The Cubs (and "King Tuk") have also played 7 games. Tucker has more than double the at bats that ANY Astro has.
He was never an All Star. Maybe you're thinking of his All Star game in High A ball. In 2022, his only season with a WAR above 1.5, his OPS+ was 97 and he led the league in GIDP. His OPS on the road was .588 that year. The reason for the WAR in that season (triple what he got in any other season) was truly standout defense that one year. Every other year he's been pretty mid on defense. And he's never been a good offensive player. Weak power, 1 stolen base his entire career, doesn't take many walks.
I think we get caught up on EV sometimes without looking at where the ball is hit. Altuve has always been a weak EV guy who hits the ball to the right spots. Paredes is that kind of guy too, his Baseball Savant page shows lots of blue, but he's going to pull the ball to the Crawford Boxes enough to be successful. Rodgers has had a launch angle under 5 for the last four years. That's not conducive to success, especially as slow as he is.
EV is the least fixable trait in hitting. Launch angle and pitch selection are things that can sometimes be fixed. If you adjust Rodgers’ launch angle to consistently get more balls in the air, with his exit velocity he becomes a good hitter. Im mostly with you. Even with the Rockies being bad at developing guys, I find it really hard to believe that Rodgers is suddenly going to start hitting doubles and homers after 6 years in the majors. But I can see why Houston is taking the chance. I just want them to play him enough to prove it out as quickly as possible so they can move on if needed before he costs the team wins.
Rodgers already has way more than 100-200 PAs. The answer he has given is that he isn't good enough to deserve another 100-200 PAs to get a 7th or 8th shot without competition. Guys getting entrenched is usually not good unless the player is great. If you aren't great, you gotta be flexible or get great and show it in the time that you get. Also, baseball wears players down. Rodgers, even if he ends up better than Dubon, likely playing every day is not better than a well-rested Dubon. Maybe, I'm wrong. My only strong opinion on the back end of the lineup is that having a strong opinion that requires inflexibility on something with a lot of uncertainty is usually wrong and sometimes occasionally right out of sheer luck.
The Astros signed Rodgers as a bet they could fix his launch angle and turn him into a good hitter. They think his EV is the real takeaway from his time in Colorado. The only way to tell if they’re right is to play him. Of course he should get rest every so often just like any other everyday player. But they need to play him everyday to see if their bet will pay off, otherwise by playing him intermittently they’re just leaving the roster in limbo with a major question mark at 2B. At this point we’re really only talking about one game Rodgers didn’t play that I think he should have. It very well could be that from here on he will play 80% of the time until they’ve drawn a conclusion about him. He’s in the lineup tonight so that’s 3/5 games he’s played.
He had an OPS of nearly .800% in 2021 and in 2022 he had an OPS of .733% and an OWS of 1.9. He was then hurt in 2023 for most of the year and bounced back last year. I am not saying he is anything special - but he has shown that he can be a very good glove when healthy, and he has strong secondary numbers that are limited by his propensity for ground balls. He has complained about playing in Coors Field before, so there is a chance that he can stabilize with a consistent swing approach. His bat speed is strong, and his exit velocity is good. If he gives the Astros the same production he had in 2022, I will be very happy with it. If he struggles, then in 40 games they can look at calling up Matthews and plugging him in at second. I will take my chance at upside with Rodgers over Mauricio Dubon. Also - I stand corrected, I have a memory of Rodgers in the All Star game, but I am mistaken.
How is Dubon better than Rodgers? Dubon doesn't really hit left or right handed terribly well. He isn't a stolen base threat. Dubon is actually worse at getting on base than Rodgers. Dubon strikes out a lot less, but he also walks less and has less power.
I don't think you can compare numbers between the two without acknowledging one of them played half their games at Coors Field. Dubon career .296 / .377 / .672 (these are bad numbers) Rodgers career road .272 / .356 / .628 (these are all worse)
The league has figured out Yordan. Get a strike over. Then paint a pitch on the outside edge. Then k him on a tailing ball out of the zone. See it time and time again
