Oddly enough, that Mark DeRosa video shared earlier ID'd the same basic fix: load up more on the back leg.
I think for most good clubs the coaching and analytics departments are gonna pick up on the problem. The real question is can the player make the adjustment.
Yep. Part of being a great athlete is muscle memory. Unfortunately it remembers poor mechanics also. I don't see Abreu losing his way for the remainder of the season. His homers provide evidence that he has also fixed his launch angle problem that he had all last year which brought down his homerun numbers. Abreu hit the ball harder than Bryce Harper last season and had career low homerun numbers.
I have eliminated many of the stats just for simplicity. Thru April Abreu: 4 xbh, 11 rbi, .536 ops Yuli: 3 xbh, 5 rbi, .808 ops Bell: 12 xbh, 13 rbi, .688 ops Mancini: 4 xbh, 14 rbi, .680 ops Rizzo: 10 xbh, 13 rbi, .845 ops Thru May Abreu 8 xbh, 20 rbi, .535 ops Yuli: 9 xbh, 12 rbi, .769 ops Bell: 15 xbh, 25 rbi, .680 ops Mancini: 8 xbh, 17 rbi, .674 ops Rizzo: 19 xbh, 32 rbi, .880 ops Thru June 14 Abreu 14 xbh, 33 rbi, .609 ops Yuli: 13 xbh, 14 rbi, .726 ops Bell: 20 xbh, 31 rbi, .725 ops Mancini: 11 xbh, 21 rbi, .647 ops Rizzo: 19 xbh, 32 rbi, .779 ops Anyone else?
Walker from Arizona was someone people wanted to try and trade for. I think someone from Milwaukee got mentioned as a trade too.
I think Rowdy Tellez is who you are thinking of, but if we start adding everyone they could have traded for, it could get pretty convoluted. I think I will stick to free agents they were choosing between. Feel free to expound upon my list and add others if you wish.
Ohhh, no no no... this thread needs to be pinned to the top of the 1st page. Shameonyas for allowing this thing to be buried / pushed to p2. Until it is publicly acknowledged and admitted it was a blunder on the 3 main parties involved... (even though it could be argued he does play "decent" defense at first and has a few highlight reel plays), I refuse to think this team has a starting (qualifying, contributing) 1B. And now look-- you don't even have a VIABLE OPTION as a backup to replace / sub in for him... what a horrible turrble acquisition. May just be the most unintelligible decision/call made during the entire Crane regime thus far. ...awaits the calvary of disciples who still think he's really going to *poof* magically "find it".
He has a 733 ops over 72 ab this month. That’s not good but it’s playable; it’s roughly as good as Bregman has been over the course of the season and would make him above league average. Abreu’s walk, strikeout, launch angle, EV, and hard hit rates don’t paint him as a useless hitter. His barrel rate is what is way down. He seemed to have corrected that once he hit that first HR but now has hit another rough patch. None of this is to say that I still think Abreu was a good signing. It’s pretty clear that at this point the absolute best we can hope for is that Abreu hits well enough to be an adequate 5-6 hole hitter on a contending team. That won’t make him a good signing, but it won’t look like the disaster it has been so far. As for predictions, I think Abreu finishes this season with a wRC+ >90 and posts a wRC+ >105 over the life of his contract. That’s playable.
So I said this like 3 weeks ago that the Lee was something going on as a disconnect with Abreu and the on field staff about his mechanics at the plate (or at least slides to it) and our field staff is convinced he’s not washed or done. I think Nook mentioned he’s a worker but also a creature of comfort. I wonder what’s going on there.
So I said this like 3 weeks ago that the Lee was something going on as a disconnect with Abreu and the on field staff about his mechanics at the plate (or at least slides to it) and our field staff is convinced he’s not washed or done. I think Nook mentioned he’s a worker but also a creature of comfort. I wonder what’s going on there. Those numbers got better tonight, obviously. I see him loon as bad as a human. Ring has ever looked swinging a baseball bat 3 times against JV and cringe. Then he hits lasers all over the park Sunday in LA and think- surely this guy can’t be completely washed, right? I think we predicted 110-120 OPS+ from June 1 through the end of the season the other night. Which would be fine. If he replicated the month of June all year he would be fine and worth the contract, probably, even if just barely so. MJ is walk rate is down in June and his strikeout rate is like 28% but if he’s going to hit 6 HR a month we will probably be just fine.
The Abreu we have seen in June is pretty close to the Abreu on the White Sox. It isn’t perfect, because usually Abreu walks more but it’s roughly the “normal” Abreu. He typically has a rough month, maybe a second month with an OPS in the mid 750’s and then a couple months with an OPS of near 950-1000 and ends with an OPS of 850ish…. His best years me may flip that 750ish month into another one with an OPS in the 900’s and finish with an overall OPS in the 900+ range. He is usually really good at putting the ball in play for sacrifices or moving the runner over. He can crush balls left over the plate or even away. He usually will have some at bats where he looks lost as well. If he can keep it up the rest of the way, it will be a major addition for the Astros and he will be worth his contract. Just a really solid hitter. The increased power in June is a real positive because he messed with his launch angle before last year and it sapped some pop. He is IMO at his best when he doesn’t hit 280-290 but has more power. You get some head scratching at bats but also startling extra pause pop.
I think I said when he signed that if he hits 20 HR/yr he will be worth the contract. He hit 5 in June. If he replicates this month each remaining month he will finish with 20+ HR and likely a ~740 ops which I think would make it a good signing.
If this team can get Abreu, Altuve, Bregman, Yordan, and Tucker all hitting at an .800+ OPS for the 2nd half then they will score lots of runs. Then if Brantley returns and is himself and Pena and the CF platoon can just hit .700ish then the offense should be the best in baseball, the defense very good, and over the 2nd half they only need to worry about pitching and health.
It was LaRussa and his hitting coach. He wanted them to cut down on strikeouts as a team. It was dumb. His doubles and OBP increased but his homers were cut by over 50%
