Who has been the biggest bust in Spring Training so far?

Who cares?

Show me the data that strongly correlates ST performances (good or bad) with regular season performances?

Pitchers are working on different things... hitters aren't in shape... fielders seem to commit more errors.

I am concerned about Altuve continuing to get picked off (a problem that did translate to regular season play), along with the lack of defined roles thus far in the bullpen... but signaling out any individual (good or bad) based on ST performances only is mostly a meaningless endeavor.

 

George Springer.

I agree, the stats are pretty meaningless. Springer actually had a great ST last year.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ining-prospects-perform-in-the-regular-season

I will not say this is strong correlation, but it does show that a strong spring at an early age is a very good sign.

 

Jon Daniels!!

 

LOL Quite a ST for them. Injuries piling up.

 

I'll say Villar.

People can talk about how ST doesn't matter. For most teams, I'd probably agree. I would definitely agree for veteran, or competing, teams.

But for a younger squad like ours, some ST stats are certainly disheartening.

Villar's one area that needed vast improvement was fielding. So far, he's been an absolute dud. This is upsetting because fielding is a skill that Villar should have been able to improve on over the offseason. Villar is a high potential guy, but he won't, and shouldn't see the field for a competitive team if he cannot field. And so far this ST, he has done far from proving that he deserves to be on a ML team.

I also agree that some pitching statistics so far have been upsetting, but ST is a time where players get their legs under them. I'm most worried that Kuechel's FB was sitting around 82-84. I mean, sure he shoul get better...but thats HS numbers right there, and he was already topping out around 88 during the year.

/rant

 

Numbers don't necessarily say anything about what a player will do in the regular season, BUT spring performance is huge for players fighting for jobs. Fair or not, that's just the truth

I'm most disappointed with Singleton this spring, he had a legit chance to win the 1B job and was terrible. Getting a large improvement at 1B could have been something that gave the team a nice boost this year, seems rather unlikely now

 

Krauss basically put up the numbers you hoped Singleton would, no? Isn't that a wash?

 

Maybe, but don't think Krause has the upside that Singleton does so was hoping Singleton would show he has recovered from last years wasted year.

 

this thread needs pics

 

And if he doesn't do that in 2 weeks with intermittent playing time (against pitchers throwing random stuff), its a sign that he hasn't recovered?

For me, Singleton needed to show that he was in better shape (he was), he needed to show he had put his past drug issues behind him (even if that interview was just lip-service, he said more than he had to), and he needed to get enough reps at 1B to get used to dealing with Villar/Altuve (and their sometimes errant throws).

My guess is that he'll be up after the super-2 deadline passes (the Villar/Cosart timetable from last year).

 

Definitely hard to imagine Singleton coming up before the Super-2 deadline, especially with 3 current roster players capable of playing 1B.

Springer would be more likely to come up sooner, especially if there is an injury to Fowler/Grossman/Hoes.

 

A better question might be who has impressed in ST? A lot of guys have been bad because this organization is awful.

 

I guess Krauss is the defacto choice because I feel his performance directly led to him making the big league club.

Cosart's start against the Nats was simply awesome... and it was against a lot of their regulars also.

 

The organization is awful therefore the players played poorly?

I'm not sure I see the correlation. What's happening in the business office for tv, stadium signs, lawsuits, etc. has nothing to do with how these guys should be performing.

Now, if they're going Rachel Phelps on the team, then I could see where that might affect things.

 

Since Jesus Guzman has hit so poorly, the Astros are actively looking for another option at first.