Quote from David Jay on May 19, 2018, 9:09 am

Quote from Ryan Payne on May 17, 2018, 9:26 pm

What kind of physical projection does Baez have left? The body type is such a unique combination that it's hard to draw a realistic comp to him. The fastball has ticked down to 92-94 per tonight's broadcast, with him unable to get through 5 innings to get that elusive first win. Struggled to throw first pitch strikes (I think he was 0 for his 6) and gave up some hard line drive hits, albeit nothing for extra bases. Just wondering if maybe he strengthens the lower half a little bit if he might find more in the tank.

 

 

Definitely think it's reasonable to expect him to add more muscle. Remember that this would have been his first offseason working through the organization's heavy lifting program, but the back injury in December really kept him from doing so.

Quote from Mitchell Muhleman on May 19, 2018, 3:23 pm

I am a new user so I hope I am not responding/posting in the wrong place or out of line. Is Quantrill really maintaining 94-95 in games? When I saw him in Peoria the week before the season started he looked 89-91. My friends have been fretting because the results haven’t been there, but with his change and inherent baseball IQ he will be fine if he can maintain that kind of velocity. Thanks

Quote from Philip Spector on May 20, 2018, 10:15 am

Is gore ok? I thought today was his day to start

Quote from Ryan Payne on May 21, 2018, 8:25 am

Blister issue again for Mackenzie. They really need to get on top of this and stop it from coming back. Rich Hill just went on the DL, he's had blister issues for a long time. He's expected to miss a month or longer.

Quote from fenn68 on May 21, 2018, 10:52 am

Quote from Ryan Payne on May 21, 2018, 8:25 am

Blister issue again for Mackenzie. They really need to get on top of this and stop it from coming back. Rich Hill just went on the DL, he's had blister issues for a long time. He's expected to miss a month or longer.

Listen to Scanlan yesterday ... no pure conclusion on why blisters SEEM to be an increasing issue in baseball but he did speculate that the seams could be an issue (see last years discussion on changes to the ball .. denied by MLB).

Hill has a perpetual issue. Possible with Gore the change from the HS ball to the MiLB ball is just slight enough to cause an issue ... or it is just random. Not good but not uncommon.

Any reports on Gore having this issue in HS?

Quote from Ryan Payne on May 21, 2018, 11:02 am

I can't imagine this is something the Padres would overlook in the medicals for that much money, seems a little too problematic and I never read any report that said this was a problem in high school. So why the change now? Weather changes between Arizona/Fort Wayne? Grip? Whatever the reason, it needs to be figured out.

Quote from fenn68 on May 21, 2018, 11:04 am

Time for some discussion on Urias ... not hitting particularly well in May. Maybe get some insight from our leaders.

Last year the opinion (including national types) was that Urias has truly elite plate discipline and bat to ball skills ... MLB batting title worthy. That is a good thing.

Heard this year that the organization wanted him to improve his "gap power".

That begs the question whether the organization has altered his approach / swing to generate that extra gap power resulting in a lower BA and more Ks.

If yes, is this slump just a transition thing or have they reduced his bat to ball skills?

If no, is this slump just a slump or in AAA pitching a hard level for him to succeed at?

Not sure of the trade-off level of adding gap power (at his size not a lot should be expected) at the expense of diminished OBP / contact skills for a 2B likely destined for #2 in the line-up.

Any insights?

Quote from WindsorUK on May 21, 2018, 1:28 pm

I'm a bit confused.

In John's article on him, he's got Urias at .313/.438/.465.

Those look like good numbers to me, especially, if as you believe, the organization  is tweaking his approach.

Quote from sportwarrior on May 21, 2018, 1:52 pm

Quote from WindsorUK on May 21, 2018, 1:28 pm

I'm a bit confused.

In John's article on him, he's got Urias at .313/.438/.465.

Those look like good numbers to me, especially, if as you believe, the organization  is tweaking his approach.

He's only at 239-393-358 for May.

I'm not worried about it, though. His BB:K ratio is still about even and he's got 6 xbh this month (as opposed to 7 xbh in his superior April). He's facing tougher pitching, he's still extremely young, and everyone goes through slumps. If he hits this way through the All-Star break, there may be some cause for concern. For now, though, he's probably fine.