Ask Bimbo

[MirORich]

@BimboColesHair

Does Austin Hedges's nickname come from his giant schlong?

Austin “Big Uribe” Hedges

 

[Stark]

@BimboColesHair

We've got to give up every single minor league player in the organization except one position player and one pitcher.

Who're you keeping?

@BimboColesHair

I'm going to follow up on this question. I've been doing more reading on our farm system and Espino and Valera are the clear cut guys for pitcher and position player so my question was kind of stupid.

You can't pick those two. Who are the next two guys (one pitcher and one position player) that you would keep over everybody else?

 

[BimboColesHair]

@BimboColesHair

I'm going to follow up on this question. I've been doing more reading on our farm system and Espino and Valera are the clear cut guys for pitcher and position player so my question was kind of stupid.

You can't pick those two. Who are the next two guys (one pitcher and one position player) that you would keep over everybody else?

Williams and Rocchio.

Naylor is making the position player decision real tough though.

 

[CDAV45]

Hey Bimbo, am I crazy for believing that Bibee and Morris(when healthy) are damn close to being in the same class with Espino and Williams? I tend to think Espino and Williams are 1A and Bibee and Morris as 1B's.

 

[Gson]

Williams and Rocchio.

Naylor is making the position player decision real tough though.

Arias, Freeman and Angel.. follow.. in any order [for position players]...?

edit: Arias Freeman & Angel.. all follow Bo Naylor*

 

[FFRva]

I know we are a ways off but if you were to guess who are some prime candidates for the AFL in your opinion?

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

@BimboColesHair Do you think the elimination of the shift will help our offense less than it helps other teams?

 

[Tondo]

I know we are a ways off but if you were to guess who are some prime candidates for the AFL in your opinion?

Hankins would make sense, Bracho needs all the reps he can get. Not sure what injury Hunter Stanley has, but he's another one in need of reps at that level.

 

[Urban]

@BimboColesHair Do you think the elimination of the shift will help our offense less than it helps other teams?

I cannot speak in relation to other teams, but it should make Jose an even more dangerous hitter. He sees the shift just as much as any other hitter in baseball, when hitting lefty

Should be a big benefit to emerging LHH power bats like J Naylor, Jones, and Benson as well. Gimenez as well you see a pretty big gap in splits for a guy who has only seen the shift in half of his plate appearances. Plus B Naylor on the horizon of debuting as another LHH

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

I cannot speak in relation to other teams, but it should make Jose an even more dangerous hitter. He sees the shift just as much as any other hitter in baseball, when hitting lefty

Should be a big benefit to emerging LHH power bats like J Naylor, Jones, and Benson as well. Gimenez as well you see a pretty big gap in splits for a guy who has only seen the shift in half of his plate appearances. Plus B Naylor on the horizon of debuting as another LHH

View attachment 11408

I feel like Jose is #1, with Naylor #2, and not many other players being that pull, full-shift kinda guy. We have a lot of players who can spray the ball around.

I feel like other teams have more pull-focused guys and therefore the change next year will help them more than it helps us.

 

[DJTJ]

@BimboColesHair

Just a random question about hitter development when it comes to power.

Guys like Jose and Lindor were never really seen as having tremendous power, until it just clicked. How much of that is body development versus swing development?

I’d imagine that as they develop physically, they get more natural power from just being stronger, but also, if the approach isn’t to lift the ball, does it just not translate (ie Yandy) or matter as much?

 

[AZ_]

Is Cody Morris a guy who will get to Cleveland at some point this season and help in an Eli Morgan role?

Could be a 2-3 inning guy that misses a ton of bats. He may be ready to roll with 2-3 more starts.

 

[BimboColesHair]

I've already mentioned Aldeano. He's the biggest one to watch there. Should be coming to AZ once there is some organizational movement at the rookie levels.

Aldeano promoted to the ACL.

 

[CDAV45]

Bimbo, who do you think they hold in higher regard right now, Gaddis or Battenfield?

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

I cannot speak in relation to other teams, but it should make Jose an even more dangerous hitter. He sees the shift just as much as any other hitter in baseball, when hitting lefty

Should be a big benefit to emerging LHH power bats like J Naylor, Jones, and Benson as well. Gimenez as well you see a pretty big gap in splits for a guy who has only seen the shift in half of his plate appearances. Plus B Naylor on the horizon of debuting as another LHH

View attachment 11408

Naylor will benefit greatly because the chart shows his wOBA increases by 100 points when there is no shift. This makes sense because he hits a lot of hard ground balls and line drives into the shift. Also, they shift on him nearly 4 of 5 at-bats, so his numbers could skyrocket.

Nolan Jones is hurt even more by the shift than Naylor (almost 200 points) but it's a small sample. But he's another left-handed pull hitter and those are the guys who are most negatively affected.

Andres Gimenez's wOBA increases 135 points with no shift and they shift on him 50% of the time. He's already 2nd in the A.L. in batting average and 4th in wRC+ - how good will he be when defenses can no longer shift against him half of his at-bats?

Oscar Gonzalez won't be affected because teams shift only 3% of the time. Jose won't be affected from the left side because his wOBA is about the same whether they shift or not.

But more offensive production from Andres and Naylor is pretty exciting and it should help Benson and Jones as well.