My 2024 Midseason Report Card

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

You had plenty of room to improve...still do.

Hard to believe I can be any better but I’ll try.    There’s kind of a weird parallel to Gunnar there.   
 

I see you more along the lines of James McCann.

Edited June 28 by RZNJ

[Aristotelian]

7 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't know, I've really fallen off on the volume these last couple of years and the quality was never that good.

I'm clearly in my decline phase and I'm OK with that.  I blame the lack of interaction on the music forum.

There's a certain poster right now who makes us all look good. 

[interloper]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

There's a certain poster right now who makes us all look good. 

There's a few of em honestly.

[RZNJ]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

There's a certain poster right now who makes us all look good. 

Only one poster?   (see what I did there?  Pure genius)

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Only one poster?   (see what I did there?  Pure genius)

Would have to be only one.

If it was more than one they wouldn't make ALL the rest look good.

The worst poster makes even the second worst poster look better.

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Would have to be only one.

If it was more than one they wouldn't make ALL the rest look good.

The worst poster makes even the second worst poster look better.

Eh.  Really?   It sounds like you didn’t get it.

[dystopia]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Outstanding effort Frobby.   I enjoyed the read.    

Adley's DH numbers keep his overall numbers up but his offense suffers when his catches.     He is such a key player no one talks about it.

Grades are fine.  Cowser may be a little high.   His defense is better than I thought it would be before the season.

Agree on Westy.   What a draft pick for Elias.

You listed 12 players.  Mullins and Hays with some of the poorest grades are already hitting better.   Plus Kjerstad is not here.    Mayo and Holliday available when there is space.    It's truly a dream.   

Are you going to do the pitching?

What’s Adley’s OPS in games he catches vs. DHes?

[dystopia]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Outstanding effort Frobby.   I enjoyed the read.    

Adley's DH numbers keep his overall numbers up but his offense suffers when his catches.     He is such a key player no one talks about it.

Grades are fine.  Cowser may be a little high.   His defense is better than I thought it would be before the season.

Agree on Westy.   What a draft pick for Elias.

You listed 12 players.  Mullins and Hays with some of the poorest grades are already hitting better.   Plus Kjerstad is not here.    Mayo and Holliday available when there is space.    It's truly a dream.   

Are you going to do the pitching?

What’s Adley’s OPS in games he catches vs. DHes?

[Can_of_corn]

8 minutes ago, dystopia said:

What’s Adley’s OPS in games he catches vs. DHes?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=rutscad01&year=2024&t=b

Look up the player on BB ref, click on Splits and select the current season.  It's in one of the charts that will populate.

.694 ---- 1.072

The real move will be just to have him PH, he's got a 2.000 OPS as a PH this season.

Edited June 28 by Can_of_corn

[BRobinsonfan]

58 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

There's a certain poster right now who makes us all look good. 

Only One Oriole Hangout poster?   

[allquixotic]

It's fun to read these. Thanks, Frobby.

[interloper]

Back to the OP, I don't find much to quibble about re: the grades at all. I might lean towards that B or even B- for Cowser rather than the B+, but it's splitting hairs. He's been able to avoid an absolute bottoming-out pretty much any time he gets close, so he's staying just productive enough for a rookie. It feels like he's stepped it up since Kjerstad came up, and no I'm not drawing any silly conclusions there. Just a coincidence. But it's incredible if they can both be productive on the same roster. 

 

[Too Tall]

Frobby, it's not acknowledged enough on here, but you make this site special. Your mid-season report card is just one example. Excellent, and I think I speak for many when I say we appreciate the time and effort you put into these contributions. I've been on this site a long time and found out along the way if an OP doesn't generate a Frobby Contribution, it probably isn't worth hanging with. Thanks!!!!!! 

[Il BuonO]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

With 81 games in the books, it’s time for my annual midseason report card....

Austin Hays, .242/.303/.383 (100 OPS+), 3 HR, 12 RBI, 0.0 rWAR, 0.1 fWAR: D+.  After a poor second half last season, Hays had a very poor spring training and an incredibly bad March/April, then missed time on the IL.  Upon returning in mid-May, he did better but still not great, then finally got going in June.  He’s now managed to get his OPS+ up to 100, but his WAR is still hovering around 0.   Hays essentially has lost his starting job to Cowser, as Hyde has pretty much relegated him to starting against lefties.  I’d have to say that Hays’ performance ranks as the most disappointing of anyone who’s gotten 50 PA, even though his 100 OPS+ ranks ahead of Mullins (91), Urias (88) and McCann (59).   Hopefully he can continue his solid June hitting in the second half, but I doubt he’ll see anything close to full-time duty unless there are significant injuries in the outfield.

Well, that’s my take on the offense.   A lot of high grades there, but then, what did you expect for the team that leads the league in runs/game and OPS+?   The O’s were a top 6-7 offense in MLB last year, but this year they’ve been the best in baseball.   The defense also has been solid, so overall you have to give the position players a collective A despite a few disappointing performances.

Anyone here I’ve graded too high or too low?  

So, a slight nitpick here, because yes, he's been disappointing. But he has looked much better at the plate while, as you say, having a better OPS+ than the other three part-time players?, so maybe a C-? Again, slight nitpick, and everything else is spot on.

[Fiver6565]

I hadn’t realized that Gunnar’s OPS had actually gotten up over 1.000. When’s the last time we had a player at that mark this far into a season?

No idea how Hays is a league average player with that OPS+ at 100; I certainly would have taken the under on that. He’s been awful basically all year, and I say that as a big Hays fan.