For those unaware: In baseball there is an “intentional walk”. The Astros are the only team in MLB history to never issue one in a season 2019, so there’s a reason you’ve never seen it The signal for an intentional walk is 4 fingers, and point to first base. This is what Alex is mimicking with his gesture. He has the highest walks in the MLB, so pitchers for most of the season are aggressively trying to throw him marginal pitches so that he gets poor opportunity to get a good hit. Astros will take a walk, Bregman Leads he MLB in walks. But since June, Now that he is “protected” in The batting order. (Brantley, Bregman, Yordan, Correa, Yuli). Opposing pitchers can’t walk Bergman by “pitching around him”, they have to throw good pitches to hit. Or if they walk him it turns into a 2 run home run. The stats bear this out. His batting % went from 265 to almost 300 since the change. So the message Bregman is communicating to the other team is. “You think Yordan, Correa and Yuli, are more dangerous than I am? You should have walked me because I just hit a home run”. Bergman plays with a “chip” on his shoulder. Just a mental attitude that he is being slighted. His father points out he always has played his best baseball when he plays with this mental approach.
The real reason Alex Bregman became MVP is because or Yordan Alvarez hitting behind him, since his callup Bregman was batting .265 than hit over .400 since Yordan was called up and hitting 5th since. If Yordan Alvarez made the team since Spring Training he could've gotten to 57 home runs. Should've been Rookie of the Year and MVP Candidate. Similar to Mets Rookie Pete Alonso
Explain Bergman’s MVP candidacy last year. He played better because it’s a long season and great players tend to eventually find their level. Expect Bregman to generally be around this level regardless of who is playing around him. A red hot Yuli and Yordan batting behind him, is a boost. But it’s not the real reason he’s an MVP candidate.
This is factually incorrect. Yordan made his debut June 9th, Bregman hit .308 from then on. By his standards he had a very "meh" June and July, and didn't really start going nuts until August. He had Brantley and Correa hitting behind him for the first 2 months of the season, btw, so the lineup protection argument is pretty weak. He made some changes during the season wrt his approach at the plate, going back to things he had success with in the past.
IF Trout played 162 games, game for game, he is better than Bregs. BUT Bregs is on a team that's not trying to pad his stats and Bregs was a warhorse this entire season. I think Trout will win but, I wouldn't do a straight-up trade for Alex.
Ok, I guess this is the best explanation I've seen for it, so I'll believe it. It's perplexed me the whole season. I love me some Bregs, but I've never really been into this year's HR celebration. Probably because it looks he's just doing a very low-energy Michael Jackson dance move. The Stare was better. Cleaner, yet more adaptable. Those were simpler times. What I do like about Bregman is that you can't really tell that he's "playing with a chip on his shoulder." He just looks serious and professional but at the same time loves celebrating with and cheering on his teammates. He doesn't have an outlandish 'tude that would make you hate him like, say, Yasiel Puig. If he's playing with a chip on his shoulder, that shoulder must be mostly internal, because I never get any real sense of arrogance from his posing. Even if he's intending it. If he's going to bring this back next year, he definitely needs a white batting glove covered in rhinestones.
If I remember correctly, he was getting a lot of popups at the beginning of the season as was Yuli. I think they were consciously trying to get their launch angle higher but took it too far, so they adjusted as the season went on.
Thought he meant "40 HRs" -- a goal. Everyone who opposes the "protection" theory needs to argue with Bregman. The celebration is HIS own theory.
LOLOLOL WHAT? YOU WOULDNT TRADE BREG FOR TROUT? Are you delusional? As much as I love Bregs, Trout is hands down the best player on the planet and its not even close.
I actually never knew this, mostly because I prefer The Stare and didn't pay much attention to whatever this was. For some reason, I assumed it was some kind of ballroom dance reference.
None of what you typed makes sense. Also, just as an aside...has Bregman ever actually said what his little hand stuff means? Or are people just making stuff up?
Great job adding the bolded after the fact. THAT should've been your first response to me instead of the lame trash talk attempt. And no surprise the Nutless Wonder tagged along for the ride. It was already there before the "aside" appeared. The "aside" isn't an aside. It's the entire thesis of the thread. ETA- lol at myself. Just noticed you deleted my "40 HR" theory. Guess you didn't think that part was nonsense. Same lame mentality as the Nutless One.