The Junior Lake thread

[Guest]

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's.

 

Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future.

[Soul]

I don't mind Keith Law's opinion, it's just how arrogant he went about it on the Waddle and Silvy show. He went out of his way to call Lake awful when that's clearly not the case. He might not be a superstar like he's been playing but he's clearly not awful.

 

He might be awful. He put up a lower OPS in AAA than several players who have since turned out to be awful.

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

Below average means he's rather swiftly sweeped under the rug, and then remembered as awful. There's no difference.

[MSG T]

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's.

 

Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future.

 

 

LaHair was [expletive] incredible last April. The rest of the season wasn't so hot, though.

[imb]

i think im just at the point in my life where i feel like anyone taking sports seriously enough to be like "junior lake? heh. awful player, folks. IN YOUR FACE CUBS FANS DONT DARE TWEET ME." is a [expletive] stupid dork.

[Elrhino]

Fangraphs write up on Lake...

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-curious-case-of-junior-lake/

[ConstableRabbit]

Fangraphs write up on Lake...

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-curious-case-of-junior-lake/

Those pivot charts are awesome.

[AlwaysaCub]

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post/_/id/2607

 

From Buster Olney

 

From ESPN Stats & Info: Junior Lake went 1-for-4 in the Cubs’ loss to the Diamondbacks, giving him 15 hits in his first seven MLB games. Per Elias Sports Bureau: That matches the most hits any player has had in his first seven games with the Cubs since 1900. Hall of Famer George “High Pockets” Kelly had 15 hits in his first seven games with the Cubs in 1930. It’s also tied for the third-most hits among all players to debut since 1900 behind Kirby Puckett’s 16 hits in 1984 and Bo Hart’s 18 in 2003.

 

Just when you thought we had something, Lake gets trumped by BO HART.

[rocket]

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's.

 

Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future.

 

my favorite crappy player with an amazing stretch has to be neifi perez's late 2004 and first couple months of 2005

[Clem Fandango]

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's.

 

Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future.

 

my favorite crappy player with an amazing stretch has to be neifi perez's late 2004 and first couple months of 2005

 

Spoeaking of hot starts... let's see if anyone can guess this batting line to open a season...

 

13G 24H 51AB 9HR 17RBI .471/.500/1.216/1.716

[imb]

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's.

 

Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future.

 

my favorite crappy player with an amazing stretch has to be neifi perez's late 2004 and first couple months of 2005

 

Spoeaking of hot starts... let's see if anyone can guess this batting line to open a season...

 

13G 24H 51AB 9HR 17RBI .471/.500/1.216/1.716

 

francouer?

[Guest]

If you do what he's done in his first six games, you're not awful. He might be below-average when it's all said and done but he's definitely not going to be awful.

 

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's.

 

Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future.

 

my favorite crappy player with an amazing stretch has to be neifi perez's late 2004 and first couple months of 2005

 

Spoeaking of hot starts... let's see if anyone can guess this batting line to open a season...

 

13G 24H 51AB 9HR 17RBI .471/.500/1.216/1.716

 

Chris Shelton.

[Clem Fandango]

You got it... Chris Shelton.

 

His final line that year ended up being 115 G .273/.340/.466/.806 with 16 HR and 47 RBI... which means after hitting 9 home runs in his first 13 games, he ended up hitting only 7 more over the next 102 games. After his 13th game he averaged one home run every 14.5 games. That gave him an HR/AB ratio of 46.

[Guest]

You got it... Chris Shelton.

 

His final line that year ended up being 115 G .273/.340/.466/.806 with 16 HR and 47 RBI

 

My favorite part is that he sucked so much after April that he got sent to AAA in August. He's my go-to example for falling off big time after a hot start to a season. And he even had a pretty good year before that (.870 OPS over 431 PAs in 2005) to boot.

[Banedon]

Coming back to earth in a hurry.

[Sammy Sofa]

Coming back to earth in a hurry.

 

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/1291518/wayne-s-world-oh-jesus-god-no-o.gif

[sneakypower]

you're talking about 4 games here (and he's not even striking out), come on

 

while i've always been pretty down on him, i'm actually starting to think there's a non-zero chance he can become some kind of a reasonable facsimile of Starling Marte if he puts it all together, but obviously the odds aren't in his favor

 

it at least provides some added intrigue in an otherwise kind of boring final 2 months of the season

[Hairyducked Idiot]

it at least provides some added intrigue in an otherwise kind of boring final 2 months of the season

 

I predict he's back in Iowa within a month.

[bukie]

it at least provides some added intrigue in an otherwise kind of boring final 2 months of the season

 

I predict he's back in Iowa within a month.

If the Cubs let Vitters stay on the roster all second half last year, they'll probably do the same with Lake. It's not as if he's blocking someone else's opportunity at this point.

[Old Style]

it at least provides some added intrigue in an otherwise kind of boring final 2 months of the season

 

I predict he's back in Iowa within a month.

Hasn't Sveum said that part of the reason for the Soriano trade was to give Lake a chance to play everyday for the rest of the season to show what he's got?

[jersey cubs fan]

it at least provides some added intrigue in an otherwise kind of boring final 2 months of the season

 

I predict he's back in Iowa within a month.

Hasn't Sveum said that part of the reason for the Soriano trade was to give Lake a chance to play everyday for the rest of the season to show what he's got?

 

I think that was simply a convenient storyline to fit in for timing purposes. But they've been trying to trade Soriano for a long time and Junior Lake surprising start had no impact. He is going to fall off sharply and is not going to play everyday as a result, but it is going to take a massive decline in a hurry to send him back to Iowa now, considering September call-ups are just a month away anyway.

[squally1313]

Also Iowa's last game is September 2nd, so...

[Guest]

it at least provides some added intrigue in an otherwise kind of boring final 2 months of the season

 

I predict he's back in Iowa within a month.

It will certainly give Kyle plenty of time to stroke his doom boner.

[Thed Hoyerstein]

At what point can we say that Junior Lake is a thing? I realize his current superstar SSS that include a 2.4% BB%, 24.5 K% and .393 BABIP indicates that regression is on its way fairly soon, but what can we take away from his ability to improve at each level? Are there specific examples to point to?

 

Exciting to see another prospect, albeit not a top one, come up and generate a sense of excitement since rizzo and castro have performed below expectations this year.

[Guest]

My big hope is that Lake's performance looks just sustainable enough to convince another team to fall in love with his tools and consider him a trade asset worth acquiring.

[jersey cubs fan]

My big hope is that Lake's performance looks just sustainable enough to convince another team to fall in love with his tools and consider him a trade asset worth acquiring.

 

I cannot imagine that happening in a world where everybody knows the Cubs are acquiring any and all cheap labor they can get their hands on. If somebody was fooled enough into thinking this was sustainable, won't they have serious doubts once the Cubs think about dealing him?