Anyone got Down on the Farm info?

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Really wish there was audio out there somewhere from the Down on the Farm segment.

[toonsterwu]

Javier Baez will be given a chance to play SS next year and beyond. No decision has been made and it was said that "his bat can play anywhere", although likely 2nd or 3rd if not SS.

Scouts will watch two-sport players in their other sport. Wilken watched Matt Szczur play in a football game against Penn

 

I'd think that they'd try him at 3rd first. Beyond Castro, we have Lake, Hernandez, Amaya, and now Torreyes in the high ceiling(and DeVoss and Watkins in the not quite as high ceiling) MI department. Beyond Vitters, we really don't have much of anything at 3rd depending on your feelings toward Cerda and Contreras.

 

In general, while I'd selfishly like to see Baez/Hernandez at the same level, I think you tend to keep a guy in the middle infield as long as possible, particularly at short. The only person that is legitimately pushing Baez at short in the low levels would be Hernandez, as Amaya and Torreyes are slated at 2nd (and in Amaya, perhaps 3rd), and if they feel Baez has any slim chance to stick at short, it might be worth it for them to groom both guys at short in the near future.

 

on a total side note, too bad mlp isn't around here. damn knowledgeable guy. wonder if he still posts at Miles blog post-changes.

[Guest]

vitters' plate discipline improved? he struck out less this past year, but his walk rate was even worse than the previous year. i guess it's nice to hear that he recognizes this as a problem area and is working on it though.

 

Theo might be misguided (I think that he is on this point, because I think walks in themselves are both a valuable target and a good manifestation of plate discipline). But I think he was quoted as saying that plate discipline isn't about taking walks, that it's about swinging at good pitches. It may be that Vitters reduction of K's reflects that by the Theo or Mark-Peel definition, that he was indeed more disciplined and was swinging at fewer bad balls, even if he didn't actually take enough strikes to get into walk-counts.

 

I'm not arguing the importance or walks and IsoD, I think it's huge myself. But I think there's a real possibility that we'll be very disappointed in finding that Theo's guys don't actually value or teach or coach our guys into taking significantly more walks.

 

I'm pretty sure Theo was quoted as having said this weekend that one of the "goals" was to lead the league in walks and p/pa.

[craig]

 

I'm pretty sure Theo was quoted as having said this weekend that one of the "goals" was to lead the league in walks and p/pa.

 

thanks, David. Interesting and that's good news, to me.

 

It's common for simpletons like me to like walks in and of themselves, but for more sophisticated people to emphasize that it's a matter of pitch selection and being more selective for pitches you can drive hard. That hitters shouldn't be actually trying for walks, they are more just an accidental result. If walks aren't a target, then it may be that a good hitter who's good at hitting strikes might perhaps have good plate discipline even without many walks, and you can't necessarily judge a guy's discipline as poor based on a lowish walk rate.

 

I think that walks in and of themselves are a very valuable tool and goal, that guys should at times be looking to work for a walk, and that a low walk rate is a problem in and of itself. So I'm very glad to see Theo articulating that walks are a value.