Trying to win games in the minors, at the expense of development, explains a lot of our problems, such as Buxton not being able to bunt, and Rosario being allergic to walks.

Buxton should be able to bunt at this point in his career but some guys are just allergic to walking. It's not an uncommon problem, particularly with Latin players.

 

I don't ever expect Rosario to take a walk and I can live with that. I don't like it but I can live with it. What bothers me about Rosario is his control (or complete lack thereof) of the strike zone.

 

Is that coaching? Eh, maybe. But some guys just aren't interested in taking pitches. Eddie might be one of those guys.

 

And to be fair to Eddie, he's showing minor improvement. His overall swing rate has dropped 1% and his outside zone swing rate has dropped 4.5%. Yeah, he still has a lot of room for improvement but maybe that will come with experience and constant nudging in the right direction.

 

Some guys just swing at everything in the minors because they can hit everything in the minors. It's hard to stop a guy from doing something when he's been successful with that approach his entire career. Give him a dose of failure and see how he adjusts.

 

Buxton should be able to bunt at this point in his career but some guys are just allergic to walking. It's not an uncommon problem, particularly with Latin players.

 

I don't ever expect Rosario to take a walk and I can live with that. I don't like it but I can live with it. What bothers me about Rosario is his control (or complete lack thereof) of the strike zone.

 

Is that coaching? Eh, maybe. But some guys just aren't interested in taking pitches. Eddie might be one of those guys.

 

And to be fair to Eddie, he's showing minor improvement. His overall swing rate has dropped 1% and his outside zone swing rate has dropped 4.5%. Yeah, he still has a lot of room for improvement but maybe that will come with experience and constant nudging in the right direction.

 

Some guys just swing at everything in the minors because they can hit everything in the minors. It's hard to stop a guy from doing something when he's been successful with that approach his entire career. Give him a dose of failure and see how he adjusts.

 

I agree some guys likely aren't ever going to walk, I also agree its debatable whether that's a teachable skill or not.  

 

We'll disagree on Rosario being successful with it.  He hasn't really sniffed a .300 obp since 2013, outside of his couple months in Rochester this year, and the current BABIP fueled hot streak.  

 

I don't see him as being a big part of this teams future

 

 

I agree some guys likely aren't ever going to walk, I also agree its debatable whether that's a teachable skill or not.  

 

We'll disagree on Rosario being successful with it.  He hasn't really sniffed a .300 obp since 2013, outside of his couple months in Rochester this year, and the current BABIP fueled hot streak.  

 

I don't see him as being a big part of this teams future

Rosario is the perfect #4 outfielder.  Can play every spot decently, and isn't a complete black hole at the plate. Isn't really good enough to be a regular, but his overall play isn't embarrassing.

 

And I think plate discipline is tied into taking walks. You can't get a good amount of walks without plate disciple. Knowing the strike zone, being able to identify pitches helps with that.

Edited August 9, 201610 yr by jimmer

 

I agree some guys likely aren't ever going to walk, I also agree its debatable whether that's a teachable skill or not.  

 

We'll disagree on Rosario being successful with it.  He hasn't really sniffed a .300 obp since 2013, outside of his couple months in Rochester this year, and the current BABIP fueled hot streak.  

 

I don't see him as being a big part of this teams future

That's fair. I'm not sure he'll continue to hit enough to be a part of the core, either.

 

But he *has* had success with this approach throughout his career. The guy has a MiLB OPS of .825. Sure, he's up and down yearly and his OBP sucks but the guy has hit.

 

That's fair. I'm not sure he'll continue to hit enough to be a part of the core, either.

 

But he *has* had success with this approach throughout his career. The guy has a MiLB OPS of .825. Sure, he's up and down yearly and his OBP sucks but the guy has hit.

 

I agree with jimmer that he could be the perfect 4th outfielder. 

 

I think it's still too simple to look at his minor league OPS.  Once he got to the upper levels of the minors he got exposed

 

OPS by level

 

Rookie- .953

Low A - .835

High A - .875

AA - .706

AAA - .798  (much better the 2nd time around in 2016)

 

I agree with jimmer that he could be the perfect 4th outfielder. 

 

I think it's still too simple to look at his minor league OPS.  Once he got to the upper levels of the minors he got exposed

 

OPS by level

 

Rookie- .953

Low A - .835

High A - .875

AA - .706

AAA - .798  (much better the 2nd time around in 2016)

So essentially he had one bad run in AA.  His AA numbers were split between a decent .750 OPS year and a bad .670 OPS year. I noticed that trend, BTW, and I didn't bring it up because it seemed irrelevant.

 

He's 24 years old. He had an .800 OPS in AAA. In 180 MLB games, he has a .750 OPS.

 

Remember that in no way am I arguing he can maintain success with his current approach, I'm only stating he had success with his approach. And I don't see how that can be denied.

 

Remember that in no way am I arguing he can maintain success with his current approach, I'm only stating he had success with his approach. And I don't see how that can be denied.

 

Maybe a misunderstanding on my part then.  All I'm trying to say is he's very unlikely to maintain his current success.  Purely a guess on my part, but he probably saw a lot more strikes in the minors than he will in the Majors.  

 

Since his recall, 2 unintentional walks in 110 plate appearances, .425 BABIP.... 

 

Maybe a misunderstanding on my part then.  All I'm trying to say is he's very unlikely to maintain his current success.  Purely a guess on my part, but he probably saw a lot more strikes in the minors than he will in the Majors.  

 

Since his recall, 2 unintentional walks in 110 plate appearances, .425 BABIP.... 

We're in complete agreement on that. My point was that it's hard to get a guy to change his approach when he's dominating the opposition.

 

Which, to an extent, Rosario did in the minors. Now that he's facing tougher competition, it may be easier to get him to adjust his approach and adopt something more suitable to long-term success.

 

I have the same concerns about Buxton, only moreso. I remain unconvinced he will learn anything by playing tee-ball in Rochester. And if he could, then he should have done it three months ago.

That's fair. I'm not sure he'll continue to hit enough to be a part of the core, either.

 

But he *has* had success with this approach throughout his career. The guy has a MiLB OPS of .825. Sure, he's up and down yearly and his OBP sucks but the guy has hit.

Rosario has a nice swing. He has shown he can hit major league pitching. Hopefully, he figures out which pitches he can hit better and learns to lay off the other pitches.

Polanco--both offensively and defensively has looked very good. His minor league numbers don't scream "call me up!". His hitting was good, but not dominant, his fielding, especially at short hasn't been of major league quality. Maybe it was exactly the right time to recall him, maybe he was bored in the majors. It is still a really small sample. He's young and he appears to have good on-base skills. It would be great if he could continue to hit and be an acceptable shortstop.

 

Buxton--with his speed, he should bunt a lot more than 1% of the time, if only to bring the third baseman in, but also to lay down a sacrifice in the late innings.

 

Rosario--a lot of great players never walked much and Eddie probably never will. Rosario needs to be selective enough to force people to give him pitches he can handle AKA strikes, rather than getting behind in the count and chasing neck-high fastballs and breaking balls in the dirt.

Polanco is better at shortstop than Nunez in every respect, especially arm strength. Not sure what people are seeing or if they are just putting too much stock into how the Twins switched his position to second in the minors. Plan A for 2017 needs to be Polanco starting shortstop.

 

The real question is why Polanco spent so much time in AAA this year.....

 

Because he had options and the dearly departed GM did not "get it".