Struggling Prospects

[Bahama O's Fan]

I will preface this by saying that the playing time of some of our rookies has not been handled well, but it's something we must consider. Are they just adjusting or will they not "get it"? Stowers has struggled, Holliday has struggled, Kjerstad didn't do well, Cowser has not been great overall, McKenna tears up AAA but not so much up at major league level. I think we are counting on having our major league roster mostly replenished with these and other young guys soon. Are we holding onto fool's gold or are they legit and just need playing time? Soon, we should see the departure of our entire OF. Can Cowser, Stowers, McKenna, Kjerstad cover at least two of those. Soon, Holliday and Norby/Mayo should replace Mateo and Urias. Can they do it? Thoughts?

[Malike]

I'd guess there are many more top prospects that weren't able to figure it out than those that were. I'm still confident that the Orioles are not going to have a 100% success rate with their top prospects and some will be below-average MLB players.

[maybenxtyr]

As much success as Baltimore has had thus far doesn't mean that they will all work out. Not to mention the fact that there's varying degrees of working out.  

 

Some of the players you mentioned haven't even gotten a chance yet, and the ones that have it's too early to make any proclamations about how they'll pan out. Elias will have to augment the roster via some trades and free agents as more vets move along. 

[MCO'sFan]

I think that the vast majority of prospects struggle at some piont early on. Even those that have immediate success seem to go through a pretty deep adjustment period fairly early. I think that is why the O's are trying to "introduce" 1 to 2 at a time. The question is how bad they struggle and how quickly they come out of it. 

[FlaO'sFan]

Several articles referenced on here lately have offered up that the difference in talent level between AAA and MLB is not small, and that MLB is for the "big dawgs". I think we have seen that with how some of our prospects have struggled, and it has definitely changed my mind in thinking that all of our top MiL guys are going to be superstars.

I'm not going to say who I think will or will not live up to some of our expectations, but I have definitely tempered my enthusiasm for some.

[TopGunnar]

I’d rather watch a prospect struggle then Cedric Mullins get 4 at bats a game.

[Three Run Homer]

We are in an unusual situation in that we want to win now (and are winning now), yet we also have a lot of good prospects that need playing time.  Those two goals come into conflict somewhat, because almost all prospects struggle out of the gate.   But so far, we have been able to win in spite of Adley, Gunnar, GrayRod and Westburg struggling somewhat at first--and now that they are over their struggles, they are all core players.  

There will be more pain as we try to work in Cowser, Holliday, Mayo and Kjerstad, and it's possible that some of them won't work out.  But the potential payoff is huge, and as long as we are winning I'm willing to put up with some young players struggling this year and next.  

 

[Dunk35]

I can assure OP that Mckenna isn't a prospect. Heck he's not even in the organization. 

[Bemorewins]

30 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

I will preface this by saying that the playing time of some of our rookies has not been handled well, but it's something we must consider. Are they just adjusting or will they not "get it"? Stowers has struggled, Holliday has struggled, Kjerstad didn't do well, Cowser has not been great overall, McKenna tears up AAA but not so much up at major league level. I think we are counting on having our major league roster mostly replenished with these and other young guys soon. Are we holding onto fool's gold or are they legit and just need playing time? Soon, we should see the departure of our entire OF. Can Cowser, Stowers, McKenna, Kjerstad cover at least two of those. Soon, Holliday and Norby/Mayo should replace Mateo and Urias. Can they do it? Thoughts?

Thoughts - Some guys adjust quicker than others. But there is no magic formula. Look around the game, there are plenty of top tier prospects who are/have struggled in the last few years.

Also, from reading your post, you seem to be grouping McKenna, Norby, Cowser, Stowers, Kjerstad, Mayo, and Holliday altogether. There are different tiers of prospect rankings/talents among them.

McKenna is not nor ever has been a highly rated prospect in terms of top 100 rankings. He is a classic AAAA guy. Stowers is 26 at this point and again was never a highly rated prospect in terms of top 100. He is not too old to be considered a prospect at this point. And Kjerstad (who had 2 years taken away from him due to his health) is on his way to being considered no longer a prospect at age 25.

Cowser, Mayo, and Holliday are the more highly thought of (more talented) of the group that you listed. Cowser is in the midst of acclimating to what it means to find success at this level. Mayo is a little further behind in that process as he has not been at the Bigs yet, and Holliday while the most talented of the group is the youngest and least experienced of all.

I don't think it is realistic to think in terms of wholesale replacements - i.e. ship this group in and in comes the next group to replace each one for one and get as good or better results. MLB in 2024 simply doesn't work that way. The jump from AAA to the Big League level is probably greater/harder than ever.

[24fps]

Joey Ortiz is currently hitting .261/.359/.466/.825 over 88 AB which works out to a 135 OPS+ .  He's playing pretty much everyday in Milwaukee against both RHP and LHP.  Maybe the O's are being too cute with all the platooning etc., and it's time to pick a direction with some of these guys and stick with it.

[emmett16]

Remember this guy?

[sportsfan8703]

We could really use a pick me up from the minors but Mayo is probably the dude to give us that. Cowser gave us a huge lift early. Holliday failed. Cowser started slumping. Heston can’t play defense. Stowers can play better defense but has lots of Ks. Mayo has questionable defense. 

We really need Mayo’s defense to improve and Holliday to adjust his leg kick. 

[IPlayGM]

27 minutes ago, 24fps said:

Joey Ortiz is currently hitting .261/.359/.466/.825 over 88 AB which works out to a 135 OPS+ .  He's playing pretty much everyday in Milwaukee against both RHP and LHP.  Maybe the O's are being too cute with all the platooning etc., and it's time to pick a direction with some of these guys and stick with it.

That is not accurate, as up until about a week ago Ortiz was platooning.

[Malike]

28 minutes ago, 24fps said:

Joey Ortiz is currently hitting .261/.359/.466/.825 over 88 AB which works out to a 135 OPS+ .  He's playing pretty much everyday in Milwaukee against both RHP and LHP.  Maybe the O's are being too cute with all the platooning etc., and it's time to pick a direction with some of these guys and stick with it.

If he's playing every day he should be around 160 ABs, not 88.

[Safelykept]

1 hour ago, 24fps said:

Joey Ortiz is currently hitting .261/.359/.466/.825 over 88 AB which works out to a 135 OPS+ .  He's playing pretty much everyday in Milwaukee against both RHP and LHP.  Maybe the O's are being too cute with all the platooning etc., and it's time to pick a direction with some of these guys and stick with it.

What Cowser do over his first 88 ABs this year?