Quote from sportwarrior on July 22, 2018, 5:34 pm

Quote from Cptjack on July 22, 2018, 5:27 pm

Quote from fenn68 on July 22, 2018, 2:22 pm

Something to tuck in the back of your minds .... Josh Naylor as the LEFT FIELDER of the future.

That's only something someone who hasn't seen him play could say.

Have you seen him play? Because I'm pretty sure MadFriars' very own John Conniff (or one of MadFriars' other very own) watched him play in a 3 game series a little while back and came away surprised at how well he held his own. By no means is he a plus defender by any stretch, but it sounds like he at least isn't embarrassing himself out there.

Quote from Cptjack on July 22, 2018, 6:28 pm

Yes. He is most definitely embarrassing himself out there. If someone  came away with him holding his own then there must not have been a ball hit to him outside a 25ft radius the entire series. Anything beyond that is a beleaguered retrieval of a ball that a large % of players could probably get to.

Quote from sportwarrior on July 22, 2018, 6:32 pm

Quote from Cptjack on July 22, 2018, 6:28 pm

Yes. He is most definitely embarrassing himself out there. If John came away with someone holding their own then there must not have been a ball hit to him outside a 25ft radius the entire series. Anything beyond that is a beleaguered retrieval of a ball that a large % of players could probably get to.

Sounds like what most of us would assume given his size and lack of speed.

Quote from jcp2400 on July 22, 2018, 9:37 pm

Does anyone remember the website that shows who is Rule 5 eligible this season?

Quote from SAPadsFan on July 22, 2018, 9:51 pm

Quote from Cptjack on July 22, 2018, 6:28 pm

Yes. He is most definitely embarrassing himself out there. If someone  came away with him holding his own then there must not have been a ball hit to him outside a 25ft radius the entire series. Anything beyond that is a beleaguered retrieval of a ball that a large % of players could probably get to.

Really? When was the last time you saw him play? This is an extreme over exaggeration and not backed up by anything that I've seen numerous times this season as a local resident of San Antonio. He does not embarrass himself in LF and just the other day my dad and I were impressed at how well he tracked a hard hit line drive to the fence robbing the hitter of extra bases. From what I've seen he moves far better than Franmil Reyes and has a good enough arm to play LF. Is it his best position, of course not, but if you're going to say that he embarrasses himself, you're missing the mark. He is adequate in LF, a position you don't need an elite defender if he can hit...and he can. His bat is the type you get in the lineup and take the hit on D because he's that good. Remember this kid just turned 21 and was asked to play a position he's never played before, so yeah there is going to be growing pains. He doesn't cover much ground in the gaps, he's 250 lbs, but he has the lateral quickness and decent enough first step to make the plays he should. Is he going to be a GG in the outfield, not a chance, but he is good enough to continue to give him a serious look. Be cautious of knocking his speed, he's a lot faster than you realize. If you haven't seen him in person, he has a very quick first step and his top speed is more than adequate to run the bases. Also his intellegence and knowledge of the game gives him an advantage, helps him get great reads on the bases, he is a very good base runner for kid his size. This kid is an athlete, he moves incredibly well for a dude his size and it's impressive to see. I don't know what game you saw of him this season, but you need to tamper your expectations of what a LF looks like, he is far from an embarrassment, and is a joy to watch play baseball. He makes the game look a lot easier than a 250 lb 21 year old in AA should.

Quote from 3fingersplit on July 22, 2018, 11:28 pm

Quote from Cptjack on July 22, 2018, 6:28 pm

Yes. He is most definitely embarrassing himself out there. If someone  came away with him holding his own then there must not have been a ball hit to him outside a 25ft radius the entire series. Anything beyond that is a beleaguered retrieval of a ball that a large % of players could probably get to.

Who Cares ?

He is out there trying to improve his game and get to the next level and besides....

this is the same franchise that had Paul McNulty as a opening day outfielder and his range was about 8ft in any direction and he could not hit a lick so cut Naylor some slack.....Geez

Quote from dvmin98 on July 23, 2018, 3:15 am

If they think Naylor is the LF of the future, I'd assume they would make him get into a good workout program and eating regimine this off season and get him to lose 25-30 lbs.  I know we've been over this before, but if he dropped some weight, he probably could be a pretty good OF

Quote from Mitchell Muhleman on July 23, 2018, 7:13 am

SA Pads Fan, thanks for that thoughtful overview on Naylor's progress in left field. Can you give us any good news on Quantrill? Is he really working 93-95 and it's just a command issue?

Thanks

Quote from LynchMob on July 23, 2018, 7:51 am

Quote from 3fingersplit on July 22, 2018, 11:28 pm

Paul McNulty ... could not hit a lick

Careful there ... https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcanupa01.shtml

.404/.521/.926 with 23 HRs at Lake Elsinore in 2004 ...

.303/.377/.490 with 16 HRs at AA Mobile in 2005 ...

... which seems comparable to anything Naylor has done so far.  I know McAnulty was 2-3 years older.  I'm just reacting to "could not hit a lick", which simply was not the case.  I saw him in the minors ... he consistently put the barrel of the bat on the ball ... he could *hit*!