Injuries have sucked, the pen has been an issue but is Adley the biggest problem?

[gtman55]

While Adley is far from a bust, as a 1/1 he has underperformed badly.  I mean at this point, what is Adley really good at? He no longer has the very good plate discipline he was known for. His pitch framing has gone downhill. He's never been good at throwing out runners. His bat speed is slow. And his mighty uppercut swing usually produces a weak popup. Basically, he's a mess right now.

I don't know what's going on with Adley behind the scenes. Has he been hurt? Is this a mental thing? And am I the only one that thinks he's gained a lot of weight/looks a bit out of shape? All I know is that for months he's been a liability.

 

 

[Sports Guy]

 

[NashLumber]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

 

Thanks for sharing this. I think a lot of what goes into the nagging injuries during a season, and the temptation for a guy to sit, goes hand in hand with pride of not letting the team down. See Cal Ripken. All players have nagging ailments, but I feel like in Adley's case, a catcher admitting he's hurt but playing through it during a season is tipping his hand to allowing the other team to run on him at will, etc. when he's the main catcher. So they and the manager stay silent about it. I haven't looked at the stats, but it may very well be that McCann has the best defensive stats as the backup. I haven't looked. But lots of folks do argue that Adley's framing, blocking of pitches, and throwing skills are down from the last two years. 

[NashLumber]

1 minute ago, NashLumber said:

Thanks for sharing this. I think a lot of what goes into the nagging injuries during a season, and the temptation for a guy to sit, goes hand in hand with pride of not letting the team down. See Cal Ripken. All players have nagging ailments, but I feel like in Adley's case, a catcher admitting he's hurt but playing through it during a season is tipping his hand to allowing the other team to run on him at will, etc. when he's the main catcher. So they and the manager stay silent about it. I haven't looked at the stats, but it may very well be that McCann has the best defensive stats as the backup. I haven't looked. But lots of folks do argue that Adley's framing, blocking of pitches, and throwing skills are down from the last two years. 

And I forgot to mention his hitting, or lack of it. Silly me. 

[Sports Guy]

 

[interloper]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

 

So clearly not in shape or banged up in various ways that he doesn't want to specify. 

Get in shape and figure it the hell out. 

[SteveO]

What is the more likely scenario? Adley forgot how to hit, play defense and throw OR he was dealing with a significant but playable injury that will only get right through extended rest or surgery? I’m thinking the injury scenario is more likely.  I just don’t see this guy falling off a cliff skill wise without a hard shove such as a significant nagging injury. Could be wrong but the evidence all the way up till midseason suggest that while he may not be the 1/1 some dream of he was far from a bust prior to then. Chill folks. I’d bet  that time will heal what ails Adley right now

[Hallas]

13 minutes ago, interloper said:

So clearly not in shape or banged up in various ways that he doesn't want to specify. 

Get in shape and figure it the hell out. 

This screams like code for "i got hit in the hand and it affected my swing badly."

[Yossarian]

41 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

 

Maybe we can win Spring Training again next year?  Adley had the right attitude.   Let's repeat our Spring Training success.

[Yossarian]

Who knows?  Maybe Austin Hays was the glue that kept this team together and it all fell apart after he was traded?

[Keygans]

Cowser broke his hand…

[MDK02]

If you want to see how young superstars should play, look at Churios and Merrill. Both big time contributors to their teams in the post season, both players 20 and 21 years of age. Meanwhile, our Jackson doesn’t even get an AB. Something is just off with this organization and their development..

[Rbiggs2525]

Adley was the problem but actually Hydes reluctance to hit him 9th or bench him was the bigger problem. Our team has this big ego thing where you can fool around with Kjerstad, Cowser, Holliday but nobody touches Gunnar and Adley. 

[SteveO]

Biggest problem over the second half was the approach at the plate, poor at bats, and poor situational awareness. HR or bust offenses do not play well in the post season. You have to be able to be able to generate runs by moving guys over, not swinging for the fences when contact is what is called for and so forth. You can’t just start playing that way when the playoffs start it has to part of your DNA as a team before the playoffs start. 
 

This offseason the first thing the Orioles should do is dump Ryan Fuller the current hitting coach and bring in new proven voice to address some of the issues we all have seen in the approach in general of this team at the plate and its poor situational hitting performances. I’m not saying it all the current hitting coaches fault, just saying that it feels  like something is not working and a lot of that centers around the above. Feels like a change may be good for all. 

Last but not least, I want to see Hyde be successful but next is one in which he will need the team to make the playoffs and have some form of post season success.  I think it’s that simple. Injuries won’t save him, only success in the post season will. If he can’t produce that then the new owners and Elias will turn elsewhere IMO. I hope Hyde can pull that off and I for one think he can.

[bpilktree67]

15 minutes ago, MDK02 said:

If you want to see how young superstars should play, look at Churios and Merrill. Both big time contributors to their teams in the post season, both players 20 and 21 years of age. Meanwhile, our Jackson doesn’t even get an AB. Something is just off with this organization and their development..

Holliday became a professional in 2022, Churio and Merrill became professionals in 2021 so he has a year plus less experience then those guys do.  All the experts say Holliday will be a superstar in time so I will stick with them.  Henderson struggled his 1st year as well and now is a MVP contender.   Witt was drafted in 2019 and made the majors in 2022 so 3 years later.  Holliday was drafted in 2022 and made his debut in 2024.   He was 1 year ahead of them all in professional development.