2024 MLB Miscellaneous News

[sveumrules]

27 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

The question I always go back to……is it that hard for triple A pitchers to throw a 92 mph fastball up in the zone? 

Apparently so.

Went back and looked at the GameDay for all twelve homers Hiura hit with Salt Lake.

None of them were in the upper third of the zone.

All twelve were either middle or lower third.

[wiguy94]

14 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Apparently so.

Went back and looked at the GameDay for all twelve homers Hiura hit with Salt Lake.

None of them were in the upper third of the zone.

All twelve were either middle or lower third.

This is why just looking at raw production in AAA isn't the end all be all. Hiura crushes AAA because he crushes bad pitches and you see way more bad pitches in AAA than in the MLB. When pitchers execute against Hiura he has big issues because his swing has holes in it. 

[TURBO]

No mention of Hiura's hit tonight?

I see people are happy to report his K, but no mention of his knock...

[homer]

12 hours ago, TURBO said:

No mention of Hiura's hit tonight?

I see people are happy to report his K, but no mention of his knock...

I'm waiting for him to hit something other than a single to the 2nd baseman (tbf, it was hit very hard)

[TURBO]

5 minutes ago, homer said:

I'm waiting for him to hit something other than a single to the 2nd baseman (tbf, it was hit very hard)

One game...

[brewers888]

I hope Hiura does a great job with the Angels. He was always a stand up guy with this team yet people seem to have some irrational hate for him. Sadly it didn't work out for Keston here but I will always cheer for the guy as long as he isn't playing for a team in our division.

[Playing Catch]

50 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

yet people seem to have some irrational hate for him.

I'm sure the IGT featured some irrational takes, but most posters don't hate him at all. They simply didn't think he was good enough for a 26-man roster spot.

[homer]

 

 

[Brian]

1 hour ago, brewers888 said:

I hope Hiura does a great job with the Angels. He was always a stand up guy with this team yet people seem to have some irrational hate for him. Sadly it didn't work out for Keston here but I will always cheer for the guy as long as he isn't playing for a team in our division.

An irrational hate for him is not true.  He had a 41.7% strike out rate,  Joey Wiemer wasn't even that bad and Joey Weimer was bad.  Standup guy I agree with, he was a great humble guy that never caused problems at all.  He just simply couldn't hit. Sadly, being a "good egg" isn't going to drive in runs. 

[TURBO]

Hiura starting at 2B today and hitting second in the order.

[markedman5]

Kyle Hendricks seems to be a decent matchup for him

 

[markedman5]

Looks like the Brewers had the right idea but were a year early on the Winker reclamation project 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/winkeje01.shtml

[nate82]

As I said the only Brewers AS will be Yelich and Contreras.  This is now official.

https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-mlb-all-star-pitchers-reserves-complete-rosters

[Playing Catch]

On 7/6/2024 at 2:48 PM, markedman5 said:

Kyle Hendricks seems to be a decent matchup for him

 

I really do hope Hiura finds something in LA. The Angels are the perfect team for him to get a decent run of innings, allow him to play through slumps.

[Fear The Chorizo]

4 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

I really do hope Hiura finds something in LA. The Angels are the perfect team for him to get a decent run of innings, allow him to play through slumps.

I think people don't realize how razor thin the gap is between a mlb hitter who can play for a decade at the highest level and a guy who washes out before he hits free agency.  

 

Any minor adjustment to his approach that yields positive results will be enough for Hiura to stick in mlb into his 30s - he has that kind of talent when he gets the bat on the ball.

[KeithStone53151]

10 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I think people don't realize how razor thin the gap is between a mlb hitter who can play for a decade at the highest level and a guy who washes out before he hits free agency.  

 

Any minor adjustment to his approach that yields positive results will be enough for Hiura to stick in mlb into his 30s - he has that kind of talent when he gets the bat on the ball.

For Hiura, I truly think he can be an all-star if he closes exactly one gap in his game. Learn to hit the belt high fastball. It honestly seems crazy that it was a hole in his swing for so long and he couldn't close it. He can hit everything low in the zone, he lays off the slider enough that it isn't a problem like Adames. The problem with not being able to hit belt high fastball is that it's such an easy hole in the swing to exploit, and it's a strike that he can't hit. Literally every pitcher can throw a high fastball. Many pitchers can throw a good slider away, but sometimes Adames does lay off it and it's not a strike so they can't just throw it 80% of the time like pitchers can do with the belt-shoulder high fastball to Hiura. I really thought he was going to get some serious revenge on CC this weekend, he did well but I was hoping for a 3 dinger weekend.

[Fear The Chorizo]

On 7/6/2024 at 2:52 PM, markedman5 said:

Looks like the Brewers had the right idea but were a year early on the Winker reclamation project 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/winkeje01.shtml

I've said it in other threads, meh - good for him, but he's just not a fit for how this Brewers team plays and he showed absolutely no reason to entertain bringing him back after 2023....frankly he showed absolutely no reason to keep him after April 2023.

[MrTPlush]

On 7/6/2024 at 10:56 AM, Brian said:

An irrational hate for him is not true.  He had a 41.7% strike out rate,  Joey Wiemer wasn't even that bad and Joey Weimer was bad.  Standup guy I agree with, he was a great humble guy that never caused problems at all.  He just simply couldn't hit. Sadly, being a "good egg" isn't going to drive in runs. 

Just because you didn't have an irrational hate, doesn't mean there wasn't one. He was kind of the player many decided to make the organizational punching bag. It was a little odd because usually that guy is someone on a bigger contract that isn't living up to it. K's or not...it usually isn't a guy with an OPS+ of 113 playing for league minimum.

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 minutes ago, KeithStone53151 said:

For Hiura, I truly think he can be an all-star if he closes exactly one gap in his game. Learn to hit the belt high fastball. It honestly seems crazy that it was a hole in his swing for so long and he couldn't close it. He can hit everything low in the zone, he lays off the slider enough that it isn't a problem like Adames. The problem with not being able to hit belt high fastball is that it's such an easy hole in the swing to exploit, and it's a strike that he can't hit. Literally every pitcher can throw a high fastball. Many pitchers can throw a good slider away, but sometimes Adames does lay off it and it's not a strike so they can't just throw it 80% of the time like pitchers can do with the belt-shoulder high fastball to Hiura. I really thought he was going to get some serious revenge on CC this weekend, he did well but I was hoping for a 3 dinger weekend.

I don't think Hiura even got an AB on sunday's game, but he's settled in nicely and I'm pulling for him to stick in MLB.

As for the hole in his swing, agreed on your take above - coming out of college Hiura's biggest plus was how effective his hitting approach/swing was with offspeed.  Hiura has elite handspeed through the zone, which is why when he's going well he's driving everything to rightcenter.  That approach is great at letting offspeed get to the hitter, particularly from righthanded pitching.  However, velo upstairs is a different animal, and it's something he didn't really have to worry about through college and even while rocketing through minor league levels early in his pro career.  It's been something where I've long thought if he could never make that adjustment to velo effectively at the MLB level, he'd wind up playing forever in Japan/Korea and perhaps finding his way back stateside ala Thames.

Hiura has quieted his batting stride/swing load down a ton in effort to turn his elite slider speed bat into one that can also time up velocity and do damage to it.  His K rate will always be a concern and a cause for him looking bad at the plate at times when he's slumping - but the damage Hiura can do when making contact should be enough to warrant everyday at bats as a MLB DH.  Right now the Angels are seemingly a perfect fit to give him that extended run to see what happens.

 

[Jopal78]

56 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I don't think Hiura even got an AB on sunday's game, but he's settled in nicely and I'm pulling for him to stick in MLB.

As for the hole in his swing, agreed on your take above - coming out of college Hiura's biggest plus was how effective his hitting approach/swing was with offspeed.  Hiura has elite handspeed through the zone, which is why when he's going well he's driving everything to rightcenter.  That approach is great at letting offspeed get to the hitter, particularly from righthanded pitching.  However, velo upstairs is a different animal, and it's something he didn't really have to worry about through college and even while rocketing through minor league levels early in his pro career.  It's been something where I've long thought if he could never make that adjustment to velo effectively at the MLB level, he'd wind up playing forever in Japan/Korea and perhaps finding his way back stateside ala Thames.

Hiura has quieted his batting stride/swing load down a ton in effort to turn his elite slider speed bat into one that can also time up velocity and do damage to it.  His K rate will always be a concern and a cause for him looking bad at the plate at times when he's slumping - but the damage Hiura can do when making contact should be enough to warrant everyday at bats as a MLB DH.  Right now the Angels are seemingly a perfect fit to give him that extended run to see what happens.

 

The problem with Hiura is what it’s always been, he hits homeruns and doesn’t do much else. He is not skilled at getting on base, hitting for average, playing defense, etc. 

Those players who hit moonshots while batting .205 with a sub .300 OBP are a dime a dozen. Chris Carter lead the NL in homers in 2016 and was out of the majors less than a year later;  and it is why Hiura is with his third different organization in  under a year.

At least for me there wasn’t vitriol directed at the player, but there was always a cadre of unbelievers who were fun to debate with, and thought that even after 1000 major league PAs, still thought Hiura just needed more playing time to prove himself.
 

 

[rickh150]

On 7/5/2024 at 3:14 PM, wiguy94 said:

This is why just looking at raw production in AAA isn't the end all be all. Hiura crushes AAA because he crushes bad pitches and you see way more bad pitches in AAA than in the MLB. When pitchers execute against Hiura he has big issues because his swing has holes in it. 

Better career OPS than Adames, who hits #4 for us.

[Jopal78]

10 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

Better career OPS than Adames, who hits #4 for us.

Yep, Hiura has 1000 or so career PAs, so his white hot 348 PAs in 2019 are still propping up his career OPS. Adames on the other hand has over three times as many PAs as Hiura so his 365 PA hot streak in ‘21 is not skewing his career OPS to such an extent. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

58 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

The problem with Hiura is what it’s always been, he hits homeruns and doesn’t do much else. He is not skilled at getting on base, hitting for average, playing defense, etc. 

Those players who hit moonshots while batting .205 with a sub .300 OBP are a dime a dozen. Chris Carter lead the NL in homers in 2016 and was out of the majors less than a year later;  and it is why Hiura is with his third different organization in  under a year.

At least for me there wasn’t vitriol directed at the player, but there was always a cadre of unbelievers who were fun to debate with, and thought that even after 1000 major league PAs, still thought Hiura just needed more playing time to prove himself.
 

 

Keston Hiura has a career MLB average of 0.239 and OBP of 0.319...so apparently you're referring to a different Hiura with your post above.  His 2019 remains the longest extended run of MLB at bats and consistent playing time of Keston's MLB career - so it shouldn't be discounted out of hand no matter how much you want to.  His 2019 still carried a high K rate, too.  That production was over about 40% of Hiura's MLB plate appearances, and the fact we're 5 seasons after that with only about 1 full MLB season's worth more of plate appearances for Hiura should also be taken into consideration. 

946 MLB at bats sounds like alot, and it would be a decent sample size if it occurred over about 2 calendar years - not 6 - especially if you're refusing to include any of the AAA production Hiura also had during that same stretch while getting yo-yo-ed between Milwaukee and the minors from 2021-2022, all the while being thrown into several different defensive positions instead of just telling him that he's a DH.  Hiura's knee injury in 2023 prevented him from getting one last shot in Milwaukee, and I'll maintain the 2020 COVID season with no minor league year really couldn't have come at a worse time for Hiura - having to slog through MLB and try to adjust to the "book" on him with no video options in the clubhouse, limited onfield work due to COVID between games, no opportunity to get sent back down to any minor league level to work on things, etc. is pretty rough shakes.

[rickh150]

24 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Yep, Hiura has 1000 or so career PAs, so his white hot 348 PAs in 2019 are still propping up his career OPS. Adames on the other hand has over three times as many PAs as Hiura so his 365 PA hot streak in ‘21 is not skewing his career OPS to such an extent. 

.765 OPS in 2022 with Brewers (career .770)…..yanked around constantly up/down AAA, up/down order, not playing for a week plus, pinch hit……mismanaged to the highest hills.  Just put the guy at the DH and hit him consistently low in order.

And then Inconceivable to let him hit monster numbers in AAA (like usual) and not be given opportunity when like a dozen plus guys do awful at DH in 2023…..and we PAID him a couple million to stick around in 2023! Makes and made no sense!  Counsell was content to hit Winker, Adames and Rowdy #2-4 for half the year too.

Adames lifetime .755 OPS hitting cleanup for Brewers….Hiura not good enough to hit anywhere in lineup at DH, mind you.  

[Brian]

29 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

Better career OPS than Adames, who hits #4 for us.

Keston Huira's first Major League hit since 2022

What a loose way to compare stats.