glover.

Also, I acknowledge I’m just salty and coping from the playoff sweep and it’s ridiculous to draw any significant conclusion from three games, but one of them showed up in the playoff series when the whole country watching and it wasn’t Adley. 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Matt Bennett said:

You are thinking of Gunnar Henderson, who is better than Adley at a much younger age and who was just voted Most Valuable Oriole and will soon be named Rookie of the Year and possibly a Gold Glover.

Also, I acknowledge I’m just salty and coping from the playoff sweep and it’s ridiculous to draw any significant conclusion from three games, but one of them showed up in the playoff series when the whole country watching and it wasn’t Adley. 

When I see an Oriole player in a MLB or ESPN graphic it's mostly been Adley.

So for right now, I'd say the literal face is Adley.

 

[foxfield]

Tongue in cheek:

Debating who is the face of the Orioles Adley or Gunnar is seriously disrespectful towards Jackson. 
 

But judging by the amount of space taken here this year it is quite clear that the face of the Orioles is Adam Frazier.