Don't Build Like The Twins

[tobi0040]

Not true. Gomez posted a 76 OPS+ in his age 24 season, which was his best season to that point.

 

Hicks, also in his age 24 season, currently has an OPS+ of 74.

 

Both were bad before age 25. Very, very bad. Gomez obviously improved, time will tell whether Hicks does the same.

 

Similarities - They both skipped AAA, they both were promoted too quick. They were both very raw, yet toolsy and skilled, highly rated. They both struggled a ton and did not look like MLB players at first

 

Differences - Gomez was younger when initially brought up, but still struggled at 24, 25, etc. Didn't click until about 26-27, 1,500 at bats into his career. The composition of their struggle is different. Gomez had a higher BA and no walks, Hicks had a lower BA with a ton of walks.

 

Tons of similarities to me.

[nicksaviking]

They both had spring training time with Rick Anderson.

 

I'm ducking.

 

We saw it with Albers last year too. Looks like the typical junkball lefty stuff. Guys who strikeout more batters than their stuff indicates by outsmarting batters and keeping them off balanced. Seems to work better against AAA/AAAA hitters who natually struggle with offspeed stuff. Sometimes it translates to the MLB level, but usually not.

[jharaldson]

Similarities - They both skipped AAA

 

Carlos Gomez played his first 35 games of 2007 in AAA, playing good defense and batting well with a .778 OPS. He was not promoted to the majors until mid-May.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=4881&position=OF&type=-1&gds=&gde=&season=2007

 

they both were promoted too quick.

 

Carlos Gomez played 1 season and a month and a half of another in the minors before being promoted. A total of 155 games in the minors. He was 21 years old. He was one of the 5 youngest players in the league in 2007 (Players 21 or younger).

 

Aaron Hicks has played 5 seasons in the minors before getting promoted to the majors. A total of 508 games in the minors. He was 23 years old. He was one of the 48 youngest players in the league 2018 (Players 23 or younger).

 

I personally don't think the situations are remotely similar. Gomez was dramatically rushed through the minors where the best argument one could make for Hicks is he could have used one partial or full season of AAA seasoning before debuting in the majors.

 

If I were to compare this to cooking, Gomez was raw while Hicks was just a little under cooked.

[tobi0040]

Carlos Gomez played his first 35 games of 2007 in AAA, playing good defense and batting well with a .778 OPS. He was not promoted to the majors until mid-May.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=4881&position=OF&type=-1&gds=&gde=&season=2007

 

 

 

Carlos Gomez played 1 season and a month and a half of another in the minors before being promoted. A total of 155 games in the minors. He was 21 years old. He was one of the 5 youngest players in the league in 2007 (Players 21 or younger).

 

Aaron Hicks has played 5 seasons in the minors before getting promoted to the majors. A total of 508 games in the minors. He was 23 years old. He was one of the 48 youngest players in the league 2018 (Players 23 or younger).

 

I personally don't think the situations are remotely similar. Gomez was dramatically rushed through the minors where the best argument one could make for Hicks is he could have used one partial or full season of AAA seasoning before debuting in the majors.

 

If I were to compare this to cooking, Gomez was raw while Hicks was just a little under cooked.

 

I didn't mean they both completely skipped and I see 36 games for Gomez. Regardless of the fact that Gomez was up earlier and Hicks was in the minors longer, it was clear from watching the both of them that they could have used more seasoning in the minors. In his first full season, Go Go had 142 K's and 25 BB's. Gomez was promoted too quick because Twins brass wanted to have something to show for the Santana trade, in my opinion. They came into spring training saying it was an open competition and Span was flat out better, yet Go GO got the job.

[John Bonnes]

Also, both burned up service time while they tried to figure stuff out, costing the Twins wins and service time (and thus dollars) waiting for them to adjust. Also, I begged for both of them to be demoted to AAA.

[kab21]

Oh, I agree. Hicks is having problems making contact... But that's not necessarily linked to his passivity at the plate. He may be taking more pitches because he's afraid to swing and miss but I view Hicks' discipline and inability to make contact as different issues with some overlap. I think the contact issues are more closely correlated with his strikeout rate, which is still too high.

 

But many are dismissing the big long term problem. He can't hit currently and if that doesn't improve then he's not a major leaguer regardless of how many walks he takes.

 

And the even bigger issue is that he has a .512 OPS against RHP's (.566 last year). This is still a small MLB sample size but this was an issue throughout the minors and I'm not sure how anyone could be optimistic that he will be anything more than platoon/4th OF'er at this point. It could happen but there is significant work to be done and ideally it would be done at AAA regardless of his recent nice 46 PA sample size.