It has to be asked

[The-Kris-Bryant]

Reality Check

 

.213/.317/.422 in 268 PA's in AAA - Mike Olt

.304/.360/.513 in 533 PA's in AAA - Josh Vitters

.152/.250/.282 in 40 PA's in MLB - Mike Olt

.121/.193/.202 in 109 PA's in MLB - Josh Vitters

 

Note both Josh Vitters and Mike Olt were born on August 27th, Vitters one year later... Not saying one is better than the other, but let's not subject ourselves to the shiny new toy syndrome.

[MWV]

Defense and power upside have me leaning toward Olt. "Mike Olt for sure" would be a bit of an overstatement of my position, though.

[treebird]

vitters doesn't appear to be a third baseman at this point, which is really bad for him. playing really good defense at third can allow for a lot of mediocre hitting while still providing value. it's obviously going to take some doing for olt to get himself to be even a mediocre hitter in the majors, but vitters needs to figure out how to hit even better than that AND learn how to play a new position even adequately if he wants to be of similar value. vitters and olt both have a lot of work to do to become useful major league players, but i think olt has an easier path and is more likely to do it.

[pitchcs]

Olt and it's not tough.

[UMFan83]

Just looking at the numbers it looks like Olt can take a walk at least. That alone gives me more confidence in his ability than Vitters.

[imb]

lmao vitters got 100 tries and couldn't crack a .400 ops. juan pierre is probably slugging that number right now

[Guest]

olt was still in the top 50 of most midseason rankings. vitters hasn't been in the top 100 since 2010. he's pretty much completely irrelevant. olt has patience, defense, and elite power. vitters has horrible defense/patience and moderate power.

[jersey cubs fan]

vitters doesn't appear to be a third baseman at this point, which is really bad for him. playing really good defense at third can allow for a lot of mediocre hitting while still providing value. it's obviously going to take some doing for olt to get himself to be even a mediocre hitter in the majors, but vitters needs to figure out how to hit even better than that AND learn how to play a new position even adequately if he wants to be of similar value. vitters and olt both have a lot of work to do to become useful major league players, but i think olt has an easier path and is more likely to do it.

 

Well said.

[Geech]

Olt for the reasons already articulated. Not a tough choice, in my opinion.

[Gilby]

Right now, it's Vitters. I have more confidence in his ability to hit. Vitters looks to be a platoon corner outfielder/first baseman, while Olt's inability to do the most important thing in the game of baseball, leads me to believe he won't do much of anything at the big league level. One of these guys clearly has a lot more work to do than other to be even a bench player.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yes, Josh Vitters.

[Guest]

One of these guys clearly has a lot more work to do than other to be even a bench player. Right now, it's Vitters.

 

FTFY

[Elrhino]

If Vitters were healthy this year I have no doubt he is easily out hitting Olt while being a full year younger. Olt's regression trend has him closer to joining Bjax in Tenn than Chicago.

[Elrhino]

If Vitters were healthy this year I have no doubt he is easily out hitting Olt while being a full year younger. Olt's regression trend has him closer to joining Bjax in Tenn than Chicago.

[Guest]

If Vitters were healthy this year I have no doubt he is easily out hitting Olt while being a full year younger.

 

It doesn't really matter if he can only play 1B or corner OF.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If Vitters were healthy this year I have no doubt he is easily out hitting Olt while being a full year younger.

 

It doesn't really matter if he can only play 1B or corner OF.

 

It matters a little bit, and he's not off of 3b completely yet.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I haven't read from a single evaluator/scout that thinks he can actually play 3B consistently at the ML level.

[sneakypower]

he found a guy who used the term "fringe-average" and has been running with it ever since

 

i think it was baseballknowitall.com

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I haven't read from a single evaluator/scout that thinks he can actually play 3B consistently at the ML level.

 

None of them think it's *likely*, and neither do I, but I don't think it's completely written in stone that he can't yet.

[Gilby]

If Vitters were healthy this year I have no doubt he is easily out hitting Olt while being a full year younger.

 

It doesn't really matter if he can only play 1B or corner OF.

 

If he's a reserve at those positions in the majors while Olt is still in AAA striking out at a 30+% clip, it matters.

 

I don't love Vitters. Picking him says more about Olt than it does Josh, at least for me.

[Guest]

One of these guys clearly has a lot more work to do than other to be even a bench player. Right now, it's Vitters.

 

FTFY

 

[expletive] the [expletive] yankees?

[The-Kris-Bryant]

Olt has a 411 on-base plus slugging percentage after twenty two games as a cub.... Seriously shiny new toy syndrome!

[biittner77]

I haven't read from a single evaluator/scout that thinks he can actually play 3B consistently at the ML level.

 

None of them think it's *likely*, and neither do I, but I don't think it's completely written in stone that he can't yet.

 

Even if he can't play 3rd consistently, he can still be a useful asset to the Cubs. With Bryant and Villanueva around, Vitters can still become a useful guy that can back up 3 of the 4 corners without embarrassing himself that will be a lot more useful than whatever it is that Olt can still do.

 

I'd like to believe that Olt can still be good. Just the same way that I'd like to believe that Brett Jackson can turn it around. It's not likely to happen though.