Orioles Sign INF/OF Tony Kemp

[Just Regular]

Poking at the team OBP table, I noticed the AL-worst 2023 CHW garnered just 5980 PA, 36.9 per game.     In other words, their games ended on average before anyone aside from the leadoff guy got a 5th PA.

AL-best TEX get 6306 PA.   That's 326 more PA from the heart of your order, late in the game.

The Orioles' 6123 PA are hopefully the Club's last year in the Bottom Half of this league rank.    Mateo was king, but Mullins and Frazier both also logged High PA/Low OBP years for the 2023 Orioles.

[baltfan]

OBP emphasis seems to be waning among statistically driven clubs.   With how good stuff has gotten for pitchers, there seems to be an emphasis taking advantage of the opportunity to hit what might be your only hittable pitch.  You saw it with Gunnar last year.  His approach I think for most batters will be the future except for guys like Soto

[sportsfan8703]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Elias said Holliday hasn’t even faced many AAA quality LHP.   And 9 K’s in 15 PA vs. LHP this spring isn’t a lie.  

Two things here,

- Why didn’t Matt Holliday set up offseason live ABs with some of his LHP buddies?  Even recently retired. 

- The writing was on the wall that Holliday was going down when he was not starting along side Gunnar and instead was starting with the B team/road team in ST. 

[sportsfan8703]

The Rays just made a very similar move to Tony Kemp, by acquiring Niko Goodrum. Basically the same move. Heck, we may have had to outbid them in salary to sign Kemp. 

Another smart team that values position flexibility, LH, speed, off the bench for 162. 

[interloper]

10 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

The Rays just made a very similar move to Tony Kemp, by acquiring Niko Goodrum. Basically the same move. Heck, we may have had to outbid them in salary to sign Kemp. 

Another smart team that values position flexibility, LH, speed, off the bench for 162. 

He's arguably much worse than Kemp, too. 

[Brooks The Great]

2 hours ago, baltfan said:

OBP emphasis seems to be waning among statistically driven clubs.   With how good stuff has gotten for pitchers, there seems to be an emphasis taking advantage of the opportunity to hit what might be your only hittable pitch.  You saw it with Gunnar last year.  His approach I think for most batters will be the future except for guys like Soto

The O's have the ability to be a rare team that combines both approaches to wear opposing pitchers out. OBP is scarce as it is, but once this lineup finally includes Holliday, Cowser, Mayo, and Kjerstad regularly, starting pitchers will be racking up their pitch counts and getting destroyed in general. This is eventually (by end of August most likely, and certainly by 2025) going to be a high OBP team with lots of power.

I also think pitchers are going to adjust to Gunnar and pitch around him more, so his OBP is going to go up a bit. He's too good of a hitter not to adjust and has always been patient, so I expect him to find a good balance which involves more walks. Really excited to see what kind of a season he turns in.

[emmett16]

3 hours ago, baltfan said:

OBP emphasis seems to be waning among statistically driven clubs.   With how good stuff has gotten for pitchers, there seems to be an emphasis taking advantage of the opportunity to hit what might be your only hittable pitch.  You saw it with Gunnar last year.  His approach I think for most batters will be the future except for guys like Soto

OBP is a bi-product of only swinging at a pitch you can do damage on.  It’s not taking for the sake of taking.  It’s being disciplined to only swing at pitches that are in the zone that your swing thrives in.  The bulk of OBP comes from BA and the players ability to impact the baseball.  

[emmett16]

19 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Tony Kemp is the equivalent of the 3rd catcher.   But he’s an emergency fill in in the OF or the infield and he can pinch run for McCann or some other slow guy late in a game if Mateo isn’t available.

He’s pretty slow himself.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/tony-kemp-643393?stats=statcast-r-running-mlb

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/james-mccann-543510?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

Like pretty much same Speed as McCann. 

Edited March 27 by emmett16

[RZNJ]

18 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

He’s pretty slow himself.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/tony-kemp-643393?stats=statcast-r-running-mlb

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/james-mccann-543510?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

Like pretty much same Speed as McCann. 

Interesting.  He really is Adam Frazier.  LOL

[Tony-OH]

5 hours ago, TommyPickles said:

Worth -12 defensive runs saved last season. 
 

Below average at left field.

Horrible at 2B. One of the worst in MLB.

He was graded better by OAA with 0 making him major league average at 2B and is playable in LF as well.

[oriolediehard]

At least Kemp allowed us to get rid of Maton who was 0-23 in ST, he was horrible at the plate.

[Tony-OH]

Here's the last thing I will say on this. I do have to give Elias/Sig some leeway here. hey signed Adam Frazier to a ridiculous $8 million contract and then played him pretty much everyday until mid season and the team still won 101 games last year.

Unlike Frazier, Kemp cost 1/8 the salary is will not be a starter on most days. He's a bench guy who will be able to give Urias and Westburg a break here and there against a tough righty and if needed, can fill in out in LF. 

Unless an injury occurs, I imagine he will be gone when Holliday is deemed "ready". 

Why is here vs Wong? Maybe because he has a little more positional versatility and is a bit better defender at 2B according to OAA. 

 

[Fiver6565]

6 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Here's the last thing I will say on this. I do have to give Elias/Sig some leeway here. hey signed Adam Frazier to a ridiculous $8 million contract and then played him pretty much everyday until mid season and the team still won 101 games last year.

Unlike Frazier, Kemp cost 1/8 the salary is will not be a starter on most days. He's a bench guy who will be able to give Urias and Westburg a break here and there against a tough righty and if needed, can fill in out in LF. 

Unless an injury occurs, I imagine he will be gone when Holliday is deemed "ready". 

Why is here vs Wong? Maybe because he has a little more positional versatility and is a bit better defender at 2B according to OAA. 

 

I also think Wong would have cost $2M not $1M, but I could be conflating that w/ the Teheran potential salary that didn't come to pass.

Either way, it seems clear that the brass does not want a top prospect being the 25-26th player on the roster (or the 12-13th position player, that is). If they did, Norby might be here, or Holliday if its the LH thing they really want. Kemp can sit for days on end and no one will be concerned about it (including Kemp), and that's what they want in that spot.  He's basically the new McKenna in that regard.

Now, if he starts getting a bunch of PT, starting every time a RH pitcher is on the mound, etc,  in lieu of Westburg (or even Urias, at this point), or if it becomes clear that Holliday and/or Mayo are down strictly because of Kemp, that will be cause for concern.  But I don't think that's likely to happen.  Seems like a useful bench piece, long story short.

[baltfan]

7 hours ago, emmett16 said:

OBP is a bi-product of only swinging at a pitch you can do damage on.  It’s not taking for the sake of taking.  It’s being disciplined to only swing at pitches that are in the zone that your swing thrives in.  The bulk of OBP comes from BA and the players ability to impact the baseball.  

There aren’t as many meatballs as there used to be. 

[Punchandjudy]

On 3/26/2024 at 3:00 PM, ThisIsBirdland said:

Not so sure about this track record...

Elias is the new Ozzie and the Astros are the new Bama.