- Sandoval: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Only one hitter he can think of who is a bad ball hitter like Sandoval: Vladimir Guerrero. He is able to square up balls that pitchers think are in the perfect location, frustrating them. Contrary to popular (i.e. KNBR) opinion, he's not a hacker, he has more discipline than that, it is just that pitches that pitchers think are good strikes but bad for a hitter, Pablo is able to square up and hit those pitches. It is not like he will go chasing after pitches in the dirt, as posited by the host.
- Ishikawa: Only question this spring is whether he can hit left-handed pitching (however, didn't say that he has solved that yet, nor that he's making good progress). When he came up, Travis learned that the book on him was that he would swing at high strikes when he hits best with low pitches. Carney has been working with him on not biting at the higher strikes and waiting for the ball in his zone, and Carney said it has been working for him.
- Burriss/Frandsen: both have been hitting well this spring, about equal, so it would be defense that determines who wins (if so, then Burriss wins, Frandsen is acknowledged as steady but not special defensively, whereas Burriss has the speed to get to a lot of balls). This will probably be settled the last week of spring, it is looking.
- HR Power: Ishikawa and Sandoval will add that to lineup, plus Lewis and Rowand should hit more too, as well as Renteria, who is a professional hitter.
- WBC and Spring Training: it normally drags for players by end of spring training normally, so WBC lengthening would make it worse. But it is what it is, you just have to deal with it. Been giving vets 2 days play, 1 day rest, cycle.
That is about all that I remember, and this is what was generally said, I heard all this driving so this is all based on memory. There might have been something said about another hitter that I can't recall everything. Check KNBR's (new!) website if you want to hear the interview, it should be up at some point.
Just remembered another thing. Carney expects Sandoval to hit around 15-20 homers this season and to eventually regularly hit out 20-30 homers.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be sweet!!!
Hello Martin -
ReplyDeleteI know you are a big student of draft picks and their success and the import of where they are picked. there is a little blurb on the topic on BA that I thinki you will find interesting:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/ask-ba/2009/267783.html
Hope that works for you
Thank you, allfrank, greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteWell, the analysis is getting better. They at least are now trying to separate the wheat from the chaff with their separating out of the "significant" players.
Though, to me, I don't find 1,000 at-bats to be particularly significant, nor 300 innings, nor 100 appearances. That's roughly two full seasons as a hitter, starting pitcher, or reliever. There's a heck of a difference in value between a player who had less than 3 years of major league experience and one who has more than 3 years, and further separation for those who have 6 years and have reached free agent status.
Still, that removes another layer off the onion that is the player draft, dropping the percentage from roughly 67% of first round picks who made the majors, to 42% of first round picks who had "significant" careers.
They need to peel further, as I suggested above, then chose some metric to measure those who are the top players. In addition, the first round has a number of micro-tiers, basically the first pick itself, picks 2-5, then 6-10, and so forth.