Cooper Pratt Appreciation Thread

[Jim French Stepstool]

So, ten games in for Pratt in the bigs. I'm not sure you can realistically expect better than what we've seen so far. He had decent but modest numbers in AAA but one thing that stood out to me was the discipline---walks & strikeouts almost 50-50---and so far he's maintained that here. Now, his propensity to not try to do too much & go to RF is being augmented a little; a couple hard hit balls to the pull side recently. Even if someone is ready to play at the highest level, it may take a little time for a player to convince HIMSELF of that & I've seen none of that from Pratt. And along with the overall defensive skills, the hands seem really soft & exceptional. The DP to end the series in Cincy could've easily been bobble....panic....snatch....never get a handle. Very cool response in a pressure situation.

I'm waiting for the pitchers to get a 'book' on him & see how he adjusts. But right now he's not chasing & is very willing to use all fields so that book might not be so easy for opposing pitchers to read & execute. I've been very impressed.

[Team Canada]

With one more steal, he will be tied for 3rd on the team in SB. He may overtake Turang before long.

[yfinn6]

43 minutes ago, Team Canada said:

With one more steal, he will be tied for 3rd on the team in SB. He may overtake Turang before long.

No kidding. Turang would have to get on base for him to keep up. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

So now we see how he responds to his first really bad stretch---if you can call two games a 'stretch'.

First handful of games--don't try to do too much, fundamentally sound swing decisions, use RF--check.

Get more confident after drawing some walks & picking up a few base hits, prove to pitchers they need to throw you strikes which results in getting a couple pitches you can hit hard to the pull side---check.

Get a little overconfident, forget what got you off to the nice start & let the pull side get into your head, maybe try to do too much as the team struggles to score.....and commence chasing. Check.

A bad couple of games, but then again only a couple. Let's see if he can get back to a little more basic, humble approach.