Are shifts used just as much in the minor leagues? White Sox immediately went to a shift on Tucker. Wondering if this is something new for him to see or if he's been seeing it in the minors.
I doubt they shift at the same frequency as the Astros, but I believe Fresno and Corpus both shift. I'm not sure if they do in A ball or in the short season leagues.
Prospects rated 3,7,8,9,10 and a guy like Kemp who's hitting .300 at the MLB level = pupu, then the Stros farm system is in bad shape. To repeat four top 10 prospects and a MLB .300 hitter. Plus most of these guys are MLB ready. I would like to know what you think of the Stros farm system.
The only player I would hate to lose in that group would be Nova and I would counter with another player like Celestino. If they insisted on Nova I would probably do this deal.
I haven't seen him not get to any flyballs he should get to. Although his arm is slightly below avg he makes up for this by getting rid of the ball quickly. You didn't answer my question, what plays has he not made that he should've made with those short little slow moving legs?
Then which plays have you seen that makes you think he's a below avg LF? Not just some stat geek stuff that you've read about.
He is not "awful" by a good stretch, but he does have his limitations. There was one play where he jumped into the scoreboard at full speed near the line, where if he had not taken a false step off the bat and then a elliptical route it would have been better. There was also one play where his lollipop throw from LF back into the cutoff man (more mental mistake iirc, he just didn't play the play all the way through) allowed the runner at 2B to take 3rd. But his arm is not strong. And his reads are not always great. He's still learning the OF (you can learn reads but not arm strength), he'd been an IFer at Vandy and with the Stros until 2015, then he started truly splitting time b/t 2B and LF/CF; '16 in AAA he was 3/5 2B and 2/5 OF; last year at Fresno he still played 6X more innings at 2B than in the OF.
Finally an answer About what you would expect from a guy learning a new position. His arm, while below avg plays OK in LF, particularly at MMP.
Kemp shows instincts that are likely not teachable, at least in the time frame the Astros are interested in. Pretty much every catch you see him actually make he's coming at it funny, some odd angle, or catching it in some awkward way. It actually makes a lot of the easy plays he makes look difficult. Because of his poor instincts/routes/whatever you want to call it, he doesn't get to a lot of balls that even decent left fielders get to. You see this reflected in his defensive metrics, which have him solidly below average wherever he plays in the field.
2 things- anytime Tucker is ready to hit a ball hard I’m in favor. Anyone who thinks they can use the eye test, while watching tv, without stats to know whether or not a LF is good defensively has their head planted firmly up their own backside. You can’t see positioning. You can’t see awareness. You can’t see reaction, break or route. You just don’t know, typically, what’s going on out there as the camera generally follows the ball.
Stat geek stuff that I read about? You go with your uneducated eyes, I'll go with the statistics valued by baseball front offices combined by what I am seeing happen on the field. There have been numerous times he has made a bad read and had to jump or dive or lunge for a ball that should have been caught routinely. You really need specific examples?
Luhnow is a stats based guy and Kemp was basically platooned with Jake and is still on the roster after Jake was sent down. Hinch spoke highly of Kemp the other night. So the analytics guys are seeming to agree with me. I will start worrying about Kemp's defense when it starts hurting the team. So far it hasn't hurt the team and this is why Kemp is still here and Jake is gone. Carry on
