Matt Wieters

[TruffleShuffle]

Sorry, based on this thread I was assuming that everyone who completely dismantles AA pitching for one season is a sure-fire bet to do so for a decade at the MLB level.

 

oh are you referring to that one year where he had a .303 EqA in Carolina after fairly average performances in his first three seasons in the franchise, and struck out in 23% of his ABs? because a .303 EqA is a pretty good deal worse than .329 (plus wieters' EqA in Double-A was .351) and wieters struck out in 17% of his ABs. plus, even when you factor in hermida's monster 2005, his minor league line is .284/.397/.436/.833, which is nice but hardly overwhelming. wieters worst ops since leaving high school was 1.051, his freshman year at tech.

 

i know we don't want the cubs to have made a colossal mistake by drafting vitters over wieters, but come on... if wieters stays healthy he's very likely to become a star. you'll be better off rooting for vitters to become the next david wright than rooting for wieters to bust.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm not rooting for Wieters to bust, I'm saying let's not assume it's impossible he won't bust, or be merely average to good. Your comparison between Hermida and Wieters(HS v. College draftee) misses the point, that Hermida was pretty ridiculously good in AA for a full season(at a younger age than Wieters), and yet 3 years later he's not done a ton at the MLB level. The comparison is meant to point out that Wieters 1)hasn't played above AA; 2) has only 200 ABs above A ball; 3) is not without precedent for not immediately killing the ball at the MLB level. To reiterate, I'm not hoping that Wieters' busts, and there's not much else he could've done last year to help himself. What I'm saying is that we shouldn't be guaranteeing him such an illustrious career as it seems has happened in this thread and others where he pops up.

 

EDIT: Alex Gordon would've been a better example than Hermida.

[Guancous]

No matter what happens in Wieters' major league career - which should start very soon with Ramon Hernandez traded away - he can bask in the glory of what was arguably the best minor league performance of the last 40 years. If we set a 200 at-bat requirement, Wieters picked up the highest known translated EqA in both the Carolina and the Eastern Leagues. His combined EqA, .329, is the third-highest mark in any league, behind Ryan Howard (.338, 2005, Triple-A) and Glenn Braggs (.335, 1986, Triple-A), both of whom had fewer plate appearances. And, oh yeah, he's a catcher. An excellent catcher. Take anything we've said about any player in any year of the Baseball Prospectus, and Wieters had a better year than that guy.

 

I think Wieters will be amazing but look at who the #2 guy was. Glenn Braggs' career highlight was marrying one of the singers from En Vogue.

[TruffleShuffle]

No matter what happens in Wieters' major league career - which should start very soon with Ramon Hernandez traded away - he can bask in the glory of what was arguably the best minor league performance of the last 40 years. If we set a 200 at-bat requirement, Wieters picked up the highest known translated EqA in both the Carolina and the Eastern Leagues. His combined EqA, .329, is the third-highest mark in any league, behind Ryan Howard (.338, 2005, Triple-A) and Glenn Braggs (.335, 1986, Triple-A), both of whom had fewer plate appearances. And, oh yeah, he's a catcher. An excellent catcher. Take anything we've said about any player in any year of the Baseball Prospectus, and Wieters had a better year than that guy.

 

I think Wieters will be amazing but look at who the #2 guy was. Glenn Braggs' career highlight was marrying one of the singers from En Vogue.

 

yeah looking at glenn braggs i wonder what happened to him, his minor league numbers were great but he never put it together in the bigs.

 

i get what you're saying about gordon or hermida, TT, but gordon's EqA was only .293 since his big numbers were put up in the Texas League. i just don't see any of the warning signs that maybe he isn't that good. he was consistently a great hitter at ga tech, which is high-level college competition; he has a relatively low k-rate, the power has always been there, he doesn't have a long swing, and draws plenty of walks. plus he absolutely destroyed two pitchers' leagues in his first go-through. the scouts love him and the projections love him.

 

i know crazy things can happen but i'll be really shocked if, assuming he stays healthy, he doesn't become the best-hitting catcher in baseball.

[nilodnayr]

No matter what happens in Wieters' major league career - which should start very soon with Ramon Hernandez traded away - he can bask in the glory of what was arguably the best minor league performance of the last 40 years. If we set a 200 at-bat requirement, Wieters picked up the highest known translated EqA in both the Carolina and the Eastern Leagues. His combined EqA, .329, is the third-highest mark in any league, behind Ryan Howard (.338, 2005, Triple-A) and Glenn Braggs (.335, 1986, Triple-A), both of whom had fewer plate appearances. And, oh yeah, he's a catcher. An excellent catcher. Take anything we've said about any player in any year of the Baseball Prospectus, and Wieters had a better year than that guy.

 

I think Wieters will be amazing but look at who the #2 guy was. Glenn Braggs' career highlight was marrying one of the singers from En Vogue.

 

yeah looking at glenn braggs i wonder what happened to him, his minor league numbers were great but he never put it together in the bigs.

 

i get what you're saying about gordon or hermida, TT, but gordon's EqA was only .293 since his big numbers were put up in the Texas League. i just don't see any of the warning signs that maybe he isn't that good. he was consistently a great hitter at ga tech, which is high-level college competition; he has a relatively low k-rate, the power has always been there, he doesn't have a long swing, and draws plenty of walks. plus he absolutely destroyed two pitchers' leagues in his first go-through. the scouts love him and the projections love him.

 

i know crazy things can happen but i'll be really shocked if, assuming he stays healthy, he doesn't become the best-hitting catcher in baseball.

 

I would say that at least in the short term my concern isn't his bat playing in the ML its his defense.

[TruffleShuffle]

I would say that at least in the short term my concern isn't his bat playing in the ML its his defense.

 

BP and BA both had positive reviews of his defense and seem to think he'll be above-average defensively from day one. from what i can tell, the biggest criticism of his defense is that he's tall.

[TruffleShuffle]

.467/.500/.867 so far in spring training

 

<3 him

[shnsajax]

.467/.500/.867 so far in spring training

 

<3 him

 

Will he start out of opening day though or will the O's make him wait to push back his arbi clock?

[TruffleShuffle]

the orioles broke up a no-hitter in the 9th inning yesterday. and when i say the orioles, i mean matt wieters.

[sneakypower]

creepy

[TruffleShuffle]

creepy

 

your avatar? agreed!

[radarluv1]

would the padres have taken wieters straight up for peavy? i would have to think they should, though it might be tough PR wise.

[illiniguy]

would the padres have taken wieters straight up for peavy? i would have to think they should, though it might be tough PR wise.

I don't know, but The Indians would probably be the team Matt was on now anyways. I imagine we would have shiped him off for Sabathia last year.