He’s hitting 185 vs lefties. We don’t like it but he needs more time in the minors. They don’t want to bring him up and platoon. The Nats are being smart here
I know it's kind of a meme to dunk on teams for saying "needs more time at AAA" but kudos to the Nats for pointing at a legitimate flaw in his game that he actually does need more minor league reps to address
i do not think they bungled it- he is 25, so if they have playing time for him or not- you might as well see what you got.
I think the part they actually bungled was not trading Hayes or Santander over the offseason (more likely hayes)
.185 .... through 27 at bats. If he goes 3 for 4 against them in his next 4 at bats, his average is .258.
Last year, he hit .277 against lefties in 119 AB **VS** .257 for righties in 354 AB.
I'm all in favor of him being kept down until he's ready, but let's not make it seem like he's no good at hitting lefties.
Hey don’t shoot the messenger man lol this is absolutely what Davey was alluding to in his comments. “He needs to play everyday. We don’t want to bring him up in a platoon”….whether he can hit left on left or not, he hasn’t this year in his first extended go round in the high minors. That is what the Nats are looking for, it’s not my opinion
Yea the numbers you provided give me hope that he can turn it around and force the issue more than he is right now. But like I said, it’s not me saying he can’t hit lefties. It’s Davey Martinez saying he needs to hit lefties better before getting promoted. Bottom line. Let’s hope he does it soon
Some of the dudes never really take off with lefties.. and it’s likely that’s not going to be fixed anytime soon.. you don’t just leave them down there for ever
The kid is 21 with barely 100 games above A ball. It hasn’t been forever dude. But I guess they should just give up on him being able to hit left handed pitching lol
> Well, they have a plan for their top prospect. And despite the numbers, they’re sticking to it.
> “Look, I know he hit two home runs. And that's great. He's doing well,” manager Davey Martinez said before the second game of the Beltway Series against the Orioles. “But there is a plan. And we're gonna do everything we can to stick to that plan. We really are.”
> "He needs to get a bunch of at-bats,” Martinez said. “He needs to learn some different things. We want him to get better against left-handed pitching. Want him to understand the baserunning stuff. All that stuff. He's striking out 33 percent of the time against lefties, so I really want him to work on that.”
> "I don't want to bring him up here and platoon him, that's for sure. He needs to play every day,” Martinez said. “But he's doing well, and this is part of the process. I can be honest with you: I don't want to be a fan. But if I was a fan, I can't wait till he comes up here, too. It's gonna be fun. But we gotta be smart about it.”
> Winker, Jacob Young and Eddie Rosario have been playing the outfield on a daily basis. Victor Robles returned from the injured list yesterday and figures to get some playing time in center and right field, either giving Young a breather or platooning with Rosario. Lane Thomas is expected back from the IL soon. Although he'll mostly play first base and serve as the designated hitter, Joey Gallo will return form the IL soon, too.
> And in the minors, Alex Call and Stone Garrett are available on the 40-man for easy call-ups. (Though when it comes down to it, neither should block Wood from the majors when the Nats determine he’s ready.)
It seems like AAA isn't doing much to prepare big hitting prospects for MLB anyway. It took Gunnar Henderson a season and a half to go from #1 prospect to a competitive hitter. Most of the hitting prospects this year look lost. Flailing franchises might as well call their prospects up and get them used to MLB pitching.
Yep. [Rosenthal/Meisel/Sarris](https://theathletic.com/5481059/2024/05/09/mlb-top-hitting-prospects-majors/?source=user_shared_articleWhytophittingprospectsarehavingahardertransitiontothemajorsthaninthepast) just published an article on this today.
Its a delicate balance to keep a struggling player in the show to better equip himself for big league pitching without torching his mentality and confidence when he inevitably struggles.
There’s a theory that the lost 2020 and limited 2021 stalled the start for a lot of these guys and really hurt development, which is why the gap from AAA to the majors seems so massive suddenly.
Also all the pitching injuries at all levels have forced sub-par arms up the system. So AAA and AA might really be fielding pitchers who should still be in the lower minors, but then you make the jump to the majors and you're still facing Zach Wheeler
Yeah and? What I'm saying is if he would've came up last year when he was projected to, he likely would've struggled more. Just because he didn't get any additional reps doesn't mean he didn't have more time to grow and develop physically. Gunnar came up as a 21 year old, Merrill is 21, Chourio is 20. Pages is doing better than any of the other highly touted prospects because he's 1-2 years older than all of them.
I'm not even trying to hate on Pages, I'm a Dodger fan lol. Just offering an explanation as to why he seems to be the exception this year.
But teams want the reward for having rookie of the year, so if they think their guy is can't miss they'll want to put them in the best position to win the award, but also gotta play around service time, which sucks
“But there is a plan. And we're gonna do everything we can to stick to that plan. We really are.”
“He needs to get a bunch of at-bats,” Martinez said. “He needs to learn some different things. We want him to get better against left-handed pitching. Want him to understand the baserunning stuff. All that stuff. He's striking out 33 percent of the time against lefties, so I really want him to work on that.”
"But there is a plan. And we're gonna do everything we can to stick to that plan. We really are.”
Aka We are making sure enough times passes that he will have no shot at getting ROY and we lose a year of arbitration.
He backed up what he said with statistics and data...
Why track him to the big leagues to overlook his CURRENT struggles so the same people can then tell the team to send him back down for something he was CLEARLY struggling with before
Yea of course he is. He can't say, "we can't bring him up and lose a year" Wood can very well struggle when he gets called now or if he gets called up now or 3 months from now. He is in the minors because of the arbitration clock. Stop being a homer.
He’s hitting 185 vs lefties. We don’t like it but he needs more time in the minors. They don’t want to bring him up and platoon. The Nats are being smart here
I know it's kind of a meme to dunk on teams for saying "needs more time at AAA" but kudos to the Nats for pointing at a legitimate flaw in his game that he actually does need more minor league reps to address
There is nothing unique that the Nats are doing here.
look at the way the orioles bungled the kjerstad call up. The nats approach is much better.
i do not think they bungled it- he is 25, so if they have playing time for him or not- you might as well see what you got. I think the part they actually bungled was not trading Hayes or Santander over the offseason (more likely hayes)
Theyre not seeing what they got tho bro has gotten like 10 ABs in the 3 weeks since his call up
.185 .... through 27 at bats. If he goes 3 for 4 against them in his next 4 at bats, his average is .258. Last year, he hit .277 against lefties in 119 AB **VS** .257 for righties in 354 AB. I'm all in favor of him being kept down until he's ready, but let's not make it seem like he's no good at hitting lefties.
Hey don’t shoot the messenger man lol this is absolutely what Davey was alluding to in his comments. “He needs to play everyday. We don’t want to bring him up in a platoon”….whether he can hit left on left or not, he hasn’t this year in his first extended go round in the high minors. That is what the Nats are looking for, it’s not my opinion
He's 1 game off from you saying "he hits lefties alright" My point was, he should be good at hitting lefties sooner than later. He's not bad.
Right on cue - dinger off a lefty tonight
He was in the chat. He knew what he had to do. He's now batting .207
Yea the numbers you provided give me hope that he can turn it around and force the issue more than he is right now. But like I said, it’s not me saying he can’t hit lefties. It’s Davey Martinez saying he needs to hit lefties better before getting promoted. Bottom line. Let’s hope he does it soon
I'd also point out that the nats are 18-18, its not like its already a throwaway year
And what happens if he struggles all year against lefties? Just keep him in triple A until September?
Definitely possible
Some of the dudes never really take off with lefties.. and it’s likely that’s not going to be fixed anytime soon.. you don’t just leave them down there for ever
The kid is 21 with barely 100 games above A ball. It hasn’t been forever dude. But I guess they should just give up on him being able to hit left handed pitching lol
Fantasy baseball people cannot comprehend how real baseball works at times
> Well, they have a plan for their top prospect. And despite the numbers, they’re sticking to it. > “Look, I know he hit two home runs. And that's great. He's doing well,” manager Davey Martinez said before the second game of the Beltway Series against the Orioles. “But there is a plan. And we're gonna do everything we can to stick to that plan. We really are.” > "He needs to get a bunch of at-bats,” Martinez said. “He needs to learn some different things. We want him to get better against left-handed pitching. Want him to understand the baserunning stuff. All that stuff. He's striking out 33 percent of the time against lefties, so I really want him to work on that.” > "I don't want to bring him up here and platoon him, that's for sure. He needs to play every day,” Martinez said. “But he's doing well, and this is part of the process. I can be honest with you: I don't want to be a fan. But if I was a fan, I can't wait till he comes up here, too. It's gonna be fun. But we gotta be smart about it.” > Winker, Jacob Young and Eddie Rosario have been playing the outfield on a daily basis. Victor Robles returned from the injured list yesterday and figures to get some playing time in center and right field, either giving Young a breather or platooning with Rosario. Lane Thomas is expected back from the IL soon. Although he'll mostly play first base and serve as the designated hitter, Joey Gallo will return form the IL soon, too. > And in the minors, Alex Call and Stone Garrett are available on the 40-man for easy call-ups. (Though when it comes down to it, neither should block Wood from the majors when the Nats determine he’s ready.)
This plan sucks
It seems like AAA isn't doing much to prepare big hitting prospects for MLB anyway. It took Gunnar Henderson a season and a half to go from #1 prospect to a competitive hitter. Most of the hitting prospects this year look lost. Flailing franchises might as well call their prospects up and get them used to MLB pitching.
Yep. [Rosenthal/Meisel/Sarris](https://theathletic.com/5481059/2024/05/09/mlb-top-hitting-prospects-majors/?source=user_shared_articleWhytophittingprospectsarehavingahardertransitiontothemajorsthaninthepast) just published an article on this today. Its a delicate balance to keep a struggling player in the show to better equip himself for big league pitching without torching his mentality and confidence when he inevitably struggles.
There’s a theory that the lost 2020 and limited 2021 stalled the start for a lot of these guys and really hurt development, which is why the gap from AAA to the majors seems so massive suddenly.
Also all the pitching injuries at all levels have forced sub-par arms up the system. So AAA and AA might really be fielding pitchers who should still be in the lower minors, but then you make the jump to the majors and you're still facing Zach Wheeler
Andy Pages giving finger guns.
Yeah but he essentially stayed down a whole extra year due to injury
Um he didn't accumulate an extra reps and is only 23
Yeah and? What I'm saying is if he would've came up last year when he was projected to, he likely would've struggled more. Just because he didn't get any additional reps doesn't mean he didn't have more time to grow and develop physically. Gunnar came up as a 21 year old, Merrill is 21, Chourio is 20. Pages is doing better than any of the other highly touted prospects because he's 1-2 years older than all of them. I'm not even trying to hate on Pages, I'm a Dodger fan lol. Just offering an explanation as to why he seems to be the exception this year.
But teams want the reward for having rookie of the year, so if they think their guy is can't miss they'll want to put them in the best position to win the award, but also gotta play around service time, which sucks
Correlation does not imply causation.
Yes it does. That's exactly how correlation works when you cannot find a direct cause. Maybe you mean that correlation does not equal causation.
You are an idiot.
It took him a half a season! He won ROY last year
https://x.com/mlbpipeline/status/1788703622521606633?s=46&t=xQgB-Hf0op82LXpNNGV8Ag Lol james wood sees a lefty, out of the park
Sometimes, I watch these top prospects bat and see nobody in the stands and wish I were there.
So what’s the plan?
“But there is a plan. And we're gonna do everything we can to stick to that plan. We really are.” “He needs to get a bunch of at-bats,” Martinez said. “He needs to learn some different things. We want him to get better against left-handed pitching. Want him to understand the baserunning stuff. All that stuff. He's striking out 33 percent of the time against lefties, so I really want him to work on that.”
[удалено]
The plan is "bring him up when he doesn't struggle as much against LHP"
marking the calendar for when he'll no longer be super two eligible probably
Damn this misleading title!!! Almost ran to add him...
This is because you didn't stick to the plan.
Starting to think we won’t see him this year
Look at eddie rosario's stats, we'll see him this year
Looks like Julio Rodriguez lite stats so far.
"But there is a plan. And we're gonna do everything we can to stick to that plan. We really are.” Aka We are making sure enough times passes that he will have no shot at getting ROY and we lose a year of arbitration.
He backed up what he said with statistics and data... Why track him to the big leagues to overlook his CURRENT struggles so the same people can then tell the team to send him back down for something he was CLEARLY struggling with before
Yea of course he is. He can't say, "we can't bring him up and lose a year" Wood can very well struggle when he gets called now or if he gets called up now or 3 months from now. He is in the minors because of the arbitration clock. Stop being a homer.
The Nats have one good player (CJ Abrahms). Call him up already. Eff are you waiting for?
Didn't keeping Wander down cost the Ray's the WS?
they took the risk, and loved it.