What do you expect from Norby?

[Moose Milligan]

It's a shame he's essentially blocked and will probably be traded.  

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

It's a shame he's essentially blocked and will probably be traded.  

I'm not so sure. How confident are the O's in Holliday helping out this season? How is his elbow? Can he be relied on for defense right now? What if he comes up and really struggles again? If they feel good about those questions, sure, Norby is gone. If not, though, Norby is kind of necessary to keep around this season. He's a guy that has shown he can produce right now at this level to some degree. 

Edited July 26 by interloper

[emmett16]

5 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

It's a shame he's essentially blocked and will probably be traded.  

Why not non-tender Hays and put Norby in LF?

[banks703]

We can see the org's hitting philosophy/approach/mechanics in Norby's swing. When he swings, he looks like a more compact Jordan Westburg. 

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Why not non-tender Hays and put Norby in LF?

If we know that Norby can play LF, I'm all for it.

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, interloper said:

I'm not so sure. How confident are the O's in Holliday helping out this season? How is his elbow? Can he be relied on for defense right now? What if he comes up and really struggles again? If they feel good about those questions, sure, Norby is gone. If not, though, Norby is kind of necessary to keep around this season. He's a guy that has shown he can produce right now at this level to some degree. 

Sure, he'll be here for a stretch but I don't know if he's a long term option.  

[interloper]

10 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Sure, he'll be here for a stretch but I don't know if he's a long term option.  

Gotcha, I was assuming you were talking this deadline. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

14 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Why not non-tender Hays and put Norby in LF?

I’m for it if the Orioles believe enough in Norby’s outfield defense. I still don’t understand why Elias didn’t try to trade a player like Hays after last season with this known logjam of player talent. 

I don’t know what Hays would have gotten the Orioles in a trade, but it had to be more than his current value. 

[RZNJ]

22 minutes ago, banks703 said:

We can see the org's hitting philosophy/approach/mechanics in Norby's swing. When he swings, he looks like a more compact Jordan Westburg. 

I don’t buy it.  Their swings look different to me and Mayo’s looks completely different and Beavers looks even more different.   They may adjust hand placement and tweak different things but I don’t think they teach an “organizational swing”.    They both have good oppo power.  No doubt about that.  Norby did a lot of that in AAA.   Good to see it translate yesterday.

For a guy who was striking out so much in AAA it’s hard to see why, yet.  It’s a SSS between his earlier AB.  In the minors he appeared to miss outside breaking stuff but his AB up here have looked good.

[Rbiggs2525]

Norby may have the most fluid swing of all our young prospects. Of course I’m not saying he’s the best hitter but in terms of compact repeatable stroke I like his. 

[emmett16]

25 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

If we know that Norby can play LF, I'm all for it.

I’ve been to a couple games where he didn’t go all out for a ball he might have been able to catch and the other guys on the team ribbed him a bit.  I’ve heard Tony say (and I’m paraphrasing) sometimes he looks like he takes some plays off or is caught off-guard, which checks with what I’ve seen.  28.1 sprint speed is pretty good, the arm is passable, and he’s plenty athletic.  I think he can be a passable LF.  The bat is legit.   
 

I’m not super concerned about my first point.  MiLB is a grind, the guys have to stay healthy, and he doesn’t give the impression of a problem type.  It’s a new position for him and he’s still feeling out his abilities.  He can make the plays and when the bright lights are on I bet he’ll do well.  

[banks703]

18 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I don’t buy it.  

OK.. but they do in fact teach these things. It's pretty well documented. He's a more aggressive swinger than the prospects that have come before him these last two years but the swing mechanics absolutely show through. 

[emmett16]

12 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I don’t buy it.  Their swings look different to me and Mayo’s looks completely different and Beavers looks even more different.   They may adjust hand placement and tweak different things but I don’t think they teach an “organizational swing”.    They both have good oppo power.  No doubt about that.  Norby did a lot of that in AAA.   Good to see it translate yesterday.

For a guy who was striking out so much in AAA it’s hard to see why, yet.  It’s a SSS between his earlier AB.  In the minors he appeared to miss outside breaking stuff but his AB up here have looked good.

I agree.  I think they are very much into individualizing swing mechanics based on body type and movement profiles.   No one would teach Mayo or Beavers swing unless it was a match to how their bodies work, they both have very very unique swings that work for them.  
 

They make tweaks to maximize swing length (time in hitting zone), bat speed, and time to contact, but it’s not one set of mechanics that they teach.  
 

The focus is the “big three” 1. Bat speed 2. Contact quality 3. Pitch selection.  Each player will excel at those with their own unique swings and mechanics.  

[webbrick2010]

I think he will be more valuable than Mateo

[ScGO's]

His swing could play in Camden Yards.  We don't have a second baseman right now. He's much more seasoned than Holiday and probably an equal to Urias at this point.  Can his defense be serviceable at 2B, LF, DH over time? Can he play some 3rd? Maybe he can stick long term; it really comes down to performance, give him some rope this week, let him start every game and see what happens