Aaron_Kennelly

I'm salivating thinking about what this kid could turn into. In the second half this year: .261/.325/.478 with a 19.7% K% in 228 PA. There was this article awhile ago about him tapping into his power: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/here-is-a-powered-up-addison-russell/ But, there's other good stuff going on, too. For instance, his contact rate. His contact% since the break is 75.6%. And it just keeps going up: http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=14106&legend=1&statArr=107&split=base&time=game&ymin=&ymax=&start=2016&end=2016&rtype=mult&gt1=30 And that's coming while his ISO keeps going up: http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=14106&legend=1,2&statArr=40&split=base&time=game&ymin=&ymax=&start=2016&end=2016&rtype=single&gt1=30 I'd like to see him walk a little more, like he was earlier in the year. He's been way more aggressive. But you can't really argue with the results. Still, he's freaking 22 and he keeps improving at things that he wasn't so great at, to go with everything that he was already great at. He's going to be a monster.

Uh oh.

http://thumbs.newschoolers.com/index.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fgifs.gifbin.com%2F1237381185_b218933.gif&size=400x1000

Give me more dongs.

Ok, I'm starting to wonder if Cogs maybe should be on the playoff roster.

Scrubs, indeed.

Nice. He could be an MVP candidate soon, if it weren't for the yips.

You are so terrible.

Willie loves throwing people out.

Is that good?

http://i.imgur.com/7drHiqr.gif?noredirect

It could be a lot worse. Our pitching could be going through what it went through before the All-Star break. Look, hitting is weird. Guys slump and then get hot. And it's weird. It's often impossible to explain. Sometimes maybe there was a swing change or something. But most of the time it happens with the snap of a finger. And it's impossible to explain. Think of what they are doing: trying to hit a projectile travelling at excess speeds with a stick. If you are just a little off, things aren't going to go well. But slumping hitters, generally, are who they are. They're just... off. They'll get better soon, though. Sometimes you'll run into a case like Jason Heyward's, where it's not just a slump. But, most of the time it's nothing physical. It's probably not even mechanical. Guys are always tinkering with stuff, and it doesn't matter too much. Slumps just happen. And a lot of it might not even be because of the hitter; there could be BABIP luck holding them back or whatever. Now, pitching. That's a different beast. When you see something like what was happening to our pitchers before the All-Star break, that's a little more scary. When pitchers are off, there often is a problem. And it is usually their fault. When they are serving up gopher balls left and right, it's not just a slump, per se. It could be mechanical. It could be that the guy is just worse. He could be getting old. He could be wearing down. He might be injured. Sometimes pitchers do bad for awhile and then bounce back and look normal. But, it's always scarier. Sometimes god-mode Arrieta is never realized again. So, maybe Zobrist is wearing down. But maybe it's just a slump. And even if he is wearing down, he's still taking walks. He can still help contribute. And he's not exactly our most important hitter, anyway. So I try not worry about that stuff as much. Instead, I'm happy that our pitching is healthy and Lester and Hendricks look as sharp as ever. And I'll just hope something clicks at the right time for some of our hitters.

I wasn't really responding to you. I was responding more to the hand wringing we've seen the last week or so in Game Threads and what not. And, I do agree with you -- that we are missing a little thump in the middle of the order. The loss of Schwarber sucked. Bad. We went from the donging beasts we thought we were going to be to something entirely different. But, that's OK. Because we've accomplished a lot with what we are now. And I think Soler can serve as an ersatz Schwarber, if he is healthy and feeling it. You mentioned how it drops off after Bryzzo, and it does. I would like one other uber-beast in the middle of the order. But Soler can be that guy. He was last year in the playoffs. But what TT says is also true. We are so good not because of uber-beasts in the middle of the order, although we do have two. It's because of how deep we are -- so deep that some decent baseball players aren't even going to make the roster. There is a little pop up and down the lineup. Heyward's the one guy on the roster that hasn't given us pop. So we make up for not having another 30-dong guy by having our shortstop hitting 20-some and all of our catchers donging some. And, that's not why we are good anyway. Our offense thrives because we are always on base. And our team's great strength is in its run prevention. So these guys make up for not donging as we'd hoped by glove donging like we never expected.

You guys are too worried about when proven players have hit their home runs this year. Zobrist has been about an .800 OPS, 15-home run guy basically his whole career. He is again this year. I don't care too much that his mostly came earlier this year. I don't care that Fowler's came mostly earlier this year. And I don't care that Kris Bryant is slumping right now. I mean, seriously, people are worried that the MVP hasn't been hitting right for the last couple weeks? Players and, in extension, their teams go through hot and cold streaks all the time. Let's just be glad that it is happening right now and not then. And, I mean, there are still a couple weeks until the playoffs even start. I don't care if this slump lasts all the way up until the playoffs start -- as long as they are hot during the playoffs. Just forget about it. Everything resets in the playoffs. And we've assembled the best roster to take into the playoffs. You'll forget all about it when Bryant is donging all over the Mets in the NLDS.

He's got a 1.58 ERA. How many guys in the post-season do you think have lower ERAs? Unless we get to the World Series: none. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=nl&qual=50&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=16,a

He's got a 1.58 ERA. How many guys in the post-season do you think have lower ERAs?

Shocker.

Fly outs to the wall are the worst.

That was stupid.

Spencer's not cut out for the big leagues.

Can he, though? Against LHP, yes, which is all he'd be asked to do in a short series. Soler hitting well and Baez's defense, flexibility, and offensive potential means the non-Baez portion of the bench is basically whoever they want to catch and various pinch hitters. Eh, I guess. I don't mean to diminish Szczur too much. I like him. But the idea of him being "pinch hit guy" is just a little gross to me. I also like the idea of an Almora/Fowler/Heyward late inning defense. I like that Almora has that one elite skill. It doesn't matter too much to me, though. We've got a lot of nice options. And they all fill various roles that make them each intriguing in different ways.

Because Szczur can hit and Fowler isn't going to get pulled for defensive purposes. Can he, though?

Speaking of the playoff roster. Why not Almora over Szczur?

Sorry, JD, but he's not good enough to demand a certain catcher.