FELIX PIE APPRECIATION THREAD!

[Sammy Sofa]

I really don't understand the Felix Pie/Corey Patterson comparisons....

 

Both of our last "hot offensive prospects" are speedy, young CFer's with some pop and people can't understand why anyone is comparing them?

[Exile on Waveland]

Having never seen him play and only going off second-hand scouting reports, I was worried Pie would turn into Corey Patterson redux. However, watching him play immediately changed my opinion. While there are similarities, Pie and Patterson have much, much different approaches at the plate -- even if it hasn't led to a bunch of walks or high OBP for Pie yet. While I'm not saying Pie will ever turn into a super high-OBP guy, he is more patient and has a more compact swing. Plus, for what it's worth, he seems to have a sanguine attitude.

[Yestheydo]

Yeah yeah yeah. Enough with the Patterson talk. Remember, this is the FELIX THREAD, where we shamelessly extol the many virtues of the one the only FELIX PIE..... (I apologize in advance for this):

 

Cause I can't fight this Felix anymorrrrrre....

I'd forgotten what the minor leagues were forrrrr....

Tried a big piece of Pi-e and I want morrrrre....

Let's throw Jacque out the doorrrr, foreverrrrrr......

[RynoRules]

Well done.

 

We need more than just Feeeel-axxxxx....

[Magnetic Curses]

so where is this patience i've been hearing so much about?

 

if he doesn't develop an ability to draw some walks, he'll be a failure, another utter failure.

[Buford T Justice]

I'm gonna have to say Pie has come with some nice clutch hits the past 2 days. If he concentrates when it counts and gets the big knocks. for me, that makes up for the walks he doesn't get.

[CubmanPi]

I'm gonna have to say Pie has come with some nice clutch hits the past 2 days. If he concentrates when it counts and gets the big knocks. for me, that makes up for the walks he doesn't get.

Definitely. Clutch factor always trumps tangibles.

[Roast]

I'm gonna have to say Pie has come with some nice clutch hits the past 2 days. If he concentrates when it counts and gets the big knocks. for me, that makes up for the walks he doesn't get.

 

That, and he really needs to work on his moxy and grit. He's lacking in both categories.

[ChiCubsFan]

so where is this patience i've been hearing so much about?

 

if he doesn't develop an ability to draw some walks, he'll be a failure, another utter failure.

 

He's had less than 75 ABs in his major league career, and he's only 22 years old. To add to that, he's hitting between Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee. I doubt the opposing pitcher is going to be too careful pitching to Pie. You can't force the opposing pitcher to walk you. He's had some very nice ABs so far. The broken bat RBI hit into right field a few days ago was probably the best AB any Cub has had this year. He worked the count to 3-2 then fouled off about 8 pitches before finally muscling the ball into right for the RBI. He then proceeded to stretch the single into a double on one of the best arms in the league.

 

The kid is going to be good. At worst he'll be an average offensive CF with excellent defense and speed. Now that's not what I want from him, but that's the floor with him. Just calm down and let him play.

[Magnetic Curses]

so where is this patience i've been hearing so much about?

 

if he doesn't develop an ability to draw some walks, he'll be a failure, another utter failure.

 

He's had less than 75 ABs in his major league career, and he's only 22 years old. To add to that, he's hitting between Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee. I doubt the opposing pitcher is going to be too careful pitching to Pie. You can't force the opposing pitcher to walk you. He's had some very nice ABs so far. The broken bat RBI hit into right field a few days ago was probably the best AB any Cub has had this year. He worked the count to 3-2 then fouled off about 8 pitches before finally muscling the ball into right for the RBI. He then proceeded to stretch the single into a double on one of the best arms in the league.

 

The kid is going to be good. At worst he'll be an average offensive CF with excellent defense and speed. Now that's not what I want from him, but that's the floor with him. Just calm down and let him play.

 

i just said that despite his defense, despite his speed, despite his "clutchness", if he doesn't take some walks, he'll never be a consistent productive player in the league. and that would be a failing.

 

there are plenty of players who hit between 2 excellent hitters and still draw walks. and the plate appearance you're speaking of, he fouled off plenty of ball 4's. you can't be afraid to strike out as a major league player. i don't care what the results are right now, they're bound to be negative over the course of a major league season.

[Soul]

so where is this patience i've been hearing so much about?

 

if he doesn't develop an ability to draw some walks, he'll be a failure, another utter failure.

 

He's had less than 75 ABs in his major league career, and he's only 22 years old. To add to that, he's hitting between Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee. I doubt the opposing pitcher is going to be too careful pitching to Pie. You can't force the opposing pitcher to walk you. He's had some very nice ABs so far. The broken bat RBI hit into right field a few days ago was probably the best AB any Cub has had this year. He worked the count to 3-2 then fouled off about 8 pitches before finally muscling the ball into right for the RBI. He then proceeded to stretch the single into a double on one of the best arms in the league.

 

The kid is going to be good. At worst he'll be an average offensive CF with excellent defense and speed. Now that's not what I want from him, but that's the floor with him. Just calm down and let him play.

 

i just said that despite his defense, despite his speed, despite his "clutchness", if he doesn't take some walks, he'll never be a consistent productive player in the league. and that would be a failing.

 

there are plenty of players who hit between 2 excellent hitters and still draw walks. and the plate appearance you're speaking of, he fouled off plenty of ball 4's. you can't be afraid to strike out as a major league player. i don't care what the results are right now, they're bound to be negative over the course of a major league season.

 

Hopefully he'll prove to be more coachable than CPatt was. Then again, that would require we have actual good coaches too, which given our lack of positional talent developed in the minors, is probably questionable.

[JonnyRed]

so where is this patience i've been hearing so much about?

 

if he doesn't develop an ability to draw some walks, he'll be a failure, another utter failure.

 

He's had less than 75 ABs in his major league career, and he's only 22 years old. To add to that, he's hitting between Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee. I doubt the opposing pitcher is going to be too careful pitching to Pie. You can't force the opposing pitcher to walk you. He's had some very nice ABs so far. The broken bat RBI hit into right field a few days ago was probably the best AB any Cub has had this year. He worked the count to 3-2 then fouled off about 8 pitches before finally muscling the ball into right for the RBI. He then proceeded to stretch the single into a double on one of the best arms in the league.

 

The kid is going to be good. At worst he'll be an average offensive CF with excellent defense and speed. Now that's not what I want from him, but that's the floor with him. Just calm down and let him play.

 

i just said that despite his defense, despite his speed, despite his "clutchness", if he doesn't take some walks, he'll never be a consistent productive player in the league. and that would be a failing.

 

there are plenty of players who hit between 2 excellent hitters and still draw walks. and the plate appearance you're speaking of, he fouled off plenty of ball 4's. you can't be afraid to strike out as a major league player. i don't care what the results are right now, they're bound to be negative over the course of a major league season.

 

I agree with you long-term, but name me a rookie who comes up to the bigs with the proper plate discipline already in place? I'm trilled by what I've seen out of Felix to date.

[jersey cubs fan]

I agree with you long-term, but name me a rookie who comes up to the bigs with the proper plate discipline already in place? I'm trilled by what I've seen out of Felix to date.

 

Murton had an isolated patience of .065 when he was first called up. It's not perfect, but it's proper discipline. Ramirez had a .061 his first year. Lee was over .100 in his first limited duty, and .085 in his first real season.

 

Felix is at .010 right now. That has to improve dramatically.

[Exile on Waveland]

I agree with you long-term, but name me a rookie who comes up to the bigs with the proper plate discipline already in place? I'm trilled by what I've seen out of Felix to date.

 

Murton had an isolated patience of .065 when he was first called up. It's not perfect, but it's proper discipline. Ramirez had a .061 his first year. Lee was over .100 in his first limited duty, and .085 in his first real season.

 

Felix is at .010 right now. That has to improve dramatically.

 

Agree, that's dismal. However, he does look more patient than Patterson, for whatever that's worth.

[jersey cubs fan]

I agree with you long-term, but name me a rookie who comes up to the bigs with the proper plate discipline already in place? I'm trilled by what I've seen out of Felix to date.

 

Murton had an isolated patience of .065 when he was first called up. It's not perfect, but it's proper discipline. Ramirez had a .061 his first year. Lee was over .100 in his first limited duty, and .085 in his first real season.

 

Felix is at .010 right now. That has to improve dramatically.

 

Agree, that's dismal. However, he does look more patient than Patterson, for whatever that's worth.

 

I've liked what I've seen, and remain excited. But that is a big concern.

[MembersOnlyJacket]

I agree with you long-term, but name me a rookie who comes up to the bigs with the proper plate discipline already in place? I'm trilled by what I've seen out of Felix to date.

 

Murton had an isolated patience of .065 when he was first called up. It's not perfect, but it's proper discipline. Ramirez had a .061 his first year. Lee was over .100 in his first limited duty, and .085 in his first real season.

 

Felix is at .010 right now. That has to improve dramatically.

 

Agree, that's dismal. However, he does look more patient than Patterson, for whatever that's worth.

 

Agree on the appearance aspect. He takes pitches a lot better than Patterson did and his balance is much better. He is just extremely aggressive. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Jose Reyes from 2 years ago. Reyes walked 27 times in 695 AB. This year, Reyes has already walked 35 times and is in the top ten in the league in this category.

[jersey cubs fan]

Agree on the appearance aspect. He takes pitches a lot better than Patterson did and his balance is much better. He is just extremely aggressive. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Jose Reyes from 2 years ago. Reyes walked 27 times in 695 AB. This year, Reyes has already walked 35 times and is in the top ten in the league in this category.

 

Reyes is definitely the poster child for overly aggressive speed guys who flip a switch and really turn things around. But I don't know if I trust the Cubs to wait out the 4 years it took him.

[jyoung55]

Agree on the appearance aspect. He takes pitches a lot better than Patterson did and his balance is much better. He is just extremely aggressive. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Jose Reyes from 2 years ago. Reyes walked 27 times in 695 AB. This year, Reyes has already walked 35 times and is in the top ten in the league in this category.

 

Reyes is definitely the poster child for overly aggressive speed guys who flip a switch and really turn things around. But I don't know if I trust the Cubs to wait out the 4 years it took him.

 

I think they will with this kid. The man-love they have shown and his demeanor and presense will buy him more patience than Patterson, Murt or anyone else could have gotten from this club.

 

I mean seriously.... he's the Michael Jordan of Baseball! according to Vince Coleman

[CubsWin]

Agree on the appearance aspect. He takes pitches a lot better than Patterson did and his balance is much better. He is just extremely aggressive. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Jose Reyes from 2 years ago. Reyes walked 27 times in 695 AB. This year, Reyes has already walked 35 times and is in the top ten in the league in this category.

 

Reyes is definitely the poster child for overly aggressive speed guys who flip a switch and really turn things around. But I don't know if I trust the Cubs to wait out the 4 years it took him.

 

I think they will with this kid. The man-love they have shown and his demeanor and presense will buy him more patience than Patterson, Murt or anyone else could have gotten from this club.

 

I mean seriously.... he's the Michael Jordan of Baseball! according to Vince Coleman

It is important to remember that Pie has a track record already established at the minor league level. Its not a great track record when it comes to drawing walks, but its not nearly as bad as an IsoD of .010 either. The low walk total to date this season in the major leagues is in direct contrast to a great K/BB ratio in AAA so far this season. It probably has a lot to do with pitchers wanting to challenge Pie and see what he can do at this level before they respect him by trying to get him to swing at something off the plate. It also may have something to do with not wanting to walk the very speedy Pie in front of Lee and Ramirez. The sample size is still pretty small. I think he deserves a bit more time before expressing any concern on his walk rate being this low. For now, let's rely on his established minor league numbers which aren't terrific, but are passable.

[jersey cubs fan]

The sample size is still pretty small. I think he deserves a bit more time before expressing any concern on his walk rate being this low. For now, let's rely on his established minor league numbers which aren't terrific, but are passable.

 

He deserves more time before any final judgement is made. But I can't understand how anybody could think it's too early to express any concern. There is nothing wrong with be concerned.

[Magnetic Curses]

he has longer arms than corey and better bat control and balance, that doesn't mean he'll walk more, though. he needs to learn quickly.

[rawaction]

The sample size is still pretty small. I think he deserves a bit more time before expressing any concern on his walk rate being this low. For now, let's rely on his established minor league numbers which aren't terrific, but are passable.

 

He deserves more time before any final judgement is made. But I can't understand how anybody could think it's too early to express any concern. There is nothing wrong with be concerned.

 

Definitely. I think you can tell worry about plate discipline after about 40 ABs. You'd like to see 4 or 5 at the very least at that point. One walk at this stage is pretty bad. Pie does look like he has good strikezone judgement, but he does seem to fish at sliders in the dirt a little too much. He does an excellent job with the zone in, out and high. That other Cubs CF from the past had zone judgement problems everywhere, I'm not too worried about Pie at this point, but slightly concerned.

[Lockes Eye Scar]

2 walks now

[questionmarkgrace]

stats aside, pie is bringing alot of energy to this team. I 've liked what I've seen from him this go around.

[CubsWin]

The sample size is still pretty small. I think he deserves a bit more time before expressing any concern on his walk rate being this low. For now, let's rely on his established minor league numbers which aren't terrific, but are passable.

 

He deserves more time before any final judgement is made. But I can't understand how anybody could think it's too early to express any concern. There is nothing wrong with be concerned.

Because there are so many extenuating circumstances with his brief time in the majors (batting in front of hitters like Lee and Ramirez, pitchers wanting to challenge him and see what he's got, him seeing major league pitching for the first time and needing to make the adjustment from AAA pitching, etc.), there just isn't much regular about Pie's first 70 ABs. When you add in his track record established over much more regular playing time in the minors, the reasons for waiting a bit to see how he adjusts and how pitchers adjust to him before expressing concern outweigh the reasons to assume that his first 70 ABs are indicitive of his play to come over the course of his career.