Dirden is not an every day center fielder. His natural position, RF is occupied for as long as Kyle Tucker is healthy. LF is double occupied by Alvarez and Brantley. The only obvious fit is bench outfielder. To me that means If McCormick wins the center field job Meyers will have to play in AAA because he does not have the arm to play in right. If Meyers wins the center field job McCormick will be sent down because his splits kept him from beating out Meyers. Meyers and McCormick are in competition with one another, Dirden on the bench is the result either way.
Should the decision be made after watching Meyers play over the last year? You know the numbers much better than I do. I thought Meyers looked terrible last year by the eye test and the most troubling thing is his defense was much worse last year than the year before. I'm going to attribute this to Meyers playing injured. This is coming from me, a big Meyers fan. I hope he gets healthy and lives up to what I thought was great potential, but the jury is still out on this. With this said I do believe Dirden has outplayed Meyers by quite a bit this spring, although to be honest I haven't been keeping up with spring training games much. I think Dirden has earned a shot in the bigs.
I think it’s hard to evaluate Meyers’ 2022 season given that he was clearly rushed back into service before he was ready. As impressive as he’s been, Dirden has not had a season as impressive as Meyers’ 2021 season where he was excellent in the field and above average against major league pitching. He looked like someone with the tools to become an all star if he could further develop his plate discipline. Meyers deserves another shot.
With Brantley out, and Dubon needed on the infield both should make the team. The everyday LF ABs are up for grabs until Brantley is up to speed. I think Dirden should be our primary LF to start the season, which still leaves a spot for Meyers as the 4th OF where he should also get semi regular ABs.
I should add Brantley not being a major contributor this season at all is a scenario I think the team should be prepared for, which is all the more reason Hensley, Dirden,Meyers and maybe Diaz should be getting as good a look as we can give them. If would be nice to have a replacement in house if Brantley falls out of the picture.
If the real Meyers is 2021, he's a keeper. If the real Meyers is 2022, then throw him back. I am not convinced either is the REAL 2023 Meyers.
With Dubon likely getting a large number of the 2B starts over Hensley, I don’t want Meyers in CF and Chas in LF. We need the potential bat of Dirden in LF especially on days Dubon is at 2B
Yes I think Dubon should play 2B when Valdez pitches and at minimum 3 of the other 4 starting pitchers should have Hensley at 2B to give the lineup more pop. Dear 8 lb baby Jesus please allow Dubon to hit above .250 since he's going to end up staring 75% of our games until Altuve gets back.
I understand the eye test. It's also very hard to keep the eye test objective. That's why stats and measurable must be used in addition to the eye test. By ALL measures Meyers was awful with a bat or ball in his hand, but that was reasonable because of the circumstances. He should have spent the entire season rehabbing. That's on Click. However, the idea that he was bad with the gloves or his legs is just plain wrong. According to baseball savant 107 outfielders made at least 25 catches there last season. Jake's 76.3% was the 6th best catch rate. On catches rated 26-50% chance, he was 4th at 83.3% For reference: Daulton Varsho was 73.4 and 63.6% respectively. Jose Siri was 77.9% and 77.8% Chas McCormick: 68.1% and 40.0% Miles Straw: 65.5% and 40.0% George Springer: 70.7% and 60.0% The idea that Meyers was bad in the field last year is simply wrong.
I was just wondering if today's line-up indicates McCormick has won the competition for CF simce Dusty likes to keep them in their regular position. Meyers becomes the 4th OFer if he makes it out of camp.
Signing Brantley felt more like punting on the corner OF spot than making a real decision, but then again, we didn’t have a GM around to make decisions. Hopefully Dirden starts out hot in AAA.
I'm not understanding the booting of McCormick by so many on here (or at the very least the questioning of his viability as a starter). What's he done wrong this spring?
I'm not understanding the booting of McCormick by so many on here (or at the very least the questioning of his viability of being our starting center fielder). What's he done wrong this spring?
Alvarez will likely have the most innings played in LF. I would not consider that a punt. Brantley is still likely very good at hitting RHPs if he's able to play. Astros have an assortment of guys that should be able to hit LHPs. I see Brantley as a bridge. He should be able to get the Astros to the point that one of the OF or bat-first prospects breaks out.
