keephopealive

I agree. It feels like he's taking that leap.

Amen. I've been saying this for a while now. The question is whether the transition is smooth or not. He might know only one way to swing.

I love me some Chourio, but there is no way I would ever describe him as consistent. If he weren't so young, I'd call him maddeningly inconsistent. AB to AB, he can be crazy inconsistent. Hitting balls that he's the only guy in our lineup who could hit, then swinging at pitches way out of the strike zone on another, and not swinging the bat until he's down 0-2 in others. Month to month, he's had an OPS of .588 (May) and another of 1.013 (June). Last year he had a month at .599 and another at 1.008, and his rookie year he had one at .542 and another at .925. Yes, he's been consistent year to year, 20-20 and all, OPS around .800, but the maddening part there is the lack of a jump.

I know he's been visually impressive, but the article mentions improvement. Anyone know how good the statistics have been since he cleaned things up? It's felt like he's been Gold Glove level. I could imagine one as early as next year.

I thankfully missed the game last night with a work dinner, but I remember there being pre-game concern about the wind blowing out. Hard to imagine that explains 9 HRs, especially since we only got 1, but how much did that play a role?

The seasons that jump out to me are Rollie's, Caldwell's, Higuera's, Sheets', and Burnes'. Vuke's was special, but mostly because it was '82 and he was courageous, pitching that last third of the season with an arm that was totally messed up. Anyone old enough remembers that, much like last year, we were a mediocre team until June started. In June and July, Vuke had a 2.54 ERA and pitched 87 innings over 11 starts. In August and September, he had a 3.98 ERA and a FIP of 4.88, and yet he still started 12 game over that stretch and averaged almost 8 innings a start. Courageous as could be. I think Miz has an outside shot at the Triple Crown. Sanchez is two games ahead of him, and Burns is tied I think. I could see Miz getting 4 or 5 wins, and Sanchez only getting 2 or 3. I wouldn't shoot for it though, I'd try to keep Miz' starts at 5 innings or 85 pitches the rest of the way, and let the chips fall where they may.

Very nice article, and informative. I sometimes have difficulty following the high level analysis, new fangled charts, subtle differences in stance and swing, etc. (I was never very good a those find the difference pictures as a kid either.. sometime I wish there was just a red arrow, or superimpose the two or something...) I hadn't realized the pattern with Vaughn and Joey, but the stuff about arm angle and run is natural for anyone who ever played the game, and this all makes sense.

Agreed, Matt K!

Loved me some Chourio last night, but I actually think that rather than consistent, he's been maddeningly inconsistent. He certainly has the raw tools to be a HoFer, but I think his first three years have been very different than the guys on the list, each of whom had show legitimate greatness by his age over an entire season. Matthews- age 21, 8.1 WAR, 2nd in MVP voting Mantle - age 20, 6.3 WAR, 3rd in MVP Kaline - age 20, 8.3 WAR, 2nd in MVP Robinson - age 20, 6.6 WAR, 7th Bench - age 22, 7.4 WAR, MVP ARod - age 20, 9.4 WAR, 2nd Trout - age 20, 10.5 WAR, 2nd Harper - age 22, 9.7 WAR, MVP Soto - age 22, 7.3 WAR, 2nd Yes, he's had some injuries, but we'll be happy if Chourio gets to 5 WAR. More to his inconsistency, much of his production was the six HRs in a week in three weeks. The week where he won player of the week in late May, the week with six HRs in early June, the week in early August with 4 HRs, and then last night. Stretches where he's looked like the best player in baseball, followed by maddening stretches. None of this is saying he won't be a HoFer, but just that he's not shown it yet.

Why doesn't Antuñez ever show up in the box score?

Umm.. Jackson Chourio... It's like the old Mitch Hedwig joke about doing drugs. Jackson Chourio used to chase pitches. He still chases pitches, but he used to chase them too.

Interesting. I'd seen a bunch of scoops of late, and I thought Vaughn had improved to an above average first basemen. With Yeli scuffling, why not platoon Vaughn and Yeli at DH and have Bauers full time at 1B? Bauers is pretty awful in the outfield, and yesterday's triple was an example. No way Lara lets him get to third on that. That improves us defensively at two positions.

Joey O has been our best hitter in the second half, leading the team with a wRC+ of 184 since the All-Star break.

Hitting Eephus pitches out of the park is apparently okay though. Lol.

Ripken's (and Gehrig's) streaks look more and more amazing as time passes. I always thought Favre's streak was infinitely more impressive, but there's are both amazing in their own rights.