Jake McKibbin

As someone who hadn't even been to a ball game when this trade happened, I really enjoyed looking back and seeing how people felt at the time, as I'd no idea how valued the prospects were (given they've all gone bust since) Makes me wonder what if the Marlins had nabbed Burnes instead of Harrison and Diaz for instance Also interesting comparatives with "future of our franchise outfielders" then and the current batch we have now

I had the exact same view, it provides a lot of value, and potentially a very tradeable player who likely won't make a ton in arbitration

Despite his injury, I thought I'd take a glance as to why we can look forward to Taylor's return. So without further ado; Taylor, despite being at times one of the top Brewers prospects, has always come across as a bit of a “meh” player, and understandably so. He has a bunch of tools that are league average or just below league average coming into 2022, with a little additional power when pulling the ball. Primarily seen as a below league average right fielder, he surpassed all expectations with his quality defense in centre, and above average offensive output compared to most centre fielders, posting a 2.1 fWAR mostly centred around his defensive contributions. Anyway enough preamble, let’s get down to business and see what we could expect from Taylor going forward. Defense We’ll start with his primary WAR contribution; Taylor surprised everyone with his defensive metrics in 2022, where we didn’t think he would have the speed to provide above average coverage of the outfield grass in centre. This may be a misnomer however given he simply doesn’t show this on the base paths, but was in the 80th percentile for sprint speed, 86th percentile for outfield jumps, and 92nd percentile for out above average last season. He was particularly adept in his lateral movements, creating 6 OAA, while being around average in moving forward and backwards. He also added 2 OAAA in left field in only 29 fielding attempts, with a 97% success rate. Given the effect that a good route has on vertical movements, it’s quite possible that Taylor could improve defensively moving forward and backwards simply with more experience in the role. Have a look below and you’ll see that, despite high marks for his acceleration and reactions, his routes are slightly below average. Offense - Weaknesses Last season, Taylor’s offensive numbers are intriguing. He hit .233/.286/.442, really struggling to get on base, yet producing quite solid power numbers with his 17 home runs coming despite being in the 33rd percentile in average exit velocity and 34th percentile in hard hit percentage. Looking slightly further into things and you can see where the power came from. Although he didn’t actually time the ball that well last season, with below average quality of contact, when he did, he produced quality loft angles, resulting in a high scoring output from the contact he made. He averaged 16.9 degrees of loft angle last season, and was in the 68th percentile for barrels per plate appearance. His other big issue is how little he walks, with his low batting average last season contributing to a comfortably sub .300 OBP, something which isn’t sustainable in the big leagues. Looking at some background stats, it’s quite clear pitchers heavily went down and away against him, but he did a relatively decent job of not chasing these pitches as you can see: However it’s the way in which he regularly chases pitches in all areas out of the zone that create such a poor profile for him, with 27th percentile in chase rate. Combine this with his 38th percentile whiff rate (almost entirely arising due to how bad he is at hitting any pitch outside the zone) and you can see that he isn’t particularly adept at even fouling these pitches off. When he does chase, he misses far too often, as you can see below: In terms of his OBP improving, one under the radar effort might be found in a recent MLB article about those most likely to profit from banning the shift. When he put the ball on the ground, 63% of balls were pulled, most of which were in and around where the third basemen will have to cover on his own rather than with a shortstop to assist. Taylor only hit 20% of his balls in play to opposite field last season, and his WOBA with the shift was .287, without the shift it rose to .337. MLB estimated an extra ten potential hits gained if the shift laws were in place last season. He also had a very low BABIP last season against the shift of .236 contrasted to a .319 BABIP without the shift in place, so it’s reasonable to expect an uptick in his batting average next season. One final mention is his weakness both up and in, and up and away (in zone). In both areas, he hits for a BABIP below .100, with 38 degree launch angles average. He creates a lot of soft fly balls and popups in these zones, and could be served by avoiding these pitches, particularly early in the count. That being said, when you look at how her performs in each count, its’ quite interesting. He almost solely looks for walks when he get to a 3-0 or 3-1 count, taking the pitch the majority of the time. He didn’t produce a single hit in these counts across the course of the season. He actually does most of his damage in a 1-0, 1-1 or 2-1 count. Stay Tuned for Part 2!

I think that's part of it is his floor is fairly high. Regarding swing/take, I haven't got a lot of data, but from the eye in Spring Trining alone (so with a sizeable barn of salt) he does seem to make quite poor decisions when he gets behind in the count, he doesn't work the count all that well which is hopefully something he can develop with a little experience. I also think he's quite an exciting player to watch both defensively and on the basepaths, idk but I really enjoy the art of people stealing bases, and good defense seems to create real momentum swings

I think this is a great point... for example, I love Willy and would love him to stay here, but I do think Woody is probably the signing that adds most value per $ in the system. I think Turang is developing and showing a lot of growth, particularly if there's any semblance of power this season. If Turang has a 700 OPS this season at 22, maybe even using WAR lets say a 2 WAR season, I think they'll take him over Willy due to the cost differential But pitching is needed, and Woodruff looks prime

Garrett Mitchell, due to his high strikeout profile, high speed and his potential raw power is a very difficult player to compare, as most players would fail in the big leagues with this skill set. However the speed he has allows him to beat the infield with regularity, steal bases and provide such quality defense in centre field that it considerably improves his floor, and his ceiling could be similar to a Keston Hiura that can play defense. Given the thorn in the side Harrison Bader has been for the Brewers, a player who thrives on big moments, electric in the field and on the base paths, it could be a very similar player to what we have in Mitchell. Harrison Bader In Bader's first full season with the Cardinals, and produced a slash line of .264/.334/.422 for an OPS of .756, along with a BABIP of .358 and a strikeout rate of almost 30%. Due to his outstanding defense, he produced 4.1 fWAR in 2018, which may not be as unreasonable an expectation for Mitchell as it sounds. The following season, the height of the juiced ball era, he brought just a .680 OPS and still almost reach two WAR in 400 PA's. Looking back to 2018 and his review on prospects1500.com, he was given the following detail: Speaking of incredibly fast ascents through the minors, Bader made his MLB debut last year just 25 months after appearing in a minor league game for the first time. On the surface, he looks like a tantalizing fantasy commodity — a guy who can hit 20 home runs in a season to go with 15 stolen bases. He has plus speed that should keep him in centerfield and bat speed that helps him get to his pull-side power. But if you watched him during his 92 plate appearances in the majors, you’ll note how pitchers picked up his inability to hit breaking balls away. His over aggressiveness was exploited (5.4 BB%) and his strikeouts climbed (26.1 K%). Unless he learns to handle those away pitches and go the other way, expect low OBP years from the righty that could severely limit his upside and potentially land him in a platoon. As you can see, even in season with a WRC+ in the 80's, and with less than everyday players PA's, he's still provided enough value in terms of WAR to the team through high defense, and when he hits roughly league average, his fWAR loiters around three. He also picks up his fair share of injuries, part of the reason he has limited PA's, and something Garrett Mitchell is likely to also have to contend with in the coming years. He does however have very low exit velocities, just 83.4mph on average last season, and walk rates around 5-7% which is something Mitchell seems to do much better. Garrett Mitchell When drafted, Mitchell was considered a steal for the Brewers due to his raw power, his electric speed and defense, only dropping down because teams were concerned about his type 1 diabetes and the effect that may have on him as a professional. He hasn't spent a whole lot of time in the minor leagues, through injuries and the missed 2020 season, in fact only having 472 PA's among Milwaukee's affiliate teams. He did develop as he moved up, with a low of 21.2% strikeout rate at AAA. He's got plus power when he gets the ball elevated but his swing does seem geared towards a more ground ball oriented profile. As a left hander, this might not be ideal, even with his speed, but he hit predominantly up the middle and to opposite field in his short stint in the majors last year, and can beat out infield throws with some regularity. I don't think anyone expects him to repeat his slash line from 2022, but it's very likely that as he adjusts to major league pitching, or even just professional baseball, his strikeout rate should drop significantly. He likely has less of a hit tool than Bader does, but his speed both to 1st and on the base paths is a lot more obvious. He stole 8 bases in 68 PA's last season, whereas Bader has at most managed 17 in a season (last year with the Yankees). Mitchell recorded the fastest home to first time last year at just 4.01 seconds, and a regular ability to turn easy singles into doubles, and I can see his base running being a prolific weapon, especially with the new rules coming into force regarding pickoffs. For comparative purposes, Esteury Ruiz had a sprint speed of 29.8 ft/sec. Combined with his power when he can elevate the ball, Mitchell has the ability to be a 20 HR/50 SB type player, but in all likelihood, I think in the coming season he's more likely to be 12-14 home runs and 40 stolen bases, still considerable numbers, and something that could make a big big impact on the brewers offense. He's currently projected by ZIPS for a .250/.320/.378 slash line and 98WRC+, which could make him a 3 WAR player given his skills outside the batter's box. in conclusion, Mitchell seems a slightly more unpredictable version of Bader, with more speed, slightly better defense (in part as a result of this, and his plus arm), yet more swing and miss in his profile, and both of them have remarkably similar ground ball percentages. Both are electric and exciting to watch, with highlight reel efforts and energy that can draw in the crowds. I can't wait to see what 2023 has in store for Mitchell. He's picked up quite well in spring training (not that that's usually an indication) but appears to be lofting the ball with more regularity.

That's really interesting about BBE, he has, save in 2020, been immense against fastball in terms of strikeouts, and whiff rates since joining I found it super intriguing about how his swing/take decisions showed up hugely in comparison to 2018/19, in that for pitches over the heart of the plate, he score +30 in each of those two seasons. In 2021 he rated -17, and -2 in 2022(or thereabouts, this is of the top of my head) This could be due to not picking up those pitches dipping into the zone (ie hanging curves) and also if he's heavily sitting on one pitch, it could be why he strikes out so often against curveballs down in the zone

This is actually awesome, only 15 mins in, but seems like the type of convo you'd get over a beer or two, he comes across so damn likeable

Hahaha I have too many personalities for one profile, what can I say :P I really agree here actually, and for the exact same reason. It's one of the reasons I was curious about the Junk and Wilson acquisitions, as we seem to be similar to the Dodgers in that pitchers use their stuff much more efficiently with us, usually adding spin rates and velo (I think Lauer accomplished both of these, used to be a 91-93mph pitcher?) A splitter is one of those that I think can be lethal out of the bullpen, you don't find many hitters with good expected stats against them, I think the question with Wilson is can he sequence it well with his fastball, which hasn't profiled well.. or will it make his fastball become a secondary pitch? EDIT: just realised you were asking if he was Jake Cousins

Historically his biggest issue has actually been injuries, he's spent a lot of time on the sidelines, so really hoping he can get a full season under his belt

Luis Urias has been a polarising figure for many Brewers fans, probably due to a differentiation in what people expect from the hot corner (a fact made worse with Nolan Arenado in the same division) and what is regularly produced by the position It should be noted that fangraphs estimates his value over the last two seasons to be in the $17-18 million range. Let's take a deeper look into what Urias has been developing, and where he can look to improve. Defense In Luis Urias first full season with the Brewers, he struggled massively with throwing the ball, particularly when he had time to overthink the process. The botching of a lot of the simpler plays led to a perception that he was a poor defender, but that isn't entirely the case. It's true that, per baseball savant, he was worth -11 outs above average in 2021, but over half of this was comprised of excessive playing time at shortstop. In 2021. he was worth -4 OAA at shortstop, and +4 OAA in a similar number of plays at second base. He is a largely league average defender in 2022 at third base (-1 OAA). His arm strength is in and around the 30th percentile, another reason why he shouldn't be played too often on the left hand side of the infield, but he has a high quality glove and great reaction times. He cut his errors down from 24 in 2021 to 14 in 2022, and he produces markedly less mistakes when playing on the right hand side of the infield, with just one mistake in 46 games. In other words, he's a high quality defender at second base, but a merely passable one at third, and should be kept well away from shortstop. This seems to be something the Brewers have worked to create, with the likes of Toro & Miller as suitable defenders at third base, and Turang's impending arrival. Hitting Urias took a big step forward offensively from his production with San Diego. His barrel rate went from a previous high of 4.4% in 2019, to 9.3% in 2021, and developing his hard hit rate too. He has maintained this throughout 2022, albeit a slight drop off, but his biggest weakness currently is not quite so obvious. He's very good at covering the majority of the zone well, even controlling his whiff rates outside the zone. the issue with this is how often he generates weak contact and an easy out from this position, and anything on the inner third of the plate; As you can see, Urias really struggles to generate quality exit velocities from these positions, and has allowed him to be targeted repeatedly, and successfully, high and inside by the four seam fastball. The danger for pitchers comes if they leak that fastball further away from him, at which point he's very good at creating hard contact and elevating the ball; he managed to average 14.2 degrees of elevation in 2021 and further increased that to an 18 degree launch angle in 2022. If the ball is belt high, he hits fly balls almost 50% of the time, as well as strong elevation rates in the upper half of the strike zone too when he isn't cramped for room. An interesting point of development for Urias is how much stronger he's become in doing damage when he gets ahead in the count. He receives off-speed in these counts around ten percent of the time, so it's more negligible, but the quality of contact on both breaking pitches and fastballs has skyrocketed. It's breaking balls in particular that draw the eye here, with a significant jump in both exit velocity and expected slugging. However he faced far fewer favourable counts in 2022, due largely to a change in approach. Despite facing 62% of first pitch strikes, he swung on the first pitch only 21% of the time, down from 30% in 2021. This could be for a number of reasons, but during the course of the season we know that he was struggling with his wrist, and a change in approach to grind out the AB's instead of looking to do damage may have caused him to create lower exit velocities than expected. in addition, he was regarded as a plus player when it comes to his swing/take decisions, in 2021 having a +17 run differential. Yet in 2022, this significantly as a result of a -15 score for pitches taken over the heart of the plate. A lot of people in the Brewers camp were raving about his physical development last off season and the additional power he was impacting the ball with, yet we didn't really see that throughout 2022. I think a tweak in his approach could allow us to see more damage from his bat in 2023. Regarding the wrist injury mentioned above, a loot at his splits throughout the year highlight this quite well. He maintained very strong walk rates for the most part when he was struggling at the plate, topping out at 13% in August. Yet when he developed through the issue you could see a marked improvement, hitting .328/.415/.507 in September/October, stepping up when Brewers needed him most and giving a glimpse of what he could do if he can remain healthy throughout 2023. Conclusion If playing predominantly at second base in the coming season, Urias could quite possibly be a 4-5 WAR player should he tap into his offensive capabilities. We need to see if he can replicate his performance at the end of last year, as well as tightening up on those inside pitches, doing a better job of pulling his hands in and muscling the ball into the outfield with more authority on these pitches. If he can manage these, he can show himself off as one of the premier second basemen in the league.

Another outrageously cool name

I think the max exit velocity you mention was by Oneil Cruz? Mitchell I think had a top EV of 109.9mph! He also had expected BA of .187 and xSLG of .339, so while with his speed I would suspect he outdoes his expected stats, I think with his ground ball rate and his propensity to swing and miss, he may struggle to put anywhere quite close to a .265/.324/.462 line without some swing changes, I agree he could do well swiping bases when he gets on, one of those guys you almost know is going to steal. His floor is quite high with the defense etc. He's a high variance player who could go a number of ways, granted, but unsure he's quite like this? Much more like a bottom of the line-up guy than someone leadoff I would suggest

What can I say, I'm an eternal optimist, though I do think there'll be some adjustment needed for Wiemer in the bigs, just to get used to the pitching (as Judge got) The similarities were more stark the more I got into this piece, which surprised me, but I would say that Judge has a much more compact swing with more raw power there, which may have acclimatised better in the majors

This is a big statement, I know, but hear me out on this one, and you might find the two are a lot more similar that you’d originally think. In terms profile of the player profiles, they are remarkably similar, both very tall players with access to huge raw power, a surprisingly advanced hit tool, the speed to play centre field if needed, and absolute cannons for throwing arms. One could argue that Judge has access to more power given the size of his frame, and Weimer has access to more speed, but they are relatively similar in a lot of aspects. Take a look at their performance lines from each of their first two seasons in the minors: Level Avg OBP SLG OPS SO % HR SB Aaron Judge A/A+ .308 .419 .486 .905 23.3% 17 1 Joey Weimer A/A+ .296 .403 .556 .958 22.2% 27 30 Aaron Judge AA/AAA .255 .330 .448 .777 26.7% 20 0 Joey Weimer AA/AAA .256 .336 .465 .801 26.8% 21 31 As you can see, the entire second season is eerily similar for the two players as they made their way to the upper levels of the minors. The real standout is the strikeout rate, which is actually lower for Weimer despite scouts preferring Judge’s ability to cover the plate as a prospect. Judge had an injury or two to deal with in his second year in the minors, but finished on a hot streak in AAA, was called up to the majors, and produced a .608 OPS in 95 plate appearances. He didn’t really take off until the following year where he mashed 52 home runs and a 1.049 OPS after adjusting to major league pitching. However he did struggle initially in his first call-up to AAA, with an adjustment period needed before finding his swing at the plate. Joey Weimer, having won the Brewers pipeline prospect of the year honours in 2021 for his outstanding first season, picked up a wrist injury in the middle of his second season, resulting in a dramatic fall in output. He hit just for an OPS of .687 in June and .442 in July, before returning to reduce his strikeout rate, his contact and his power numbers to a level on par with his first season, even despite the rapid promotions. He finished the season in September with 15 walks vs 10 strikeouts, 8 XBH in 63 AB’s and a slash line of .302/.425/.476, tantalising us with a glimpse of better plate coverage and what that could mean for him this coming season. Judge has also been ranked higher on most prospect lists, due to a combination of his draft position and his college numbers, whereas Weimer didn’t start tapping into his power until he hit professional baseball. He hadn’t managed more than 6 homers in a spring period, which could explain the difference in hype. Judge would also be regarded as having a better hit tool, and more raw power due to his sizeable frame, and it was generally considered that he had quite a short swing to the ball, not fully utilising the power in his 125kg frame. Weimer, on the other hand has a more chaotic swing, with huge bat speed and hand speed, creating most of his power from this, but is more susceptible as a result of struggling with major league pitching. Eric Longenhangen spoke about his tendency to swing inside pitches on the outer part of the strike zone, something he will need to tighten up on before he can be successful in the majors. Where did Judge struggle when he first came up to the majors? Take a look: The other interesting area in which Weimer and Judge would separate themselves is their speed. Weimer would be a faster athlete, more mobile and able to cover the outfield grass better, but this really shows up on the base paths. With 61 steals in the minors across two seasons, he’s a real threat to opposing teams, even more so given he was only caught 9 times, an 87% success rate! Weimer’s reduced strikeout rate of 19.5% at AAA, his “calmer” swing since joining the Brewers (including ditching his leg kick for a toe tap) give a real optimism about what Milwaukee could have in their system. Keith Law referred to him as having “stupid power” and that even hitting .220-.230 he could be a plus major league asset, with his defense, speed and quality of contact providing a higher floor than you would usually have with this type of prospect. And in regards to his ceiling, well… that’s probably a guy who just hit 62 home runs last season.

Pyrrhic is my new favourite word

The interesting thing is this is always easier to say in hindsight For example, if he has a first season like a top tier talent, he's unlikely to accept a real low offer, though could maybe get 1/2 extra seasons due to his likely young starting age in the big leagues. However on this basis, we also could've offered Hiura a long contract based on his first year, and that wouldn't have turned out so well. I think the Brewers could do it when he turns up in the bigs immediately, but even then there's some risk, as there has to be some uncertainty over future earnings to get a deal like this that's team friendly

I would also note that Urias did seem last season to take a more passive approach at the plate during the middle of the season, but his hitting tool pre and post thumb injury(I think it was his thumb?) looked much better Another reason is he quite possibly lays off a lot of pitches on the inner half of the plate, where he creates very very low avg exit velocities

Hi Larry, good to hear from you! It does seem to large a sample size to be an anomaly, and in this instance, I'm assuming we all know that even in our day to day jobs, we find some tasks and situations more stimulating than others. It just so happens Adames seems to have a spike in his focus and attention when big game moments come around

He had a god awful BABIP last year too, which played a big part in it. He doesn't strike out much at all, I think he's prime candidate for a big big season

It really wasn't the offense. Theoretically if Hader held one more game without a blow up, we'd have beaten the Phillies and held the tiebreaker, likely being in the playoffs. That and the number of starts Alexander gave us... that Yankees game where we scored 8 runs and didn't win was criminal

Is there any particular situation in which he should change his approach that you've noticed?

Even with just how good Devin Williams was last season, and Hader up to the end of June with his 0 earned runs, Milwaukee were 17th in Bullpen ERA last season, with 3.94. I'd expect even the mashpot this season could put up a number similar to that

For the second instalment in this series, let's delve a little into Willy Adames underlying numbers, to try and see where he's been developing, and where there is growth still to come: 2021 When he first joined the Brewers in 2021, Adames posted a .285/.366/.521 for an .887 OPS, crushing fastballs all over American Family Field, but we should keep in mind that he had far lower expected stats with an xBA of .236 and an xSLG of .435, which would lead to an expected OPS of something more in the .750 range. His biggest issue was that, despite being 72nd percentile for hard hit balls, and a median chase rate at the MLB level, he was in the ninth percentile for whiffing, swinging and missing on 32.6% of pitches. The slider caused him the most trouble (he was heavily targeted with the fastball-slider combination) with which he missed a whopping 41.3% of the pitches, including a lot of pitches down and away (21% to be specific). He also seemed to struggle with pitches that cramped him for room, struggling to barrel the ball when pulling the hands in, creating a lot of low exit velocities, with only four barrelled balls all year in the inner part of the plate. Pitches up and in are statistically his weakest going by average exit velocity, with a mere 78.9mph, mostly as soft popups, but even pitches down and in resulted in a heavy ground ball rate. On the plus side, he was exceptional at getting the ball in the air through the middle and upper parts of the strike zone, with average launch angles between 20-25 degrees in each of these 6 zones. In all three zones over the middle of the plate, middle-away, and up-and-away, he averages a hard hit ball with exit velocities of 95+ mph. He hit 18 of his 25 homers in the middle-middle, and middle away zones alone, as well as having high xSLG and BACON numbers for the up-and-middle/up-and-away zones. To summarise, Adames had areas of the zone where if he got his pitch, he would be able to impose himself on the pitcher, areas where he could elevate the ball nicely into the outfield. Yet in other zones he just couldn't find the barrel of the ball, combined with a propensity to whiff at any pitch that wasn't at his belt buckle. 2022 How did Adames try and address this in 2022? Given he was in the 9th percentile of whiff rate in 2021, he did manage to boost it to the 24th percentile in 2022. He was targeted down and away even more often, 24% of the time in fact, however he did reduced his whiff rate in this zone from 66% to 51%, a sizeable difference, and a large reason why his run differential vs the slider increased by 19 points. His BA against the slider did improve slightly, in part because when he connected on this pitch, he hit it hard, with a slugging percentage of .525. His biggest issue was that he started whiffing more around the upper part of the zone, much more consistently. This would go some way to showing why his run value on the fastball came down by 10 points, as well as his xBA and his xSLG each by .030 points. In each major league season, Adames has increased his barrel rate, to the point that last year, at 13%, he was in the 90th percentile of MLB, and his average launch angle of 18.9 degrees follows the same trend, demonstrating a real talent for getting the ball in the air consistently with hard contact. He had the 15th best barrel rate in MLB last year! He managed this more through an ability to loft the ball more, making use of his harder contact to find the outfield on a more consistent basis. 2023 Adames has some obvious weaknesses it seems, from his vulnerability at the top of the zone in 2022, to his enduring struggles with picking and laying off the slider. So how can he try and make that next step? Well for starters, Adames doesn't do a great job of laying off the slider down and away, and he could be more selective with this pitch. He barrels up balls middle-away, and down over the heart of the plate quite regularly, so if he can be more selective in picking the slider, and even trying to avoid the low and away section inside the strike zone in the early counts, we could see him reach deeper counts, get ahead in counts a little more often, and apply pressure to the breaking pitches. The other way is a psychological one. Adames is a player who thrives on energy, enthusiasm, and the big moment. His focus and performance seem to step up dramatically when there's a big moment, or a chance to drive in runs. When you've got 600+ plate appearances in a year, it's difficult to be fully in the moment for each one of them. Have a look at these stats from 2021 and 2022: There is too much data in the above to deny that Adames feels better in the bigger moments of the game, in both his eye at the plate, to his power numbers, and the Brewers need to find a way to tap into this more often. Corbin Burnes often talks about having his process when he walks up to the mound of making each pitch a solitary event, developing a set process and reviewing his efforts based on his execution. Adames could work with a psychologist to find a method of sharpening his focus in each occasion at which he reaches the batter's box, as well as potentially moving him slightly down the order in the hope he'll have more men on base in front of him when he comes up to hit. The Brewers as a more "three true outcome" oriented team last season probably didn't help this, but with a hope that Winker with his high OBP, Yelich with his high OBP, and potentially Frelick too, could set the tone at the top of the order and give Adames those RBI opportunities, we may see a spike in Adames plate discipline and performance this coming season. Let me know what you guys think!

Congrats on the shout-out in the tailgate podcast by the way! Shows the quality of analysis you're giving!