That's the problem. 2021 I would have said Meyers without a doubt, but he isn't even remotely the same post injury. Even when he was healthy and playing, he looks terrified on defense. You can't play that way.
The vast majority of OFs in the majors look like bad little leaguers as there weren't many guys making plays at a higher rate than Meyers much less close to what Meyers was doing. Meyers's only weak spot defensively was his arm was weak and inaccurate.
Should have said plus defender at going and getting the ball. Arm isn’t all that important in CF but if it’s bad enough that invites problems. He needs to get back to where he was or his arm will be bad enough to wreck the getting to the ball part.
I went Chas, it is a tough question and propounded by the fact that Jake is a few years younger. Also, Chas will be 28 this year…there’s been some analysis that baseball players’ primes are at age 27, so I think it’s entirely possible that Chas has peaked and Meyers has not. Of course the opposite could also be true (I.e., Meyers has peaked and Chas has not). Either way, I think this is a really difficult choice and made even more difficult by the fact that Meyers is slightly younger. Both have make or break seasons in 2023 as far as their long-term outlooks in the league are considered.
Yes. If he looked like a little leaguer, all but maybe 5 or so OFs look like little leaguers. This is the only play that Meyers looked skiddish on for balls hit at least 300 feet in the air that he didn't make the play. This was ruled a hit due to the play difficulty. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=88237e35-43fb-481e-8519-5c0a76dd96dd One play should not be the judge of a player.
Going through a lot of Meyers videos...he makes everything look so easy. I'm not seeing this skiddish that STR8Thugg is talking about outside the one video. For the most part, Meyers gets incredible reads on anything over his head and doesn't give himself a chance to be skiddish as he gets to the track quick and has to slow down/stop to wait on the ball instead of crashing into the wall (i.e., he looks calm AF near wall usually). I get that some people can't appreciate good reads, but Meyers looks freaking great out there. Better than I remember.
It’s more or less ImPossible to tell whose getting a good read watching on TV. It’s very hard unless you are really locked in to do it in person. That’s why numbers are so important defensively imo. And that takes a huge sample size to ascertain clearly.
Assuming full health, it's Jake Meyers easily. He has all-star potential if he puts it all together. I love Chas -- he's a gritty gamer who had a couple of massive postseason moments with the catch that we'll never forget and the opposite field HR off Gerrit Cole after Bader's drop. But Chas' ceiling is probably what we saw this year. I think Meyers could be a 0.900 OPS hitter at some point. Meyers has the explosive athletic ability that could help him turn into a great player.
On an individual play, sure. When a guy is close to a lot of hard hit balls when TV pans to CF regardless of where the ball is hit, it is easy to figure out a guy is getting good reads (i.e., he isn't perfectly positioned every time). Granted, the Astros have had a lot of good CF play the past 2 years.
The question is: Do either of them get 300 PA for the 2025 Astros? If the answer is yes they are doing pretty well.
It's a good question. I'm still holding out enough hope that Meyers returns to pre-injury form and turns into an All-star level CF. So I voted for him to try and will that into existence. I got really excited about him when he first came up based on some of the news on this message board about how some people in the Astros organization really thought he was a guy who had that "it" factor and could be a star. His initial performance backed that up in a lot of ways. Hopefully he pulls it all back together.
This question still bugs me. Not that it is being asked, but that there is still so much uncertainty in Chas's ability after having plenty of opportunity to evaluate him. Is Chas as good in center as he's played in center? Are his defensive stats being merely okay in LF a response to having the Crawford boxes stealing opportunities and making a few mistakes early while getting familiar with the boxes and the caroms off of it? I lean towards yes. Will his hitting remain above average if he played every day? His high walk, high swinging strike, swing for the fences approach is prone to being streaky.
Who has the better 2023? I think the Astros know what they have in Chas but not Meyers. I think Meyers starts the season as the primary starter in order to show that. If he plays like 2021 then Chas gets much less playing time. Unfortunately, with Brantley resigned and on an incentive based deal Chas is looking at being the one squeezed out if Meyers has a good season.
With everyone in the Texans thread trying to predict who will be better out of Young, Levis, and Stroud, I just cant with this thread. It all guessing and speculation people. I will check back on this in 5 years and see how it ended up.
