Javier Baez Promoted to AA

[Little Slide Rooter]

2014 post AS break IF of Baez, Castro, Alcantara, Rizzo could be fun to watch, even if the Cubs aren't any good as a team.

 

Especially if Soler and maybe Junior Lake are in the OF. And I wouldn't complain if Stanton was out there with them, though I suspect that it would mean that either Soler or Baez would not be there.

 

Then again, if Kris Bryant's at 3rd by 2015, perhaps a Baez-centric package for a guy with a good chance to be one of baseball's premier sluggers for years to come wouldn't be the worst thing.

[Sammy Sofa]

2014 post AS break IF of Baez, Castro, Alcantara, Rizzo could be fun to watch, even if the Cubs aren't any good as a team.

 

Especially if Soler and maybe Junior Lake are in the OF. And I wouldn't complain if Stanton was out there with them, though I suspect that it would mean that either Soler or Baez would not be there.

 

Then again, if Kris Bryant's at 3rd by 2015, perhaps a Baez-centric package for a guy with a good chance to be one of baseball's premier sluggers for years to come wouldn't be the worst thing.

 

[craig]

It may be that this season is a fluke. But this year Alcantara's been really good LH, and I hope that's not a fluke.

 

He's never been especially good RH, and has never had power RH. Alcantara's career is sub-.700 as a RH hitter, with .374 slugging and only 3 HR career. If we were just looking at RH Alcantara, I don't think we'd be that interested in him as a prospect. It's the LH power that makes him a prospect to become a quality big-league starter.

[Guest]

 

I don't see much of a decrease in K-rate. Or at most a very modest, incremental one. He's still striking out every day and striking out about 1/4 of his AB's. The progress in BB's, yes, that I think is real. And to do that without the K's going up a bunch, maybe that's pretty good. But I don't see much substantial reduction in his K-rate.

 

Last 216 PA (just going with May 1st)

.291/.370/.566 with 44 K (20%) and 17 BB (8%) in a pitching dominated league (.319 babip)

 

If you go June only it's

 

117 PA .303/.402/.646 with 23 K (20%) and 12 BB (11%) on a .309 babip

 

Prior to May it was

112 PA .262/.295/.515 with 31 K (28%) and 4 BB (3.5%) on a .314 babip

[Guest]

Keith Law being snarky

http://i.imgur.com/y7OebKy.jpg

[Guest]

The jump from A+ to AA is widely considered to be the biggest, yes?

 

Baez has not yet mastered A+, yes?

i've been told that by many guys I play with in MSBL. Strap on your big boy pants.

[craig]

Thanks, David. It was horrific, over a one-month sample. Now it's improved back to bad, but it's staying steady at bad. I guess it's something. I guess I've been perceiving it as consistently bad, with some of the ups and downs that happen with all hitters but don't necessarily mean anything. He had some K "ups" in April, and he had a week in June that was an anti-K "down". Maybe it means something, but maybe those are just some of the routine highs and lows that every hitter goes through, and the overall picture gives as good or better a picture than either April or June.

[rawaction]

Thanks, David. It was horrific, over a one-month sample. Now it's improved back to bad, but it's staying steady at bad. I guess it's something. I guess I've been perceiving it as consistently bad, with some of the ups and downs that happen with all hitters but don't necessarily mean anything. He had some K "ups" in April, and he had a week in June that was an anti-K "down". Maybe it means something, but maybe those are just some of the routine highs and lows that every hitter goes through, and the overall picture gives as good or better a picture than either April or June.

 

I don't see 20% K rate being bad when you have 40 HR power, especially since he can hit for average also.

[Guest]

Isn't the MLB average strikeout rate up to something like 17% or 18%?

[Andy]

Isn't the MLB average strikeout rate up to something like 17% or 18%?

According to B-R, the 2013 MLB strikeout rate was 19.79% of all plate appearances through yesterday.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Baez already in the lineup for Smokies.

[Guest]

i don't see 20% as bad either, for his age/level/skill set