Heston Kjerstad 2024

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

That's fair, he's been better than the rest.  I just think the issues are deeper than what Kjerstad can bring to the table but we'll see.

I'm skeptical, but he better be in the lineup tomorrow.

He won't be the savior but he's a piece in the puzzle. 

[LookitsPuck]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

For months I've read whining on here about how our top prospects have always failed to come up and produce right away.

So here we have Kjerstad who's coming off a concussion and has been a mixed bag (at best) in his limited playing time so far.  

And we think he's going to help turn this offense around?  Does anyone here learn?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for playing him because he can't be much worse than what we've got going on right now but I don't believe he's an answer.  

 

There are no answers, only Zuul.

But seriously, I think the issue at play here is we look at the body of work of guys like Eloy, Slater, O'Hearn, Rivera, and (to a lesser extent) Soto, you see where the holes are.

I get that O'Hearn was thrust into 1B near FT due to the Mountcastle injury, but that didn't explain Hyde from playing O'Hearn in the OF when he is one of the worst defensive OFers on this team.

Right now, this team is very much ailing. Ramon coming back will definitely help spell the need for O'Hearn to be a 1B by maybe letting Rivera play over there. 

• We need to get back to a point where O'Hearn is only hitting against righties and is playing sparingly in the field.
• Eloy is a liability at this point. I was a proponent of seeing what mechanical tweaks they could make similar to what they did w/ Hicks (and even O'Hearn!) and they did catch lightning in a bottle maybe due to excitement/adrenaline and BABIP being unsustainably high, but right now his flyballs aren't carrying and his groundballs aren't finding holes, so there's probably a reason why Chicago is saying, "Haha, told you so!"
• This team is in freefall offensively, at this point...just give the ABs to Mayo. You can't simultaneously say, "He needs to make adjustments!" and then let him have 5 ABs over 5 games. That isn't a way to grow a player. Not everybody can be a part time player and be effective off the bench/sparingly.
• Kjerstad has shown an ability to hit lefties in the minors as well as in the majors (albeit in very limited time, he his 4 for 10 against them). Let the kid play.
• Slater has fallen off a cliff, but at least he's a solid defensive OFer

I get it, nobody is going to solve the offensive woes of this team when it comes to the rookies/young guys. Mayo, Holliday, Kjerstad, even Cowser...they're all still adjusting. The change needs to come from the main stays. Now, Adley is starting to hit, Gunnar is back on a hitting binge, but this lineup desperately needs some consistent production from Tony to go along with it because right now way too much pressure is being put on the bottom of the lineup and the young guys. And I'm not convinced Westy solves any of those issues as wrist injuries are a beast to bounceback from quickly. 

 

[Three Run Homer]

21 hours ago, LookitsPuck said:

PHing Eloy for Kjerstad was so inane.

I agree.  But I also think batting Kjerstad fourth was inane.  He's a rookie and he's just coming off the DL.  Put him lower in the lineup.  

[LookitsPuck]

1 minute ago, Three Run Homer said:

I agree.  But I also think batting Kjerstad fourth was inane.  He's a rookie and he's just coming off the DL.  Put him lower in the lineup.  

Agree 100%. 

[terpoh]

8 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

That's fair, he's been better than the rest.  I just think the issues are deeper than what Kjerstad can bring to the table but we'll see.

I'm skeptical, but he better be in the lineup tomorrow.

Snell on the bump. No chance Kjerstad is starting. Slater, Eloy, McCann, Rivera