It's time to play Jake full-time. We at least need to see if his new batting stance can translate to full-time success. Brantley can DH full-time (at least on days that we are not resting others).
All for it. He's having a great season so far at the plate. Last year he started off with 2 homers but a TOOOOON of K's and no walks. This year is lookin' great! Good for him, his defense is Gold Clove-caliber. If he plays full-time he'd at least get some serious GG consideration.
It would be awesome if he had a Marwin-like breakout season. I wouldn't say no to a 2017 Marisnick season either.
I love Jake the ballplayer as much as anyone, but just to clarify he’s not a gold glove CF he’s probably like 5th to 7th best CF defensively in the game. The Tampa guy ***** all over him by every metric, as does Buxton and a couple other guys. But he’s the best we have and maybe better than Bourn, which would probably make him best CF of my time being an Astros fan since about 1990 Maybe Beltran the first time around. So brief though.
Catch probability added has Jake as number 1 for 2018 (minimum 100 chances). He'd be number 1 in Outs Above Average that year if he had more innings. So while he's not always best, last year, the player tracking stats suggest he was the best among guys with a reasonable amount of opportunities, though this doesn't cover his arm.
His approach has looked much better so far, but 21 PA doesn't override the previous 1500 PA in which he was dog s**t. Marisnick is gonna keep getting his looks, but I'm gonna need a slightly larger sample before he plays everyday.
Brantley needs time in LF. Its obvious he isn't comfortable out there yet and he isn't going to get there DHing. Jakes time will come if he continues to produce.
Brantley played 134 games in left field last season (every game he didn't DH). 684 games in his career.
Isn't our LF one of the easiest to play defensively? That;s why we'd stick the fat guys like Carlos Lee, Preston Tucker, and even sometime Gattis out there when needed.
Perhaps. But it still takes time to acclimate to a new environment. There have been a few plays where he seemed unsure how to play the ball out there.
And he may very well do so, in time. My comment was in response to making Brantley a full time DH so Jake could play more, not a response to his capability to play the position.
I agree that Brantley should not be a full time DH. They have a good plan of rotating the DH and Jake should have plenty of playing time without making drastic moves. Just unfortunate for him, that they are carrying an extra position player this year.
Pre-2018 Marwin? It took him a very long while to learn the position, but 2018 Marwin was definitely better at fielding in left than Branltey plus Marwin had a knack at throwing guys out.
but who do you sit if you play jake more? Reddick? Brantley? Definitely not Springer... and he's too good in the OF to be DH?
A potential added benefit to Jake playing more would be way less innings for George in CF. This could lead to an even better offensive year from him without the responsibility of CF defense. Against lefty starters Brantley plays LF and White DH. Against right handers put Reddick in LF and let Brantley DH.