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Kjerstad's Defense


Jagwar

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6 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

Hard to do that when he's only allowed to start once every 4 or 5 games, or less. The way Elias and Hyde have handled Kjerstad's playing time has been terrible. He never should have been called up to rot on the bench. Westburg and Cowser were mishandled the same way, they both would have been much bigger contributors last season if they had been given everyday playing time instead of getting platooned/benched for significantly less talented veterans. 

So who would you have brought up instead?  Stowers?  I guess you could have but I don't see the difference.

He wasn't brought up to play, he was brought up to fill out the roster due to injury.

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8 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

Hard to do that when he's only allowed to start once every 4 or 5 games, or less. The way Elias and Hyde have handled Kjerstad's playing time has been terrible. He never should have been called up to rot on the bench. Westburg and Cowser were mishandled the same way, they both would have been much bigger contributors last season if they had been given everyday playing time instead of getting platooned/benched for significantly less talented veterans. 

I don’t think the way the Orioles handled Westburg fits your narrative at all.  He was on the team for 86 games and played in 68 of them, including 54 starts.  He got way more playing time than either Cowser or Kjerstad.  I wouldn’t say he was platooned, either.  He had 30 starts vs. RHP, 24 vs. LHP.  I’m sure he sat more often vs. RHP than LHP, but he still had plenty of chances against both.  

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Kjerstad had a promising start last year and I had hoped that would carry on into this year, similar to Westburg. It hasn’t happened yet, but he really hasn’t been given much of a chance. In my opinion he is Santander’s replacement next year, maybe with a bit more time at DH. So I think once Hays is back we’ll see him sent back down and he’ll be back and forth sparingly. Then we all just gotta hold out hope he can be the slugger we think he can be in 2025.

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15 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think the way the Orioles handled Westburg fits your narrative at all.  He was on the team for 86 games and played in 68 of them, including 54 starts.  He got way more playing time than either Cowser or Kjerstad.  I wouldn’t say he was platooned, either.  He had 30 starts vs. RHP, 24 vs. LHP.  I’m sure he sat more often vs. RHP than LHP, but he still had plenty of chances against both.  

Didn't Frazier losing his job have something to do with that?

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2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

So who would you have brought up instead?  Stowers?  I guess you could have but I don't see the difference.

He wasn't brought up to play, he was brought up to fill out the roster due to injury.

I think that’s the issue right? He wasn’t brought up to play? That seems silly. You have 2 vets that are very inconsistent and are not hitting their weight, so there is plenty of opportunities to get Heston at bats besides once every 4-5 games. Plus it’s silly to not give regulars at least a day off every now and then so you could have O’HIM at first and Heston DH. We have the players to keep everyone fresh throughout the year. 

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14 hours ago, Section84 said:

I couldn't watch on TV today but on radio, Melanie said he jumped early in the 3rd on that double.  Is that what you guys saw too?

I was at the game and had a great view of the play as was in row 2 upper box 358; he actually made a good run to the ball going full speed but the ball popped out of his glove.

He should be fine in RF with more reps as other have mentioned but the canyon of left field may not be the best for him.

The Dbacks definitely had a plan of attack to scorch a lot of balls his way.

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3 hours ago, OHearn4Prez said:

I think that’s the issue right? He wasn’t brought up to play? That seems silly. You have 2 vets that are very inconsistent and are not hitting their weight, so there is plenty of opportunities to get Heston at bats besides once every 4-5 games. Plus it’s silly to not give regulars at least a day off every now and then so you could have O’HIM at first and Heston DH. We have the players to keep everyone fresh throughout the year. 

In fairness, Kjerstad was is the starting lineup right after being called up and struck out three out of four at bats.  He was overmatched.  He hasn't looked good at the plate, in terms of consistent contact or driving the ball.  Do we keep running that out there every  night and leave O'Hearn on the bench?  Some might say yes, he needs to get consistent at bats.  How did that work for Jackson Holliday, who was equally overmatched.?

O'Hearn is not overmatched, and gives consistent, quality professional at bats.  I don't understand why people can't see that O'Hearn  earned his playing time by actually performing when given the chance.  And, as much as people don't want to hear this, even McKenna hasn't struggled as mightily since his recall as Kjerstad and Holliday did.  

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3 hours ago, OHearn4Prez said:

I think that’s the issue right? He wasn’t brought up to play? That seems silly. You have 2 vets that are very inconsistent and are not hitting their weight, so there is plenty of opportunities to get Heston at bats besides once every 4-5 games. Plus it’s silly to not give regulars at least a day off every now and then so you could have O’HIM at first and Heston DH. We have the players to keep everyone fresh throughout the year. 

By the way, my previous comment wasn't directed at you specifically.....you appear to also be an O'Hearn supporter.

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1 hour ago, KojiSplit said:

I was at the game and had a great view of the play as was in row 2 upper box 358; he actually made a good run to the ball going full speed but the ball popped out of his glove.

He should be fine in RF with more reps as other have mentioned but the canyon of left field may not be the best for him.

The Dbacks definitely had a plan of attack to scorch a lot of balls his way.

Do you honestly believe that the DBacks had a game plan to hit the ball (or scorch it) to Kjerstad?   Seriously???  Please tell me no.

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10 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

In fairness, Kjerstad was is the starting lineup right after being called up and struck out three out of four at bats.  He was overmatched.  He hasn't looked good at the plate, in terms of consistent contact or driving the ball.  Do we keep running that out there every  night and leave O'Hearn on the bench?  Some might say yes, he needs to get consistent at bats.  How did that work for Jackson Holliday, who was equally overmatched.?

O'Hearn is not overmatched, and gives consistent, quality professional at bats.  I don't understand why people can't see that O'Hearn  earned his playing time by actually performing when given the chance.  And, as much as people don't want to hear this, even McKenna hasn't struggled as mightily since his recall as Kjerstad and Holliday did.  

My question is how does one overcome that? It’s a timing issue sure, but like, if you don’t play at all, or come off the bench randomly does that help either? Perhaps it’s just being aggressive? I honestly don’t know, but O’Hearn was an adventure in right, him being out in left just seems like a recipe for disaster. That being said, his bat is about as consistent as you can get so let’s see what happens today!

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4 hours ago, OHearn4Prez said:

I think that’s the issue right? He wasn’t brought up to play? That seems silly. You have 2 vets that are very inconsistent and are not hitting their weight, so there is plenty of opportunities to get Heston at bats besides once every 4-5 games. Plus it’s silly to not give regulars at least a day off every now and then so you could have O’HIM at first and Heston DH. We have the players to keep everyone fresh throughout the year. 

Enough off days built into the early part of the season to keep guys fresh.

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18 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

Do you honestly believe that the DBacks had a game plan to hit the ball (or scorch it) to Kjerstad?   Seriously???  Please tell me no.

2 hours ago, KojiSplit said:

I was at the game and had a great view of the play as was in row 2 upper box 358; he actually made a good run to the ball going full speed but the ball popped out of his glove.

He should be fine in RF with more reps as other have mentioned but the canyon of left field may not be the best for him.

The Dbacks definitely had a plan of attack to scorch a lot of balls his way.

Your view couldn’t have been that good.  It didn’t pop out of his glove because his glove didn’t touch it.

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20 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

Do you honestly believe that the DBacks had a game plan to hit the ball (or scorch it) to Kjerstad?   Seriously???  Please tell me no.

How many damn question marks do you need?

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