Seriously...what is up with Wieters?

[Tony-OH]

He has regressed in the fact that he is not hitting more line drives and his OPS is down. His BB/K is moving in the right direction though. He also got insanely hot at the end of the year last year. If he pulls that stunt again, he will be close to what he did last year.

He only played in 96 games last year, which is a little more than a half of a season. When you get hot for a part of that time, your numbers will be more inflated.

It's not only "heading in the right direction" but more importantly it's better than it was last year. In about the same amount of PA's he had last year, he's struck out 17 times less and has walked 11 times more. His extra base hits are about the same.

                                                                                                                          Year   Age  Tm  Lg   G  PA  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+  TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB  Pos Awards2009    23 BAL  AL  96 385 354 35 102 15  1  9  43  0  0 28  86 .288 .340 .412 .753   97 146  11   1  0  2   2          2D2010    24 BAL  AL  98 382 341 31  83 14  1 10  40  0  1 39  69 .243 .322 .378 .700   89 129  10   1  0  1   4        *2/D2 Seasons          194 767 695 66 185 29  2 19  83  0  1 67 155 .266 .331 .396 .727   93 275  21   2  0  3               6162 Game Avg.      162 640 580 55 154 24  2 16  69  0  1 56 129 .266 .331 .396 .727   93 230  18   2  0  3               5

The big difference this year is lack of singles compared to last year. He seems to be rolling over on a lot of outside pitches instead of dumping them into left like he did last year. My biggest concern though is his right-handed batting. He now has a .628 career OPS as a right-hander. That's almost platoon level and it has to improve.

[AgentOrange]

But even if you want to look at what he did before he got hot last year, you see better numbers month to month than you saw this year, outside of July.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?playerId=29287&year=2009

Yes, the k and BB rates are improved...That's a good thing...But that improvement is miniscule compared to the lack of power, hitting the ball with authority, etc....

He has clearly regressed as a player...If he can get hot to end the year, great. But we need MW to be a little bit more than a guy that gets hot for 6 weeks a year and is AWFUL the rest of the season.

Tony just laid out the numbers. He is actually hitting the same amount of HRs, Doubles and Triples. Plus his BB/K has improved. Has he really regressed as much as you are saying?

[Sports Guy]

Tony just laid out the numbers. He is actually hitting the same amount of HRs, Doubles and Triples. Plus his BB/K has improved. Has he really regressed as much as you are saying?

Yes he has...His LD rate is way down...He is hitting way more grounders...As Tony points out, he is rolling over a lot of pitches.

And his swing has gotten worse as well.

This isn't a guy that shows consistent signs of being great but is being lucky. This is a guy that occassionally hits a ball well but most of the time, is doing nothing at the plate.

[AgentOrange]

Yes he has...His LD rate is way down...He is hitting way more grounders...As Tony points out, he is rolling over a lot of pitches.

And his swing has gotten worse as well.

This isn't a guy that shows consistent signs of being great but is being lucky. This is a guy that occassionally hits a ball well but most of the time, is doing nothing at the plate.

His XBH is exactly the same as last year. His swing has gotten better over the last month or so, IMO. The leg kick is down and the swing looks faster. Maybe if you were looking for a .850 OPS this year out of him, it has been a huge disappointment, but I don't know if he has regressed as bad as some people are saying.

[Sports Guy]

His XBH is exactly the same as last year. His swing has gotten better over the last month or so, IMO. The leg kick is down and the swing looks faster. Maybe if you were looking for a .850 OPS this year out of him, it has been a huge disappointment, but I don't know if he has regressed as bad as some people are saying.

Big deal.

We are supposed to be seeing improvement.

He is up there hitting like a utility guy.

[Araqnid]

Big deal.

We are supposed to be seeing improvement.

He is up there hitting like a utility guy.

No improvement doesn't equal regression. It's disappointing, sure, but if even has regressed, its minimal at best (or worst?). He'll figure it out.

[section18]

If you put a compilation of video clips together showing his bad at bats and his good at bats you will see two different people. In the good clips he has better bat speed and looks aggressive almost mad. In the bad clips he looks like a guy that is taking batting practice on a high school field with no catcher. Just him and the guy pitching to him and no backstop which means he has to chase the balls that get past him he fails to hit.

In the bad clips he looks lethargic or lazy with no expression. Tired? Lack of sleep? He has two game faces that may not seem obvious because he is a low key blank stare kind of guy which is his nature and probably will never change. I think he needs to be monitored closely for signs of fatigue and Buck may need to just light a fire under him before each at bat. The Crow doesn't light a fire under any of our hitters. It can be as simple as Buck saying to to Matt before he climbs those steps to go to the on deck circle.....Matt....Let me see something this at bat. You've been looking like a big stiff when you go to bat lately. Are you a big stiff or the diamond I read about a couple of years ago? Remember that DP the other night against the White Sox and Floyd that probably cost us the game? I don't want to see any more ground balls from you. You must be leading the league in ground balls and on the first or second pitch most of the time. Come on Matt! Show me something every at bat. No time off at bats. Do you hear me? i want to see you drive the ball. Elevate the ball Matt.

[Sports Guy]

No improvement doesn't equal regression. It's disappointing, sure, but if even has regressed, its minimal at best (or worst?). He'll figure it out.

No..regression equals regression.

Just watching him you see a guy that has regressed and it has basically been a year long issue. I mean, for a player of his talent and at his age, no improvement is essentially regression IMO.

[theobird]

No..regression equals regression.

Just watching him you see a guy that has regressed and it has basically been a year long issue. I mean, for a player of his talent and at his age, no improvement is essentially regression IMO.

Then by your definition, you would have to include Nick Markakis in that bucket as well. Certainly hehas regressed.

[Sports Guy]

Then by your definition, you would have to include Nick Markakis in that bucket as well. Certainly hehas regressed.

In some ways, he absolutely has...But a lot of Nick's regression has to do with what is going on around him.

He isn't up there with a long swing, a very slow bat, etc...

His RBIs are obviously down because of what has gone on around him.

His homers are down partially from not getting pitches to hit but also because he wasn't looking to drive the ball for the first 2-3 months...His "power approach" was poor early on and he has never really gotten out of that.

[Mackus]

Then by your definition, you would have to include Nick Markakis in that bucket as well. Certainly hehas regressed.

Nick has definitely regressed a bit. Or at least hasn't performed as well as he hoped.

He's been worse in 2009 and 2010 than he was in 2007 and 2008.

As SG said, hopefully a lot of that is due to weak guys around him, but I don't really believe that. I just think Nick isn't going to develop into the perennial 875-925 OPS guy we thought he'd be when we signed him to that extension. He's still a very good player, just not sure he's going to reach that consistent All-Star level we all thought he would.

[H0smash]

In some ways, he absolutely has...But a lot of Nick's regression has to do with what is going on around him.

He isn't up there with a long swing, a very slow bat, etc...

His RBIs are obviously down because of what has gone on around him.

His homers are down partially from not getting pitches to hit but also because he wasn't looking to drive the ball for the first 2-3 months...His "power approach" was poor early on and he has never really gotten out of that.

That's BS, you should always be looking to drive the ball, you shouldn't be trying to hit a HR every time but you should try to hit the ball as hard as you can and square up on it.

Nick has regressed/hasn't progressed as we expected, the extension we signed him to is looking horrible. He needs to take a step forward next year, especially in terms of power.

[Sports Guy]

That's BS, you should always be looking to drive the ball, you shouldn't be trying to hit a HR every time but you should try to hit the ball as hard as you can and square up on it.

Nick has regressed/hasn't progressed as we expected, the extension we signed him to is looking horrible. He needs to take a step forward next year, especially in terms of power.

No its not.

He has been paid, by the end of this year, about 10 million and he will have been worth 17.5 so far, if he does no more this year. Even if he is just a 7 million dollar player the rest of the time of his deal, he will have been worth around 20 million less over the course of the 6 years...I wouldn't say that's good by any means but its not horrible...Horrible was like Zito's deal.

[H0smash]

No its not.

Okay, not yet. For some reason I thought he got more money than he did, my bad.

But if he continues to play at this same level going forward and over the next years of the contract, then it's a bad contract. Because it's a back-loaded deal, his performance needs to improve it.

[Bloopandablast]

That's BS, you should always be looking to drive the ball, you shouldn't be trying to hit a HR every time but you should try to hit the ball as hard as you can and square up on it.

Nick has regressed/hasn't progressed as we expected, the extension we signed him to is looking horrible. He needs to take a step forward next year, especially in terms of power.

I hear where you are coming from, but there are guys like Carew, Boggs, Gwynn, and Ichiro that have been pretty successful only trying to drive the ball in certain situations.