2018 MLB Spring Training Running Thread

Why is Tim Tebow wearing his hat sideways? Who does he think he is, Ronald Acuna?

 

So, what are folks predicting for this guy?

 

I remember when Daisuke Matsuzaka was gonna throw a pitch nobody could see, never mind hit, so I remain skeptical.

 

I get that, but Ohtani's velocity is real. I do wonder if he would be better off putting more of his focus on pitching, but there is some real talent there.

My biggest concern is the elbow soreness I read about not long after he signed. If the Angels really do go with a six-man rotation, that might help him, though overall I'm not a fan of that approach.

 

Yeah, there's the elbow issue, and the velocity is real but so is three runs in four spring innings. It's the smallest and most inconsequential of sample sizes, but still. The Matsuzaka hype train was so obscene and he was the most inefficient pitcher in the world.

 

All you had to do with Dice-K is look up how many innings he pitched in Japan to know what was gonna happen to him here. Part of the hype (we were at the epicenter here) was citing his like 170 pitch games in high school as proof of his endurance rather than his creative ideas about the strike zone.

 

I remember when Hideki Irabu was the Japanese Nolan Ryan.

 

Does that make robin Ventura a fly?

 

If he was, he'd be getting caught by a fat toad instead of chopsticks.

 

The first attempt did NOT go well. The "Jordan to Pippen" bounce is for plays off the bat, not even for pickoffs.

Jon Lester using new approach on throws to 1B

I see a lot of opponents trying to bunt for a hit.

 

This stuff is crazy.