TT: How both Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo can make the opening day roster

[Frobby]

11 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

They haven't moved him off the position.

I think you hit a point of diminishing returns with what you can learn in the minors.

When it comes to defense, you can learn in either the majors or the minors by getting more reps.   There are minor differences but they’re minuscule compared to the difference in facing major league vs. minor league pitching.

Mayo has proven to me that his bat is ready for the majors.  The glove has come  a long way, but he’s still significantly behind Urias and Westburg on that score, I think.   He still might be the best overall option, but he’ll need to await his opportunity   

 

[btdart20]

30 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I agree with your statement overall premise regarding the young INF prospects/players. However, I do not agree with lumping Henderson in with that group. IMO he is established as one of our best/cornerstone players now. No one will be taking ABs/playing time away from him. And I most certainly don’t want him rotating spots with 3 other guys. I hope that Holliday can be d of a player as him, but as of now that is a mystery. The other two (Westburg & Mayo) while good would be a fall off by replacing him with them, or giving them equal playing time.

IMO Henderson is a budding superstar. The rest of those guys, it remains to be seen.

I agree with this.  Gunnar has earned 95% PAs (with some at DH).  Any PAs for anyone else shouldn't come at Gunnar's expense.  He seems locked in at SS.

Holliday is on the path but needs to prove it.  The same can be said for Mayo with a lesser degree of certainty.  (I'm fully on board with both as future studs.)

Both of them should get 75+% of PAs once they are on the roster.  So I think Urias, Mateo, Westburg, Mountcastle,  O'Hearn, and anyone else who DH's will feel a squeeze. 

Will Urias and Mateo combine for more than 300 PAs?  That's directly correlated to Mayo, Westburg, and Holliday.'s PAs.

 

[Tony-OH]

12 hours ago, EdwinRip said:

Holliday and Mayo coming in at the end of the game while Wong, Nevin, McKenna start.  It doesn’t make sense if you are looking to take Holliday North with only 3 more spring training days left.  I still think it’s about 50/50 for Holliday and 0% for Mayo.

Unless you already know one or both have made the team.  

[Just Regular]

There sure were a lot of quick ground outs last night.     I know the league loves the revenue from a full slate of games with minor leaguers wearing big leaguers pajamas, but by now it feels like much of baseball is ready to fast forward these next few days.

Just nobody get hurt.    I guess probably Corbin Burnes today before 5 days of rest and Thursday afternoon.

[rm5678]

3 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

 

 I guess probably Corbin Burnes today before 5 days of rest and Thursday afternoon.

Yes, Burnes is scheduled to start tonight, but there's a 77% chance of rain in Sarasota at game time. Drops to 58% at 7pm. So I'm not sure tonight's game will even get played. If it doesn't, then Burnes will only get 4 days of rest (unless opening day is rained out).

[forphase1]

2 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

I agree with your statement overall premise regarding the young INF prospects/players. However, I do not agree with lumping Henderson in with that group. IMO he is established as one of our best/cornerstone players now. No one will be taking ABs/playing time away from him. And I most certainly don’t want him rotating spots with 3 other guys. I hope that Holliday can be d of a player as him, but as of now that is a mystery. The other two (Westburg & Mayo) while good would be a fall off by replacing him with them, or giving them equal playing time.

IMO Henderson is a budding superstar. The rest of those guys, it remains to be seen.

Sure, I don't disagree.  My bigger point was just that WHEN Henderson gets a day off (rare as they may be) with Mayo, Westburg and Holliday all on the roster, there is no real need to keep Urias/Mateo around to fill in for Henderson either.  Between the 4 of them there is plenty of playing time, and with their abilities they can move around a bit if needed.  For example, Holliday and to a lesser extent Westburg can both play SS in the times we DO give Henderson a day off of the field.  Now we CAN carry Mateo as the true backup SS, but its not really a necessity.  

For a bigger picture, I grew up with Cal being my sports hero.  I loved how he played every game, heck every inning for a long while.  But that doesn't really happen any more.  Good, bad or indifferent, the game has changed in regards to that.  Last year only 4 players played in 162 games.  Last year only 13 players had over 620 at bats.  Ripken did that 10 times in his career alone.  It's honestly been a bit difficult for me to adjust my thinking that not every player can be like Cal and play every game.  Henderson is young, and can (and should) play a ton of baseball.  But he's going to DH on occasion and get some games off here and there.  I know you weren't advocating him starting every single game, but I know I've advocated that at times myself, and just need to remind myself now and then that such a workload doesn't happen often any longer.

[Bemorewins]

1 hour ago, forphase1 said:

Sure, I don't disagree.  My bigger point was just that WHEN Henderson gets a day off (rare as they may be) with Mayo, Westburg and Holliday all on the roster, there is no real need to keep Urias/Mateo around to fill in for Henderson either.  Between the 4 of them there is plenty of playing time, and with their abilities they can move around a bit if needed.  For example, Holliday and to a lesser extent Westburg can both play SS in the times we DO give Henderson a day off of the field.  Now we CAN carry Mateo as the true backup SS, but its not really a necessity.  

For a bigger picture, I grew up with Cal being my sports hero.  I loved how he played every game, heck every inning for a long while.  But that doesn't really happen any more.  Good, bad or indifferent, the game has changed in regards to that.  Last year only 4 players played in 162 games.  Last year only 13 players had over 620 at bats.  Ripken did that 10 times in his career alone.  It's honestly been a bit difficult for me to adjust my thinking that not every player can be like Cal and play every game.  Henderson is young, and can (and should) play a ton of baseball.  But he's going to DH on occasion and get some games off here and there.  I know you weren't advocating him starting every single game, but I know I've advocated that at times myself, and just need to remind myself now and then that such a workload doesn't happen often any longer.

I loved Cal as well as I assume most fans did.

I agree that Henderson probably won’t play 162. But he should be penciled in for 150+ barring injury. That’s around 10 games or so when he will be sitting. That’s what Holliday and Westburg should be slatted to fill in for … In other words, not anything that should amount to substantial.

As the roster stands now, with Santander/Mountcastle/O’Hearn DH is pretty much covered up with the exception of Adley’s time there. That would leave 4 guys for 3 spots and as I mentioned Henderson should be penciled in at SS just about every day. 

So, really that’s 3 guys for 2 spots (2B and 3B). Because they are all young players who need reps/ABs consistently at this level, I think it would be diminishing returns on our assets to platoon any of them. 

IMO we simply have too many players and not enough spots this year (and projecting forward), even if Mateo and Urias are not factors for significant playing time (which they should not be).

Last point, for all those who advocate for constant movement of players/platoons/players being used interchangeably; the Braves don’t do things that way and appear to be fine going with the same 9/10 just about every day.