Running 2017 MLB regular season thread

Really? He always had Rob Deer written all over him.

 

Ideally, because he has become known as a great defensive catcher. Not my judgment, but by whatever measures they use to judge catchers these days, he's at or near the top. But his first-half/second-half splits have gotten very ugly in the last couple of years.

Posey is third in the NL in batting average and ninth in OPS, with seven home runs. (And with all of that, and batting cleanup, he has 12 RBIs. That's tough to do.) He is now and always has been a much better power hitter than Mauer ever was. His numbers are likely to drop quite a bit as the catching wear-and-tear roll on this season. Give him the physical break, though, and he'd be one of the best bats in the NL regardless of position.

 

This is ridiculous.

 

He's high on the list of what if?

 

Do you realize Albert Pujols could hit his 600th home run today? Imagine how much the sports world would be buzzing about that 20 years ago.

 

I'm sure Pujols has looked back on that and remembered how he felt watching his idols while just a fresh-faced 23-year-old high school student.

 

Guy slashed .333/.429/.613 in the minors with 34 HRs and 100 RBI in what amounts to a full MLB season's worth of games while striking out in about 20 percent of his PAs. He then smashed 16 HRs, drove in 43 runs and slashed .246/.355/.487 while maintaining a similar strikeout rate during 1/3 of a season as a rookie. At catcher.

Small sample size, of course, but I'm not seeing the Deer comparison.

 

I'll bite. Just looking at it quickly, his .979 OPS would be fourth among starting 1Bs, his .449 would be second, his .351 BA would be second, his seven HRs would be 21st, his 1.78 BB:K ratio would be tops.

How is he not a top 20 first baseman if he were starting there on a daily basis?

EDIT: Just realized you may be going the other way and arguing he's a top 5 or top 10 1b?

 

I think LTL means he's more of a top 5-10 first baseman.

 

Top 20? Like, one of the 20 best first baseman?

I think you mean top five.

 

Aaron Judge and Andrew Benintendi, too.

 

Injuries. The concussion.

And now he needs to adjust his approach at the plate.