Right handed hitters, importance of Westburg and Mayo

[Pat Kelly]

It's early and this is more of an impression than data driven analysis, but curious to see how the O's develop RHH which always seems more of an issue when facing LHP.     Today's game against Detmers exposes some of this. 

Best RHH vs LHP seems to be trending to a Ryan - Adley bake-off.    Santander is likely next, followed by hot streak versions of Mateo and Hays (Hays looks terrible right now).   Urias and McCann are back-ups at best for most contenders.    Most of the org's elite talent is LH.    Which is why Westburg and Mayo are key, they both need to become at least elite against LHP.  Don't see Hays getting better - more likely to get worse, same for Mateo.   It also seems most of the RHH  - Urias, Mateo, Hays, McCann - are here primarily for defense.

There are no other impact RHH in the organization given the draft emphasis on LHH.  Maybe this doesn't matter, but fail to understand the obsession with LH IFs and OFs at the expense of any real development of right handed power.       Be curious to see if this is addressed.

Edited March 31 by Pat Kelly

[Orioles0615]

This is why some people wanted JD Martinez

[Brooks The Great]

11 minutes ago, Orioles0615 said:

This is why some people wanted JD Martinez

More practically, this is why it was a mistake not to bring Connor Norby north with the major league team to take most of the DH at bats against LHP.

[Aristotelian]

Not a problem if you have lefties who can hit lefties, and better than having too few lefties to hit RHP. 

[Aristotelian]

17 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

More practically, this is why it was a mistake not to bring Connor Norby north with the major league team to take most of the DH at bats against LHP.

You would rather have Norby than Adley today or Westburg in Game 1? 

[Moose Milligan]

I said before, I am wondering if Elias and Sig (and Eve, @Roy Firestone!) are looking at some data about having a preponderance of lefties in the lineup. Essentially, I’m wondering if they think the ability to dominate against RHP starters is worth essentially punting against lefty starters. 
 

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I said before, I am wondering if Elias and Sig (and Eve, @Roy Firestone!) are looking at some data about having a preponderance of lefties in the lineup. Essentially, I’m wondering if they think the ability to dominate against RHP starters is worth essentially punting against lefty starters. 
 

Last year we were #10 in MLB with a .764 OPS vs LHP whereas we were #16/.734 vs RHP. Somehow we managed to hit LHP despite starting Gunnar and Cedric most days. I do not think we are punting vs LHP by any means. 

[Malike]

Hays is terrible, he has a .490 OPS in 3 games. Westburg is right behind him at .522 OPS. If Westburg is going to be a key, he's going to have to hit at some point.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

More practically, this is why it was a mistake not to bring Connor Norby north with the major league team to take most of the DH at bats against LHP.

You means the two ABs that Kemp brought was not worth not having a red Hot Norby DHing against lefties?

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Malike said:

Hays is terrible, he has a .490 OPS in 3 games. Westburg is right behind him at .522 OPS. If Westburg is going to be a key, he's going to have to hit at some point.

Well more precisely, he has to start hitting for some pop. Westburg was disappointing last year power wise at the the big league level and this spring he was not exactly hitting bombs consistently. He looks very unbalanced at the plate and while he's had some nice deep count PAs, he's not driving the ball very much and is not a power threat at all at this point.

[Brooks The Great]

5 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

You would rather have Norby than Adley today or Westburg in Game 1? 

It's not good that I have to explain this, but I will.

Yes, I would have rather had Norby at DH in Game 1, BUT with Westburg at 2B. As I would every game against LHP that Adley doesn't DH. So I wouldn't be platooning Mateo whatsoever - he should strictly be a pinch runner and late game defensive replacement in CF and at 2B/SS. And a terrible player like Tony Kemp wouldn't be on this team.

In games where Adley DH's, I'd put Norby at 2B and Westburg at 3B, or I'd have Norby on the bench where he would be a much better pinch-hitting option for Mateo for the rare games Mateo would/could start at 2B.

Edited April 1 by Brooks The Great

[emmett16]

6 hours ago, Pat Kelly said:

It's early and this is more of an impression than data driven analysis, but curious to see how the O's develop RHH which always seems more of an issue when facing LHP.     Today's game against Detmers exposes some of this. 

Best RHH vs LHP seems to be trending to a Ryan - Adley bake-off.    Santander is likely next, followed by hot streak versions of Mateo and Hays (Hays looks terrible right now).   Urias and McCann are back-ups at best for most contenders.    Most of the org's elite talent is LH.    Which is why Westburg and Mayo are key, they both need to become at least elite against LHP.  Don't see Hays getting better - more likely to get worse, same for Mateo.   It also seems most of the RHH  - Urias, Mateo, Hays, McCann - are here primarily for defense.

There are no other impact RHH in the organization given the draft emphasis on LHH.  Maybe this doesn't matter, but fail to understand the obsession with LH IFs and OFs at the expense of any real development of right handed power.       Be curious to see if this is addressed.

~25% of all PAs in one year are v LHP.  Our park is made for a LHB and penalizes RHBs. 

[Aristotelian]

21 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

It's not good that I have to explain this, but I will.

Yes, I would have rather had Norby at DH in Game 1, BUT with Westburg at 2B. As I would every game against LHP that Adley doesn't DH. So I wouldn't be platooning Mateo whatsoever - he should strictly be a pinch runner and late game defensive replacement in CF and at 2B/SS. And a terrible player like Tony Kemp wouldn't be on this team.

In games where Adley DH's, I'd put Norby at 2B and Westburg at 3B, or I'd have Norby on the bench where he would be a much better pinch-hitting option Mateo for the rare games Mateo would/could start at 2B.

If you want Mateo on the bench, it should be Urias 3B/Westburg 2B/Adley DH. I agree, I would prefer Norby to Kemp but don't really see a role for either.

[emmett16]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

You means the two ABs that Kemp brought was not worth not having a red Hot Norby DHing against lefties?

I wonder if Norby gets the call before Mayo and Holliday.  He’s close to 650 AAA PAs now.  

[EddeeEddee]

This team can't afford to carry all of Mateo, Urias and Westburg much longer.  They all overlap too much, especially as right-handed hitters with limited power and OBP potential.  Westburg should be the best hitter of the three but really so far has yet to show he's better than Urias.  Two of these guys need to make room for Holiday and Mayo pretty soon -- that is unless Mayo goes to the outfield or some other player gets moved, like O'Hearn.