Ryan Mountcastle 2024

[sportsfan8703]

Mountcastle looked good on OD. 1-3 BB, and sac fly. He had a .900ish OPS post vertigo last year. 

[emmett16]

He had good ABs for sure.  I’m hoping the walk in first AB is a good omen for the season. 

[interloper]

I've come to really appreciate what Mounty brings to the lineup. He's just a professional hitter. He's not perfect, but it's easy to forget he's a homegrown guy we drafted and developed and turned into a quality power-hitting 1B who hits in the middle of a lineup of a very good team. 

[DirtyBird]

13 minutes ago, interloper said:

I've come to really appreciate what Mounty brings to the lineup. He's just a professional hitter. 

"Professional hitter" = perennial .800+ OPS 

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

"Professional hitter" = perennial .800+ OPS 

Agree to disagree here. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

"Professional hitter" = perennial .800+ OPS 

I can see that.  Also being patient at the plate, something he's not known for.

 

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, interloper said:

Agree to disagree here. 

What's your definition of a "professional hitter" then?

[sportsfan8703]

Things to take into consideration when evaluating Mounty,

- Vertigo

- The Wall

- Drafted and developed under a different regime. 

- He’s only 12 months older than Adley.  Meaning he can grow into being a more “professional hitter”.

Who knows how much the vertigo affected him?  Who knows how much the Wall got into his head?  How much does the current coaching staff/analytics dept help him compared to previously. 

[interloper]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

What's your definition of a "professional hitter" then?

Well, there are plenty of good ML hitters who don't crack the .800 OPS mark, which is just an arbitrary threshold anyway. What I meant was just that he's a quality ML bat who knows how to hit and passes the eye test of a solid MLer. He's a guy you didn't realize you miss when he's not in the lineup, and we sort of take him for granted simply because we're foaming at the mouth for Coby Mayo, understandably. 

I much rather go by OPS+. Mounty is at 114, so 14% above average. You'd like it to be higher for a 1B, sure, but he also brings other skills like being decently fast, a good defender, and a knack for murdering the Blue Jays. If Mounty had stuck at 3B, we're probably not complaining as much about him. 

Let's compare him to someone like Trey Mancini, who had 2 seasons that can be described as better than any of Mounty's full seasons, but then completely fell off a cliff. I'll take Mounty's steady brand of "I wish he was slightly better but I'll take it" production. He's a solid player. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Things to take into consideration when evaluating Mounty,

- Vertigo

- The Wall

- Drafted and developed under a different regime. 

- He’s only 12 months older than Adley.  Meaning he can grow into being a more “professional hitter”.

Who knows how much the vertigo affected him?  Who knows how much the Wall got into his head?  How much does the current coaching staff/analytics dept help him compared to previously. 

Developed?  So the Elias regime gets no credit/blame for anything he's done as a hitter?

 

[Moose Milligan]

20 minutes ago, interloper said:

Well, there are plenty of good ML hitters who don't crack the .800 OPS mark, which is just an arbitrary threshold anyway. What I meant was just that he's a quality ML bat who knows how to hit and passes the eye test of a solid MLer. He's a guy you didn't realize you miss when he's not in the lineup, and we sort of take him for granted simply because we're foaming at the mouth for Coby Mayo, understandably. 

I much rather go by OPS+. Mounty is at 114, so 14% above average. You'd like it to be higher for a 1B, sure, but he also brings other skills like being decently fast, a good defender, and a knack for murdering the Blue Jays. If Mounty had stuck at 3B, we're probably not complaining as much about him. 

Let's compare him to someone like Trey Mancini, who had 2 seasons that can be described as better than any of Mounty's full seasons, but then completely fell off a cliff. I'll take Mounty's steady brand of "I wish he was slightly better but I'll take it" production. He's a solid player. 

.800 isn't an arbitrary threshold.  It's pretty much a benchmark for a productive hitter.  

I don't know what you mean by "quality ML bat" and "knows how to hit."  Like, I think I know what you mean, but those are platitudes that get thrown around far too often to the point that they don't mean anything at all.  But when I see him flail away on a low and outside slider for the umpteenth time, I don't necessarily consider that a quality ML bat who knows how to hit.  He can run into a fastball from time to time and crush mistakes, but I don't know if I'd put him in the category of a "professional hitter" like I would for Adley.

I agree that Mounty has a place here, but I also don't find myself considering him super core member of the team.  He's a fan favorite and understandably so, and that's fine, per your comp to Trey Mancini.  But Mancini never was long for this team, I don't believe Mountcastle is either.  

[yark14]

A professional hitter is someone that gets paid to hit.  So by definition every position player in the league is a professional hitter.  Except Anthony Rendon.  He just gets paid.

Edited March 29 by yark14

[sportsfan8703]

48 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Developed?  So the Elias regime gets no credit/blame for anything he's done as a hitter?

 

Developed as in his whole time in the minors was under the prior regime. 

Developed vs MLB adjustments. It’s just semantics. At what point do big leaguers cross that “development” threshold?

Edited March 29 by sportsfan8703

[maybenxtyr]

I like him, and he's adequate considering the construction of the rest of the team. However, I don't think of him as a guy I'd want to see up in a must drive in a run situation. He has too much swing and miss. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Developed as in his whole time in the minors was under the prior regime. 

Developed vs MLB adjustments. It’s just semantics. At what point do big leaguers cross that “development” threshold?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=mountc000rya