You get what you deserve, ho hum Tommy Joseph

[northeastphillyguy]

Do you have a counter offer to my trade?

Not right now. I am still thinking.

 

[Cedrique]

that makes no sense! i'm one of the few people here who extensively follows MILB.

Since you are one of the people who extensively follows MILB I would like your opinion on Jorge Alfaro's walk rate. In his hot streak since coming to Reading he has 2 walks in 93 ABs. In his minor league career of almost 2000 ABs, he has a little less than 100 BBs. In my opinion, a rate like that raises serious questions as to whether that player can ever be an average or above average major league hitter. Is that something that you have seen hitters able to improve upon significantly in the minor leagues?

 

[northeastphillyguy]

Since you are one of the people who extensively follows MILB I would like your opinion on Jorge Alfaro's walk rate. In his hot streak since coming to Reading he has 2 walks in 93 ABs. In his minor league career of almost 2000 ABs, he has a little less than 100 BBs. In my opinion, a rate like that raises serious questions as to whether that player can ever be an average or above average major league hitter. Is that something that you have seen hitters able to improve upon significantly in the minor leagues?

Here is my opinion Cedric. Alfaro has been around for four years or so. He has not improved his walk rate one iota.
He is having a good season with the bat so far but up until now he is basically a .260 type hitter. That means that
his OBP is going to be low. He may never be more than a backup catcher unless he can hit .280 or more. The best
thing going for him is the fact that he is only 22 years old. Time to learn if he is willing. However if he develops into a legit power hitter his walk rate should improve based on pitchers being careful and an occasional intentional
walk. IMO.

 

[Cedrique]

Here is my opinion Cedric. Alfaro has been around for four years or so. He has not improved his walk rate one iota.
He is having a good season with the bat so far but up until now he is basically a .260 type hitter. That means that
his OBP is going to be low. He may never be more than a backup catcher unless he can hit .280 or more. The best
thing going for him is the fact that he is only 22 years old. Time to learn if he is willing. However if he develops into a legit power hitter his walk rate should improve based on pitchers being careful and an occasional intentional
walk. IMO.

Yeah, that is similar to my opinion. And my hope is that if you fill the lineup with lots of high OBP guys, you can mix in a couple hackers and still be ok. I think part of Howard's decline was a result of the Phillies slowly taking away the guys around him that hid his lack of selectivity at the plate a little. And luckily they do have guys (specifically Crawford, possibly Roman Quinn if he stays injury free long enough to play some) in the minors who are more patient hitters that can help guys around them succeed.
Also, the way we will know that the Phillies finally have a good offense is when we lose a couple games in a row and people start bitching about the Phillies leaving too many runners on base. Right now you don't hear that, mainly because the Phillies don't have that many base runners period.

 

[jvett77]

Alfaro will be 23 in June and actually is playing in his 7th minor league season. His OBP this year has increased because he struck out less in his first 21 games, 18% vs career 29%. The guy never walks so he's making more contact. It should be interesting bringing him up after Carlos is gone.

 

[_phiLLies_]

Since you are one of the people who extensively follows MILB I would like your opinion on Jorge Alfaro's walk rate. In his hot streak since coming to Reading he has 2 walks in 93 ABs. In his minor league career of almost 2000 ABs, he has a little less than 100 BBs. In my opinion, a rate like that raises serious questions as to whether that player can ever be an average or above average major league hitter. Is that something that you have seen hitters able to improve upon significantly in the minor leagues?

it's always a concern to see that. but, it's also the minors. both pitchers and hitters love to attack, especially at the lower levels. you also have guys that love to take walks, but can't hit for shit (like larry greene jr.) alfaro's skills are tied into his superb arm, raw power and above average speed for a catcher. he may never adjust his game (or have the ability to do so) like herrera did this year, but i'm still confident he'll be a success, if he can stay healthy.

his ceiling is amazing. but even if you get his basement.. you could be talking about a .240 avg/.315 obp/.770 ops type guy. factor in his rocket arm and 20+ HR power.. that's still a big win for the phils if he's behind the plate. the power and arm should always be there, without a doubt.

 

[Cedrique]

Yeah, I guess if you're not going to walk, cutting down on strikeouts is one way to get the average and OBP up a little. I'm looking forward to seeing how he progresses. And I'm not saying it is impossible to be a successful major league hitter without getting a lot of walks, but it is unusual. A couple exceptions I can think of are Vlad Guerrero and Adrian Beltre, but hitters like that are few and far between. Also, somehow Odubel Herrera seems to have changed his hitting approach out of nowhere to become more selective. He has more walks already this year than he had all of last year. I wonder if hitting the pitcher 8th and having a regular hitter bat 9th somehow helps the leadoff hitter get more walks--Omar, I just came up with an idea for a project for your statistics class.....

 

[Cedrique]

it's always a concern to see that. but, it's also the minors. both pitchers and hitters love to attack, especially at the lower levels. you also have guys that love to take walks, but can't hit for shit (like larry greene jr.) alfaro's skills are tied into his superb arm, raw power and above average speed for a catcher. he may never adjust his game (or have the ability to do so) like herrera did this year, but i'm still confident he'll be a success, if he can stay healthy.

his ceiling is amazing. but even if you get his basement.. you could be talking about a .240 avg/.315 obp/.770 ops type guy. factor in his rocket arm and 20+ HR power.. that's still a big win for the phils if he's behind the plate. the power and arm should always be there, without a doubt.

 

[Cedrique]

Oops I forgot to add my comment. I was going to say that if that is his basement then I agree that is still a very solid major league catcher.

 

[Cedrique]

it's always a concern to see that. but, it's also the minors. both pitchers and hitters love to attack, especially at the lower levels. you also have guys that love to take walks, but can't hit for shit (like larry greene jr.) alfaro's skills are tied into his superb arm, raw power and above average speed for a catcher. he may never adjust his game (or have the ability to do so) like herrera did this year, but i'm still confident he'll be a success, if he can stay healthy.

his ceiling is amazing. but even if you get his basement.. you could be talking about a .240 avg/.315 obp/.770 ops type guy. factor in his rocket arm and 20+ HR power.. that's still a big win for the phils if he's behind the plate. the power and arm should always be there, without a doubt.

Also, stop mentioning Larry Greene. I'm still bitter that they picked him over Jackie Bradley.

On the other hand, the next pick after Bradley was Tyler Goeddel and we do have him now, so I guess there's that

 

[Omar 382]

Even if Alfaro has an awful .300 OBP, if he slugs .500, that's an .800 OPS

 

[Omar 382]

Now with Joseph officially being a bust, can Randolph play first base?

 

[Omar 382]

Back to Alfaro, I feel like Knapp is a much more promising prospect. Obviously, he went Barry Bonds last summer, but he's been great this year too. .254/.344/.482 with a .373 wOBA and a 139 wRC+ in 131 PA at AAA. If he put up those numbers in the big leagues, he would probably be the best catcher in baseball (not that I think he will, I'm just saying to give some perspective).

 

[northeastphillyguy]

Hey Omar! Tough loss for you in Fantasy baseball! We will meet again later in the season. However, it will
not change anything. I own you!

 

[Omar 382]

Hey Omar! Tough loss for you in Fantasy baseball! We will meet again later in the season. However, it will
not change anything. I own you!

Laugh now. There's going to be random PED testing later in the year and I have a feeling you're going to be suspended

 

[Omar 382]

Hey Omar! Tough loss for you in Fantasy baseball! We will meet again later in the season. However, it will
not change anything. I own you!

And who has the better record by the way?

 

[Omar 382]

Carlos Alonso is back this year and through 8 games he has a .989 OPS at AAA. Also, Cam Perkins is hitting the ball well

 

[northeastphillyguy]

And who has the better record by the way?

True, you have the better record. Since nobody helped me when I needed it I missed out on the draft. The computer selected my team. I have changed at least 70% of my original players since then and my record
is improving steadily. We will meet again during the season and perhaps in the playoffs. I own you!

 

[Omar 382]

True, you have the better record. Since nobody helped me when I needed it I missed out on the draft. The computer selected my team. I have changed at least 70% of my original players since then and my record
is improving steadily. We will meet again during the season and perhaps in the playoffs. I own you!

You could have had Goldy and Strasburg, but noooooooo. @Chewbaccer nabbed them

 

[Chewbaccer]

True, you have the better record. Since nobody helped me when I needed it I missed out on the draft. The computer selected my team. I have changed at least 70% of my original players since then and my record
is improving steadily. We will meet again during the season and perhaps in the playoffs. I own you!

For the record, I have the best record in the league by a fairly wide margin.