Never said it wasn’t, I’m saying it’s reasonable to question his weight regardless if he starts hitting momentarily again.
He's had 66 AB's. If he goes 4-4 next game, he'll be hitting .300/.390. Sure, it would be expected that he should have a few HR by now, but the power is there. As it is, he's hitting .258/.359. That is exactly George Springer's career obp. It is much higher than Stassi's .133/.188 and higher than Altuve's .243/.329 this year so far. It would be great if he was putting up gargantuan #'s, but besides the lack of power, he's getting on base at a great clip. It makes it easier to complain, of course, when we see Alvarez putting up MVP #'s at AAA, but there's no reason to give up on a guy who 's getting on base at this rate.
I agree that there is no reason to give up on White, but while his OBP number is reasonable it is too inconsistent. He has 13 games this season where he has had at least 3 plate appearances. In only 3 of those games has he had an in-game OBP greater than .250. He is also striking out in 35% of his at bats and already has 4 games with 3 strike outs. That's 2 more than his entire 2018 season and 2 less than his entire career. Of players with at least 75 plate appearances, he is 121st in slugging percentage. So..no power yet....striking out way too much...clearly cause for concern. And, if he goes 0-4 in his next game he is hitting .242/.337.
I think we can all agree that if he gets to 200 PA and is still striking out 35% of the time with a .061 ISO then it’ll be time to cut bait.
4 guys playing like legit mvp candidates (Springer, Correa, Bregman, Brantley). 2 career bench guys playing like All-Stars (Chirinos, Marisnick). 2 vets playing like decent everyday players (Gurriel, Reddick). That doesn’t include the one guy who has actually won an MVP (Altuve).
The first four almost surely will be all starts and there's a decent chance Chirinos makes it if he keeps it up. JV and Osuna seem like locks to me and Pressly should be a lock but we all know getting in as a non closer is tough. Cole has a chance and Altuve has a solid chance of winning the fan vote even though he doesn't deserve it. There's a really good chance of having 8+ all stars on this team...I tried looking it up but couldn't find the modern day record. Anyone know?
What is Tyler White contributing to this team? (perhaps him depleting the clubhouse spread as other guys in better position to keep their weight down?) At least he's getting a chance to play his way out of it, and on a stacked lineup his failures can be tolerated... but he literally has no more excuses.
The first roster test is when Altuve comes off the DL, the 2nd is when the estimated Super 2 deadline passes in about 2 weeks. Or vice versa.
When it was all said and done Morgan Ensberg was washed up by 30 and had 3 seasons that were above average. The hitting talent was obvious, as was his work ethic and instincts. Further, some of the complaints (as far as approach) are the same as with Ensberg. I am not saying that White has had the same impact as Ensberg, only that there are stretches where he looks like a genuine bat....... but it isn't enough so far.
Who is making excuses for him? All I have heard is someone point out that the sample size is small at this point. Either White hits or he loses his spot to someone else.
I’m certain that if White gets to 200 pa and has a wRC+ <95, he will be removed from Houston’s 25 man roster. So everybody just needs to relax for another 120 pa.
