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2024 Season | Series #6 | Guardians @ Red Sox | April 15-18, 2024

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KluberSociety said:
I think it is more having an effective foundation than specifically a contact oriented one. Thome as you mentioned was a great hitter, but he swung and missed a ton and led the league in K's. What mattered though was that his selective approach led him to hunt mistakes and crush them, he was also a "upper cut" guy which is what launch angle swings were called before launch angle became fashionable.

SpongeBob had power, and contact, but no foundations to use those skills due to his bad approach.
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I strongly dispute your description of Thome.

Thome was a high contact, high BA hitter without high K rate, until he got to Cleveland and Charlie Manuel built on that foundation.

In the season Thome got his first cup of coffee his numbers in the minors...

511 PAs...7 HR...319 BA...17% K.

In the top three levels, Thomes lowest BA was .316. His career MiLB BA was 317 with a 17.7% K rate.

But the poster boy is JRam.

On a much smaller (much smaller) scale, we are watching the same thing with Kwan. High contact, high BA, low K rate foundation being tweaked for more power.
 
It was posted in here or another thread from one of The Athletic articles - mentioning physique as a power measure. I just don't think Kwan has that profile for a "power hitter". He'll be in the 10-15 HR max range a la Suzuki. Still, a hell of a hitter.
 
CATS44 said:
I strongly dispute your description of Thome.

Thome was a high contact, high BA hitter without high K rate, until he got to Cleveland and Charlie Manuel built on that foundation.

In the season Thome got his first cup of coffee his numbers in the minors...

511 PAs...7 HR...319 BA...17% K.

In the top three levels, Thomes lowest BA was .316. His career MiLB BA was 317 with a 17.7% K rate.

But the poster boy is JRam.

On a much smaller (much smaller) scale, we are watching the same thing with Kwan. High contact, high BA, low K rate foundation being tweaked for more power.
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Wait until you see league stats during that same time window. Yeah Thome was somewhat competent at hitting the ball but take his ways into today's game and he would be striking out over 30% of the time. And given how early development prioritizes being productive hitters as that is understood now (basically wRC/OPS), he would look a lot more like Nolan Jones than Jose Ramirez
 
mopete12 said:
No real response to this other than listing Shane Spencer made me lol. He was only on Cleveland for 64 games at 31 years old. I'm guessing you meant someone else? Branyan?

Also, Spongebob had a "foundation of contact", but swung at everything.
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Shane Spencer only played a short time with us, but he was a highly hyped Yankee prospect...the next (name one) to join the Bronx Bombers. He immediately made a name for himself in his first go around by launching balls out of the park. But then...nothing.
 
Otsego Mar said:
It was posted in here or another thread from one of The Athletic articles - mentioning physique as a power measure. I just don't think Kwan has that profile for a "power hitter". He'll be in the 10-15 HR max range a la Suzuki. Still, a hell of a hitter.
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I'm not sure we even want Kwan to shift focus to the long ball anyways. Keep slapping base knocks.
 
Real Deal said:
I'm not sure we even want Kwan to shift focus to the long ball anyways. Keep slapping base knocks.
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Yea - working on launch angle and barrels and what not....all good. But, I think this team's traditional lack of power everywhere else as of the last few years has some in here looking at Kwan with an uneven eye. Even thinking about trading him after 2 straight gold glove seasons and a career slash of .288 / .358 / .389 / .747 is highly ludicrous, IMHO.
 
KluberSociety said:
Wait until you see league stats during that same time window. Yeah Thome was somewhat competent at hitting the ball but take his ways into today's game and he would be striking out over 30% of the time. And given how early development prioritizes being productive hitters as that is understood now (basically wRC/OPS), he would look a lot more like Nolan Jones than Jose Ramirez
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Nolan Jones and Jim Thome in the same sentence is sacrilege....lol
 
CATS44 said:
Nolan Jones and Jim Thome in the same sentence is sacrilege....lol
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I dont agree, let me show you.

Nolan Jones and Jim Thome both played for the Indians at one time. In fact, one time when Nolan Jones wasnt paying attention, he ran into the statue of Jim Thome that is in front of the ball park.

See, same sentence, twice, and not sacrilege either time.
 
In 17 innings over the last two games, Freeman has made eight plays in center.
That doesn't count the base hits, back ups, etc.

Somebody made a mistake.

Either Vogt wrote it down wrong, the lineup was transcripted wrong, or Vogt had a mental collapse.
 
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