Chris Colabello Watch

[Brock Beauchamp]

Dude is living a seriously charmed life right now. BABIP back up to .451 after another streak of hits.

[Minniman]

  Quote

Colabello homers in 12th as Blue Jays beat Rays 1-0

 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2438669.1435189493!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

 

Mark Didtler, The Associated Press @ CTV NEWS

 

Marco Estrada made a run at history for the second consecutive start and came up just short again.

 

Estrada lost his bid for a perfect game on Logan Forsythe's infield single with one out in the eighth inning, but Chris Colabello homered in the 12th to lift the Toronto Blue Jays over the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 on Wednesday.

 

Tampa Bay's only other hit off Estrada was Kevin Kiermaier's two-out double in the ninth that chased the right-hander.

 

Colabello connected for a one-out shot to centre off Brandon Gomes (1-3).

 

 

Colabello was only 1 for 5, but a clutch homer against the reliever in the 12th was nice.

 

Full Story

[Patrick Midthun]

Today's Cost/Benefit Analysis

 

As of June 26, 2015:

 

Player A (league minimum salary)

44 Games, .343/.512/.894, 6 HR, 27 RBIs

Based on him getting his first start of the season on 5/5/15, and should he continue as a starter, he'll roughly have around 400 ABs.

$507,500 / 400 = roughly $1,269 per AB

 

 

Player B ($23,000,000)

71 Games, .256/.370/.699, 4 HR, 37 RBIs

Providing he stays in the lineup and doesn't blame his poor production on a mystery injury (which I predict he will do), he should wind up with around 500 ABs.

$23,000,000 / 500 = roughly $46,000 per AB

 

Player A has bat speed coming out of his ears, as a result of hard work and reps off a tee and in the cage. Player B can not square up a ball with consistency as a result of again coming into camp ill-prepared, and proceeded to tell the media he's "taking it easy", and "not trying to do too much".

 

Can anyone guess who these players are?

[USAFChief]

 

  On 6/26/2015 at 1:05 PM, Patrick Midthun said:

Today's Cost/Benefit Analysis

 

As of June 26, 2015:

 

Player A (league minimum salary)

44 Games, .343/.512/.894, 6 HR, 27 RBIs

Based on him getting his first start of the season on 5/5/15, and should he continue as a starter, he'll roughly have around 400 ABs.

$507,500 / 400 = roughly $1,269 per AB

 

 

Player B ($23,000,000)

71 Games, .256/.370/.699, 4 HR, 37 RBIs

Providing he stays in the lineup and doesn't blame his poor production on a mystery injury (which I predict he will do), he should wind up with around 500 ABs.

$23,000,000 / 500 = roughly $46,000 per AB

 

Player A has bat speed coming out of his ears, as a result of hard work and reps off a tee and in the cage. Player B can not square up a ball with consistency as a result of again coming into camp ill-prepared, and proceeded to tell the media he's "taking it easy", and "not trying to do too much".

 

Can anyone guess who these players are?

I was going to guess A is Colabello, and B is Mauer...but then I looked it up, and it can't be, because Colabello doesn't have a SLG of .894, and I didn't even need to look it up to know Mauer doesn't have a SLG of .699.

 

So I give...who are they?  

[Patrick Midthun]

AVG / SLG / OPS

[Secondary User]

 

  On 6/16/2015 at 12:47 PM, Brock Beauchamp said:

Keep posting, please. I want to see you track Colabello through July and August. Please be as diligent about it through the dog days as you are right now.

 

Here, I'll help: in the last 14 days, Colabello has a .697 OPS with zero walks and ten strikeouts. In his past 28 days, he has walked just three times while striking out 21 times. Without that absurd BABIP (still slightly over .400 for the past month), he's a very different player. He's not walking and he hit just three home runs in the past month (not bad but not amazing) so it's not as if that OPS is fueled by things a player can control over the long run.

 

One cannot count on a .400 BABIP for any player, period. Let's all take a moment to remember Danny Santana's 2014 and then compare it to his 2015 when the luck well ran dry. To give Colabello some context, the highest modern career BABIP (min 3000 PAs) is Joey Votto at .362. The top three modern players read like a HoF list:

 

Votto, Carew, Jeter. They have career BABIPs in the .354-.362 range.

 

For the record, I like Chris Colabello and wish him only the best. He sounds like a great guy. I'm simply realistic about his current performance and what can be expected of a guy his age. Hell, I hope I'm wrong about him... But I'm probably not. This isn't my first rodeo and blips on the radar like Chris Colabello aren't terribly uncommon in the history of baseball.

 

Also, nowhere did I say Colabello has "no talent" so you can go ahead and drop the quotation marks, Hyperbole & a Half.

 

I've discussed Colabello at length on other sites, written almost identical posts as the one quoted above, and it's amazing how the bolded part above gets thoroughly ignored and you get called a hater, and you think he's talentless.  It's what people who want to think they are more knowledgeable resort to when they try to sling it in your face. 

[LeatherAntenna]

Looking back I didn't see anyone call you a hater? But then I didn't read every post in this thread, so maybe someone did.

 

More knowledge? More knowledge can be a relative term. Second, when it comes to a blog I don't ever think someone has more or less knowledge than another. Two people can see or experience the same thing(s) and have different views. It's just life.

 

P. Midthun, interesting stats between the two, and if you want to be more disgusted compute the cost of each salary on total bases equalizing them for the different amount of games each have played. Then again no real reason to equalize since Colabello has more total bases this year than Mauer playing far fewer games, just pretend the two of them have played the same amount of games.

[Linus]

 

  On 6/30/2015 at 2:06 AM, LeatherAntenna said:

Looking back I didn't see anyone call you a hater? But then I didn't read every post in this thread, so maybe someone did.

More knowledge? More knowledge can be a relative term. Second, when it comes to a blog I don't ever think someone has more or less knowledge than another. Two people can see or experience the same thing(s) and have different views. It's just life.

P. Midthun, interesting stats between the two, and if you want to be more disgusted compute the cost of each salary on total bases equalizing them for the different amount of games each have played. Then again no real reason to equalize since Colabello has more total bases this year than Mauer playing far fewer games, just pretend the two of them have played the same amount of games.

OK, I'll bite.  Who would you rather have him playing instead of on the Twins right now?  Isn't this what we really should be worried about?

[LeatherAntenna]

I hear you, and that question doesn't have an easy answer in my mind, especially because of Colabello's age compared to the Twin youth movement, and Colabelolo hasn't completed a qualified season with strong numbers yet. Hopefully he will this year and the debate may rage longer about what the Twins may have missed. My comments are the disgust for Mauer's salary. Not withstanding that awfully coincidental contract year of 25+ home runs, he does hit some of the prettiest singles anyone ever has. But 23 million for 135 singles? I know, nothing can be done about his contract but I reserve the right to be disgusted. As Eric Hoffer said in his book 'Before the Sabbath', "I hang on to my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind."

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

  On 6/30/2015 at 2:06 AM, LeatherAntenna said:

More knowledge? More knowledge can be a relative term. Second, when it comes to a blog I don't ever think someone has more or less knowledge than another. Two people can see or experience the same thing(s) and have different views. It's just life.

I'm taking this post out of the context of Colabello (and therefore removing the "I'm right, you're wrong" aspect of this argument) for a moment.

 

This statement is patently untrue and it really bothers me because we see it every day in modern America, a place where people who spend their lives studying a subject are seen on the same level as a random politician with a law degree. Both sides of the aisle (and their partisan followers) participate in this mockery of knowledge, though they go about it very differently.

 

Two people can see the same thing and reach a different conclusion but it's not only possible that one of the debaters is more informed on the subject, it's likely to be the case. Opinions are not created equally. Some are more well-informed and educated in others. Some are less biased than others. There are a multitude of reasons why someone is "more right" than another person. It doesn't matter whether it's a blog, a scientific paper, or traditional journalism.

 

End rant. I'm not arguing that I'm more right about Chris Colabello than you but I had to rebut that paragraph because i see statements like that far too often in modern society.

[LeatherAntenna]

Agreed for the most part, especially in life when it is a political discussion or commentary. Politics often the left and right wing have an agenda and it opinion is less based on fact or education but desired outcome. I want to believe in sports it is somewhat more true that two people can see and or experience two different things. Did the outfielder miss the cutoff because he was inaccurate? Did someone see the cutoff missed as intentional because he has a strong arm and he was trying to make a big play? Why does the batter swing at low and away more than someone else? Agreed that there are multitude of reasons why someone is 'more right' than another person. Yet it is still possible the more informed person missed something someone else can see. Certainly not in the majority of times but often enough. In sports we don't always get an explaination from the player why a ball player did something a certain way and the sporting play is left to interpretation. This is what makes sports so enjoyable and frustrating often at the same time.

 

You are right at the end though 'statements are made far too often...' Is a fair complaint in society today. Now we should get back to baseball. As I type this I am enjoying a fine Yankee at LAA game, Yankees are up 2-0. Well the score isn't fine....

[LeatherAntenna]

Colabello had a good July 4th. 2-4 with a HR and 2 RBIs though the jays lost. BABIP still north of 430 and he has 17 multi hit games this year. He is right with the MLB milt hit leaders on a per game played basis. His average is slipping a bit batting 272 over the last 7 days. Still batting 335.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

How many more games before he is a qualifier?

[LeatherAntenna]

  On 7/4/2015 at 9:31 PM, LeatherAntenna said:

Colabello had a good July 4th. 2-4 with a HR and 2 RBIs though the jays lost. BABIP still north of 430 and he has 17 multi hit games this year. He is right with the MLB milt hit leaders on a per game played basis. His average is slipping a bit batting 272 over the last 7 days. Still batting 335.

  On 7/4/2015 at 10:08 PM, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

How many more games before he is a qualifier?

. 65-70 games. He will be real close to the end of the season if he gets 5 or 10 days off along the way the rest of the season.

[LeatherAntenna]

  On 7/5/2015 at 4:32 PM, LeatherAntenna said:

. 65-70 games. He will be real close to the end of the season if he gets 5 or 10 days off along the way the rest of the season.

it looks now like he won't have a chance to qualify. After a 2-4 hit performance last Sunday with a HR and 2 RBIs he was held out of three games this past week. Can't find out why cause no Blue Jay story is saying. Can only be three things, held out either because of injury, defense or he is in the dog house. He can't miss many more games or he has no chance.

[ashbury]

  On 7/12/2015 at 12:02 PM, LeatherAntenna said:

Can only be three things, held out either because of injury, defense or he is in the dog house.

Fourth possibility, his manager has been picking Cola's opportunities to avoid exposing him to situations he believes he won't do well in.

 

_{^{/ hope you can keep the pronouns straight}}

[Otto von Ballpark]

Looks like Valencia and Smoak are doing quite well too, which could limit Cola's opportunities.  And Ezequiel Carrera hasn't been embarrassing with the bat, and presumably he's a real OF.

[LeatherAntenna]

Quietly having a very nice year. Maybe not so quietly, the Jay's announcers love him. An extremely aggressive hitter, he is batting way over 500 on the first pitch in an at bat. Batting nearly 500 in August and his BABIP still over 400. 4 home runs in August including one tonight in only 36 August at bats. His home run ratio to at bat for July and August combined would lead the MLB. Still not playing enough to put up huge numbers, playing time limited by his (my guess) his defense limitations and also because he is playing on a hot team with a lot of strong hitters. He is holding his own against fellow teammates on offense though. All in all a nice turnaround from his injury plagued Twin year last year.

[biggentleben]

 

  On 8/26/2015 at 2:33 AM, LeatherAntenna said:

Quietly having a very nice year. Maybe not so quietly, the Jay's announcers love him. An extremely aggressive hitter, he is batting way over 500 on the first pitch in an at bat. Batting nearly 500 in August and his BABIP still over 400. 4 home runs in August including one tonight in only 36 August at bats. His home run ratio to at bat for July and August combined would lead the MLB. Still not playing enough to put up huge numbers, playing time limited by his (my guess) his defense limitations and also because he is playing on a hot team with a lot of strong hitters. He is holding his own against fellow teammates on offense though. All in all a nice turnaround from his injury plagued Twin year last year.

 

More than anything, Toronto has shown a very good job this year of working around players' limitations. Colabello is being put in the best position to succeed, so it's not surprising that he'd do well. Adam Lind in Toronto is a good example of how they use these guys who are limited in the plate and use them well.

[Patrick Midthun]

Colabello's stats:

 

88 games, 297 ABs, 98 hits, 14 HR, 53 RBI, .330 avg, .906 OPS.

 

Dude rakes.

[LeatherAntenna]

Colabello had a nice playoff game today, starting an early game rally with a double, and going 2-5. And for a player known for defense weakness he made three beautiful plays in the field early in the game that were just gems.

[Halsey Hall]

It's great to see him in the playoffs and playing.  Some day his book will be a must read. 

[LeatherAntenna]

"He played a great game,". Blue Jays second baseman Ryan Goins said. "He saved some runs for us, he got a couple of knocks."

 

"It stinks to lose, and I think that's the only thing in the forefront of all our minds, but those are the kind of games you play for,". Colabello said. "What you dream about growing up is being in a tight game with a lot riding on it."

[LeatherAntenna]

Another nice playoff game, 2-4 with a HR and double and 2 RBIs, 4-12 in the series and an OPS of 1135, little question that he will start Wednesday. Toronto needs him.

[DrNeau]

Isn't it neat to see? So happy for the guy. He is absolutely RAKING.

[drjim]

I think it's time to stop wondering how he's doing it and just enjoy the ride. Would have been bery appropriate on the Twins this year.

[LeatherAntenna]

2-4 in the series win, led the team in batting average for the series. My guess is that he is starting the rest of the way whatever Toronto does. three of four playoff games he played in were multiple hit games.