[Official] Spring Training Thread

It's seems that he's really only vulnerable to sliders away. You would think it wouldn't be that hard to get better at recognizing them which I think he did towards and during the playoffs. Once he learns how to lay off of those, I don't think he needs much protection.

edit: Nevermind. I just looked at his stats, and he was horrible against the change-up which make sense.

 

I agree. There's certainly a valid argument either way, but I think our overall lineup is stronger with Pena in the 2-hole and Brantley 7-hole.

Pena has more pop in his bat and will see more pitches in the strike zone with Yordan protecting him. He'll be an easier out batting 7th, seeing less hittable pitches with Chaz and Maldy behind him.

Brantley is more mature/disciplined at the plate thus has the ability to be very effective anywhere in the lineup. Does he deserve to be in the 2-hole more due to his elite OBP? Yes, but I believe the entire lineup would produce more with Pena put in the best spot (Pena2 OPS + Brantley7 OPS > Brantley2 OPS + Pena7 OPS).

 

I'm saying have Brantley protect Pena with Pena batting 6th and Brantley batting 7th.

 

Wow, what a great video. I love how honest Framber is. He totally owned up to his performance in the 2021 World Series as being just not mentally ready for that big of a stage. How many guys would admit to that? But I think it is that kind of self-honesty that helped him get past those mental hurdles and become such a reliable, workhorse pitcher.

Love me some Framber.

 

On the wanting to get a batter top see fastballs, Chas probably leads the majors in Fastball OPS - All other OPS as Chas absolutely crushes fastballs. He makes Pena look like a breaking ball/offspeed expert.

 

HOF Craig Biggio NEVER learned to recognize the sliders low and away, at least from RHP. So I guess it's not always something that can just be learned with repetition.

 

wOBA versus fastballs*, xwOBA versus fastballs
1 Altuve, Jose .441 .400

2 Alvarez, Yordan .438 .472

3 McCormick, Chas .420 .407

4 Bregman, Alex .373 .382

5 Tucker, Kyle .362 .383

6 Peña, Jeremy .360 .369

7 Brantley, Michael .345 .359

8 Maldonado, Martín .327 .311

*I don't count cutters as fastballs.

 

Brantley's OBP last 5 years is .364, .372. .364. .362., .370. Guy gets on base.
Pena's first full year OBP was .289. League average was .312.

If Brantley's healthy, he's batting in the 2 hole.

Now, if Pena hits .345 with a .367 OBP with pop like he did in the playoffs.... he will be batting in the 3 hole and on his way to Cooperstown.

I imagine Pena hits #2 if Brantley isn't ready for opener. Then he moves down to 7th hitter... until he proves himself.
If Pena is hitting .295 in the 7th spot a quarter of the season in, the Astros are one hell of a team.
Pena needs to prove he can shrink the strike zone, batting in front of Myers/Chaz... he ain't gonna get much in the zone.

 

I just look at the record with Pena hitting 2nd and I'm not changing that.

 

It was fine to protect him as a rookie, but at some point, Astros need him to become an all-around hitter on his own merits and not just because he only sees fastballs.

 

I will take the record

I believe in putting guys in places where they have their best chance of success.

 

Too bad we can't have him hit all left handed fast ball pitchers. He would be Judge.

 

Isn't Brantley likely to be better in the 2 spot than in the 7 spot? Wouldn't everyone have the best chance of success in a scenario where they were mostly going to get one pitch?

 

Just about anyone is going to have better success batting 2nd in this lineup but not so much batting 7th. Probably why we saw Dusty bat Dubon 2nd a few times. Between the two I think Brantley would handle batting 7th better without any protection behind him.

I get that the data says Brantley would be more ideal batting 2nd but sometimes baseball doesn't make any sense. Posters on this board freak out if someone mentions a no hitter because you might screw with the pitcher's success. But then many of you all are okay messing around with "49-7" and two post season MVP's kind of success? Yeah, it was a short sample size but that short sample size won a World Series. Haven't won a World Series with Brantley batting 2nd.

 

Not a great outing for Hunter. Got squeezed a bit here and there but mostly just couldn't find the strike zone and his K pitches were never quite good enough to get whiffs, just fouls. Cardinals have all been very patient so far.

 

Hunter brown looked decent in first inning but then lost control and walked the bases loaded in second. Dusty just pulled him.

 

Hunter still having issue with command. Pulled after he loaded the bases with no outs.

Hensley hit his 2nd homer of ST.

 

Buttrey hasn't been any better. Ugly game so far.

 

Disaster of an inning. Buttery wild pitch leading to another Cardinals run. JC Correa couldn't catch a pop up for the 2nd out.

 

Walk after walk after walk. Dusty looks peeved.