MLB 2018 regular season thread

He could have 10 wins, an ERA below 2.00 and 110 strikeouts as a pitcher and 15 home runs as a hitter by the All-Star Break and you still wouldn't be ready to concede.

 

He had a .969 and 1.004 OPS the past two years. Is that good?

OBW, he's 23 years old.

 

Yes.

 

I think what's mostly at work here is that scouts and players cannot disabuse themselves of the notion that Japanese baseball is the equivalent of AA or low-level AAA ball.

 

100% accurate.

 

A big part of that is that there have been so many middling players who go over there and hit 40 home runs and bat .320.

 

It is a much lower level of play overall. But you end up with really talented players who come over to a ton of publicity and expectations and more often than not they don't live up to either.

 

@Dick Whitman, is your contention that the season hasn't begun? If so, what sample size would constitute a completed "beginning of the season."

 

Definitely wasn't ready for the season:

 

My contention is that 19 plate appearances are not enough to determine that scouts who said his bat is “not good” were wrong.