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2023 Guardians Spring Training Thread
- Thread starter Criznit
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The Athletic has a column on why Jose Ramirez "is poised for a career-best season". Here are a couple of excerpts:
Ramírez sat out two games in Los Angeles in mid-June as he and the club determined whether he’d undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right hand or if he could play through the pain. His preference was to stay in the lineup, rather than be sidelined for up to eight weeks.
Ramírez before those two days off: .305/.397/.642 slash line.
Ramírez after those two days off: .264/.329/.437 slash line.
He acknowledged “sometimes you want to do things and you’re not able to, so your game gets a little bit limited. It was very difficult.” He said it affected “every aspect” of his game, not just the noticeable way it sapped his power, and that it required extra treatment, care and time to manage the pain each day.
He’s healthy now, though, and he opted to sit out the World Baseball Classic just to give himself a customary runway to the start of the season now that he’s recovered.
That's a massive 205 point decline in his slugging percentage after game #60, which was the first game against the Dodgers. His OPS declined by a staggering 268 points. Jose was "limited...in every aspect of his game" with a torn ligament in the last 100 games of the season. Not the last month or the second half - the last 100 games!
He still put together a 29 HR, 126 RBI season, so people don't realize how much his production was affected. But without the injury his numbers would have been so much higher. And that includes being shifted on 95% of the time - one of the highest in baseball. Hosey is a dead pull hitter and he believes the elimination of the shift will increase his numbers substantially.
Finally, the acquisition of Josh Bell to hit cleanup in place of the group that ranked 29th out of 30 last year should provide protection and give Ramirez more good pitches to hit. With Bell, Naylor, Gonzalez, and Gimenez coming up next pitchers will not want to put Jose on base, especially given the new restrictions on pickoff throws.
So there are three factors working together that could propel Jose to a career best season; a healthy hand, no shift, and better lineup protection. If Ramirez can avoid getting hit on the hand this season, his production could be historic.
Ramírez sat out two games in Los Angeles in mid-June as he and the club determined whether he’d undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right hand or if he could play through the pain. His preference was to stay in the lineup, rather than be sidelined for up to eight weeks.
Ramírez before those two days off: .305/.397/.642 slash line.
Ramírez after those two days off: .264/.329/.437 slash line.
He acknowledged “sometimes you want to do things and you’re not able to, so your game gets a little bit limited. It was very difficult.” He said it affected “every aspect” of his game, not just the noticeable way it sapped his power, and that it required extra treatment, care and time to manage the pain each day.
He’s healthy now, though, and he opted to sit out the World Baseball Classic just to give himself a customary runway to the start of the season now that he’s recovered.
That's a massive 205 point decline in his slugging percentage after game #60, which was the first game against the Dodgers. His OPS declined by a staggering 268 points. Jose was "limited...in every aspect of his game" with a torn ligament in the last 100 games of the season. Not the last month or the second half - the last 100 games!
He still put together a 29 HR, 126 RBI season, so people don't realize how much his production was affected. But without the injury his numbers would have been so much higher. And that includes being shifted on 95% of the time - one of the highest in baseball. Hosey is a dead pull hitter and he believes the elimination of the shift will increase his numbers substantially.
Finally, the acquisition of Josh Bell to hit cleanup in place of the group that ranked 29th out of 30 last year should provide protection and give Ramirez more good pitches to hit. With Bell, Naylor, Gonzalez, and Gimenez coming up next pitchers will not want to put Jose on base, especially given the new restrictions on pickoff throws.
So there are three factors working together that could propel Jose to a career best season; a healthy hand, no shift, and better lineup protection. If Ramirez can avoid getting hit on the hand this season, his production could be historic.
sportscoach
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Lee
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We used to call batting below .200 the Mendoza line named after a shortstop named Mario Mendoza.
Soon we will be referring to teams who re-sing their own players with great defense but can barely hit .200 "Straw Buyers"
CDAV45
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Who gives a shit. It's probably off of A ball pitchers and he can't even get extra base hits off of them let alone hit one in the thin air over the fence. He sucks!
sportscoach
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He started all the games lol
BigJ0526
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mvp season incoming
sportscoach
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He will hit 2 HRs! We all know that will get him to 5 bWAR lol
CDAV45
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Just read Straw's article on the Guardians' home site. Got a chuckle out of him saying that he working on not being as bad as he was last season. Well no shit and it shouldn't be hard to improve upon that God awful performance. Bottom line, the Astros stuck it in us clean to the sack.
KluberSociety
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Someone really doesn't like Myles Straw
Also OGonz now at 7% BB / 14% K for ST with the 2 walks yesterday, hard to see a red flag there. Just in general if he can keep the K's under 20% during a regular season he hits the ball hard enough that he should do enough damage. His approach leaves a lot to be desired but at the same time his bat-to-ball skills are good enough to make up for it to a large extent.
I just don't see room for Brennan as a starting OF until something changes. Hopefully he gets enough looks though to be able to show what he's got. Question is will Tito pinch-hit Straw for him. He probably should but I really don't see him doing that often. But he will probably pinch hit Arias / Freeman for him. I'd also like to see him as a late inning defensive replacement for OGonz.
Also OGonz now at 7% BB / 14% K for ST with the 2 walks yesterday, hard to see a red flag there. Just in general if he can keep the K's under 20% during a regular season he hits the ball hard enough that he should do enough damage. His approach leaves a lot to be desired but at the same time his bat-to-ball skills are good enough to make up for it to a large extent.
I just don't see room for Brennan as a starting OF until something changes. Hopefully he gets enough looks though to be able to show what he's got. Question is will Tito pinch-hit Straw for him. He probably should but I really don't see him doing that often. But he will probably pinch hit Arias / Freeman for him. I'd also like to see him as a late inning defensive replacement for OGonz.
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sportscoach
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I think Brennan will see about 400 ABs... He will see late game defensive replacement over OGonz when we have leads. Pinch running for Naylor/Bell at DH etc... They will get his ABs in (wish they would list him as a two way player so he could also pitch again just to eat an inning here and there lol).
macbdog
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Don't be cruel let Straw have this.
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Straw has a leadoff batter’s mentality of wanting to draw walks and make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches. But that led to him: a) Being behind in the count. b) Seem very weak trying to make contact. c) Hitting soft popups, fly balls and grounders. Francona said the Guardians want Straw to “Put a little juice into the ball.” By that, Francona means for Straw not be he afraid to swing and miss at times. - Pluto, spring training 2023
This is what I've been saying - putting Straw in the leadoff spot to start last season screwed him up. He was all about working the count and making the pitcher show all his pitches, leading to being consistently behind in the count and having to swing defensively which resulted in lots of weakly hit balls.
When his BA was .199 at the end of August he'd had enough. He started attacking the first pitch he saw in the zone and pulling the ball. He hit .313 in September. He has the same aggressive approach this spring from the column I just read.
I'm expecting much more offensive production from him this year, something on the order of a .250-.270 BA with more steals due to the pickoff restrictions. He got balked to second yesterday after three pickoff attempts failed. They should count that as a stolen base since the runner baited the pitcher into an unsuccessful third try that put the runner on second. But it will probably be recorded as a balk. All the major league balk records will be blown away this year.
This is what I've been saying - putting Straw in the leadoff spot to start last season screwed him up. He was all about working the count and making the pitcher show all his pitches, leading to being consistently behind in the count and having to swing defensively which resulted in lots of weakly hit balls.
When his BA was .199 at the end of August he'd had enough. He started attacking the first pitch he saw in the zone and pulling the ball. He hit .313 in September. He has the same aggressive approach this spring from the column I just read.
I'm expecting much more offensive production from him this year, something on the order of a .250-.270 BA with more steals due to the pickoff restrictions. He got balked to second yesterday after three pickoff attempts failed. They should count that as a stolen base since the runner baited the pitcher into an unsuccessful third try that put the runner on second. But it will probably be recorded as a balk. All the major league balk records will be blown away this year.
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The key is his chase percentage which was an astonishing 48.3% last year - 2nd highest in baseball. If he could cut that down to around 40% his numbers would jump. When he swings at pitches in the zone and lays off the breaking stuff down he's very productive.
I'm hoping that part of the reason he chased so many bad pitches last year was because he was eager to prove himself. If he goes into this season more confident that he won't be sent down then maybe he'll be more patient at the dish.
Last year he was in the 91st percentile in exit velocity and he sprays the ball to all fields. Lots of hard hit balls to all fields will result in a high batting average. He hit .296 last year despite the super high chase rate!
He swung at 44% of the first pitches, about 50% higher than the average of 29.5%. That number has to come down, or does it? He hit .511 (24-for-47) when he put the first pitch in play. That's incredible. I have to believe pitchers will not throw him a first pitch strike this year.
His groundball rate was nearly 51% last year. If Oscar can be a little more patient and learn to get a few more balls in the air he's going to be an All-Star.
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