Yes he can only play one position at a time But if Jones was here and not Robel then Jones would play 3B and Diaz SS, so I stand by my statement there is no excuse for him to be on the team And I’m not saying Jones is the answer in any way, just enough of Robel already. Reality is we don’t have anyone who is likely ready to perform at the mlb level in the system after Diaz, similar to our CF situation
@Buck Turgidson is going to have nightmares just thinking of the Jones/Diaz leftside of the IF. I'm assuming Wilson can play 3B and SS.
I was expecting Robel to hit better than a pitcher. But he’s been well bellow what should be allowable for even a catcher offensively. Position players can be elite defensively but, they still need to swing a bat to stay on the team.
i won't be satisfied until Robel is removed from the 40 man roster. Hopefully that happens in the near future to make room for Baez coming off the 60 day IL.
It is hard to label guys who have never gotten consistent playing time. Robel Garcia surely is strikeout prone, but with such sporadic playing time it’s hard to say for sure if he’s really the pitiful player he’s been in the majors this season or if instead he’s a strikeout prone middle infielder with big power who’s having some bad luck or a hard time getting into a groove. That’s one reason why I prefer bench players to be guys who don’t strikeout much and have very high defensive value (it’s why I liked Straw so much as the 4th OF but not the everyday CF); contact, speed, and defense don’t slump and don’t need consistent game time to be effective. It feels like guys who rely on power need consistent time to run into the HR to justify themselves and keep their swing consistent. That said, bold prediction: Taylor Jones tears the cover off the ball the next 5 games he plays. He’s due.
Not meant to be at Snake, but this is one of those cliches that I do not agree with. Straw had a bad defensive slump this year. The term "yips" exists to describe a type of defensive slump. On the other end of the spectrum, Bregman was a top of the line Hoover during the 2017 playoffs.
I don’t disagree that guys can have rough defensive patches, but I do think that defensive performance tends to be more consistent than offense. I dont think the metrics are all that great yet anyway so it’s hard to measure that way.
The metrics have an issue measuring defense partly because defense is streaky. Defensive opportunities are not equal. Last year, Brantley scored very well in defensive stats. When looking at video, he had a hot streak of a few good reads on hard hit balls close to him that jacked up his defensive metrics in a small sample. The Astros limiting his LF starts last season to small parks helped prevent him from getting many balls that required speed to run down. In this example, I would say the defensive metrics were right that his defense added value last season even if his ability defensively overall is less than good in a larger sample.
Luke Berryhill hit his first homer since joining Asheville... it's a three-run blast that gives him 11 home runs on the year. Shay Whitcomb is currently 3-3 with a double and has scored three times.
Corey Julks and Ross Adolph sure have hit well since each returned from some time off (Julks on the Dev list, Adolph on the IL). Julks ops >1000 since 7/1, Adolph had ops of 1131 in June, 770 in July and 982 so far in August. Both guys probably have bench OF ceilings but are proving they should at least get a shot in AAA to begin next season.
Quincy Hamilton is in the Fayetteville lineup tonight, hitting 6th and playing CF. In case anyone's forgotten, Hamilton was the Astros' 5th-round pick a couple of weeks ago.
Jordan Brewer and Joey Loperfido were both place on the 60 day IL; hope it was nothing serious. Either way it means both of their seasons are over.
Will Wagner went 3-3 tonight Diosmerky Taveras turned in another nice outing: 5 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 6 K Victor Mascai ripped a couple of doubles to drive in three as the Woodpeckers beat Fredericksburg 6-4.
Adolph hit his 10th homer of the season tonight. He hasn't been awful since joining the organization, but he's gotten off to some really rough starts both this year and last. And yes, he's probably done enough this year to move up to Sugar Land in 22.
