This year, he has cratered versus Left-handed pitchers. He used to hit them better than right-handed, but this year he has been horrible against them. Another thing with him, is that he has consistently somewhat of a gamer -- being better when guys on base and closer to the 4/5 holes. Even this year, though the highs are lower than prior highs. I do think they need to reconsider the line up with putting Yordon or Tucker ahead of him.
We're all expecting MVP Bregman, and he's sure as hell not that, but out of qualified 3B he's 13 of 25 in OPS, and has an OPS+ of 114. He's better than average, he's just totally miscast as the 3 hitter in a lineup.
He’s become pretty average, which is really unfortunate. He’s still a nice player, but he just doesn’t look much like the guy he was a couple of years ago. Hopefully he’ll get his swag back at some point.
If AE has stayed healthy and slashed that he'd be in the Hall of Really Damn Good, he was *that* special with the glove.
Jose Ramirez had a stretch of mediocrity worse than this, and has seemed to pull himself out of it. Hopefully Bregman can do the same.
One of the things about Bregman that simply has not been touched upon is the effect the juiced ball had. When he was in the minors, I was expecting him to become a solid high average middle infielder with 30+ 2B and 10-15 HR power and 5-10 SB speed. He is a small guy who never impresses with exit velocities or HR distance. Even in 2018 and 2019 this was the case. Tuning his swing for MMP with an extreme pull approach coupled with a juiced ball in 2018 and 2019 got him 2 top 5 MVP seasons. Fast forward to 2022: the ball is no longer juiced so 350 ft HRs to LF from then are now 300 ft fly outs. If he realizes this and works ( and by all accounts he is a great worker) on it he can still be a 40 2B, 20 HR guy who walks more than he strikes out. That is one he'll of a #2 hitter and very valuable player. Especially with his defense. Alex needs to be moved out of #3 spot and become THAT GUY
He was more valuable to the Astros than Jeter was to the Yankees. Jeter's Silver sluggers were deserved. His Gold Gloves were a travesty.
Gold glove has always been a popularity contest. To call it a fielding award is laughable. It has always gone to the best, most popular player at a position who is not a butcher with the glove. Unless there is a legitimate wizard with a glove WHO ALSO GETS CONSTANT NATIONAL MEDIA ATTENTION FOR IT. Then he could be gifted it over the other star.
I am ok with average if he hadn’t shown capabilities that seriously out paced average. That kind of drop off is not typical in a 28 year old athlete that hasn’t suffered some career altering injury is it?
Oh yea. I remember he was a vacuum cleaner at short. speaking of hall of damn good. Really wonder what Dickie Thon would have done had he not been beaned in 84. OPS of .859 when he went down. 20 dingers the year before when half his games were played in the cavernous dome. Still had a serviceable career and was above average in what. 89? With the Phillies. The “what could have been” question.
Him and Cesar Cedeno I was a 9 year old kid in the field boxes behind our dugout at the Thon game. The sound of the ball off his face was horrific. I remember that and him giving the standing-o crowd a thumbs-up from the stretcher as they were rolling him off the field.
They changed the criteria/voting for the GG a few years ago, no more "whoever hits the best while being a functional fielder" https://www.rawlings.com/gold-glove-criteria.html
I wish I could explain it. He had leg problems the past couple of years, so I blamed '20-21 on that. But now everyone says he's healthy and we're getting the exact same performance. He needs to go back to his LSU, MiLB approach of hitting line drives to all fields (righty whitey Brantley) and forget being a power hitter for a while. The best thing you can say about him is he's getting on base, and hitting well with runners on (this is another teamwide thing I want to talk about someday). He has absolutely no business hitting 3rd. Leadoff, 2nd or 6th. The huge problem that makes me sad to see is Yuli. Love that guy, but man, I can't believe how fast time caught up with him. He got breezed by a LH fastball at 92 mph center-out today, that's a pitch he has drilled for his whole career and he swung behind it.
yea. Yuli’s drop off is disappointing. Father Time is a consistent SOB. Just look how Olajuwon aged in front of our eyes. Decent 96/97 but signs of uh-oh. Then down like a wingless airplane. Or so it seemed.
