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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 23, 2021 3:46:55 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 5h You can complain all you want about this move or that move, but the bottom line is that the Astros are the better team.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 23, 2021 7:27:10 GMT -5
Despite ALCS loss, Red Sox express positive attitude: ‘We proved a lot of people wrong’
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: October 23, 2021 at 5:35 a.m. | UPDATED: October 23, 2021 at 5:47 a.m.
HOUSTON — Once they got through the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series, it would’ve been hard to consider the 2021 Red Sox as anything but a success.
Sure, expectations change. And to look back at preseason projections and consider anything better than a fourth-place finish a success would’ve overlooked how well they played for three months early in the season.
And after they blew a lead in the A.L. East and had to scratch their way into a Wild Card Game, it felt like they needed to at least get through the Yankees and Rays in the postseason to make up for blowing the division.
Check, and check.
The Houston Astros were a stronger opponent that matched up better. And while the Sox’ exciting season came crashing down in a 5-0 loss in Game 6 as they were eliminated from the A.L. Championship Series, the feeling outside the Red Sox clubhouse was largely positive.
“I mean, it’s really tough, obviously,” said Kiké Hernandez, who signed a two-year, $14-million deal to play for Alex Cora. “Going home is never easy. I felt like once we got to this point, the goal was to win the World Series. We thought we were going to be able to do it. Obviously we came up short.
“But this was a hell of a ride for us this year. First day of spring training you come into this new team. The expectations from everybody outside our clubhouse was just, second-to-last place in our division. We didn’t agree with anybody who was saying that. We believed in ourselves. We got to this point, man, we were two wins away from going to the World Series. We didn’t accomplish what we wanted to but we did some special things. And the Red Sox are going to be a problem for a long time.”
Kyle Schwarber had a different perspective, coming over from the Washington Nationals via trade on July 29.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re all competitors, and we all want to make it to the end goal. The end goal is the World Series and winning it.”
Schwarber watched the Sox lose their division lead in late July and the Rays effectively won the division in August.
“I got to watch for pretty much two weeks,” he said. “It was, like, we went on that road trip, 10-gamer, and went 2-8. And I was just, like, ‘you know what, this team is grinding. They’re not quitting in any of these games. This is what it takes to win in the postseason.’
“We fought, scratched, clawed to get our way into the playoffs, and then we went in the Wild Card. We played unbelievable going into the Division Series. Played unbelievable too. I thought we grinded our butts off through this series. It just didn’t work out, but I think that the group should be very proud of themselves.”
Before answering questions from reporters after the Sox’ loss, Cora took a moment to give credit to the Astros, who he called a great organization who deserved to be going to the World Series.
As for his own team, Cora said he spoke to them after the game.
“I told them how proud I am,” he said. “It’s an amazing group. It’s a group that we will always remember. In the offseason trying to recruit players and trying to buy into the concept that we were going to be good, it was hard. But at the end of the day, we did an amazing job to have that meeting. Not too many teams can say that they’re in the League Championship Series, and I know it doesn’t sound great, to have that meeting it means something, right?
“And we did an amazing job throughout the season. We just got beat at the end, but when we look back and everything that we went through, the thoughts of this team early in the season, it’s just amazing. It was a great year.”
It’s a rare thing in Boston to have a Red Sox team lose in the postseason but still feel good about themselves.
But after firing Dave Dombrowski and replacing him with Chaim Bloom in 2019, trading Mookie Betts and watching Chris Sale undergo Tommy John surgery in 2020 and firing and rehiring Cora to take charge in 2021, bouncing back from a last-place finish in 2020 to come within two games of the World Series feels like a success.
“I think we’re definitely disappointed right now,” said Nathan Eovaldi, the most valuable pitcher in the A.L. this year, according to Fan Graphs. “We obviously wanted to win this game and win the series and go to the World Series. No one expected us to be here. We proved a lot of people wrong.
“We believed in ourselves as a team. We were able to overcome a lot of obstacles together and get to this point.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 23, 2021 7:30:53 GMT -5
Boston.com Red Sox News @bdcsox 37m The Red Sox went 10-for-90 at the plate over the final three games, scoring just three runs
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 23, 2021 7:31:33 GMT -5
Tony Massarotti @tonymassarotti · 1h Red Sox and Astros played 13 games this year in reg and postseason. Houston won nine and outscored the Red Sox by 25 runs, averaging exactly 6 runs per game.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 23, 2021 9:13:37 GMT -5
Scattered Thoughts after a season-ending loss
The offense disappeared at an inopportune time. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Oct 23, 2021, 9:01am EDT
The Boston Red Sox had a hell of a season, but they couldn’t ride out the miracle for a little bit longer to win an improbable World Series, instead falling 5-0 to the Houston Astros to end the 2021 campaign. We’ll have plenty of thoughts on the season as a whole down the line, but for now here are some scattered thoughts about the elimination loss.
The big story for this game and for the series as a whole was obviously the Red Sox offense, which just didn’t have it for these last few games after coming out of the gates this postseason blistering hot. And as we said in the last game, we shouldn’t lose sight of the guy on the other side. After getting shelled in Game Two, Luis Garcia came out and was much better this time around. The adrenaline was pumping with some extra velocity (I know there were some people hinting at something nefarious happening here, but pitchers getting amped up for a postseason start is not a new thing) and his mistakes were off the plate rather than over it. Red Sox hitters helped him out with some bad at bats at times, but mostly I thought the Astros just got great performances from their young pitchers when they needed them most. But let’s not take too much of the heat off the Red Sox lineup, who has been playing this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde act for the entire second half. With absolutely no warning, this group went from looking like the best offense in baseball to one of the worst. Hitting in the playoffs is hard, and Houston got their best pitchers on the mound for this entire game specifically, but it was clear the Red Sox were pressing at the plate as the game went along. They fell into that trap a lot this year where they press, then swing early in at bats and hit a ton of pop ups. The last time just happened to be at the most inopportune spot. On the other side, I thought Nathan Eovaldi battled even though he didn’t have his best stuff. Pitching on just two days rest after coming out of the bullpen in Game Four, his velocity was a little down to start but he got that back up as the game went along. This certainly wasn’t the best version of him we saw in 2021, but at the end of the day he limited Houston to just one run over 4 1⁄3 innings. That’s not an easy thing to do. And his fourth inning seemed, at the time, like the ultimate turning point for the season. Starting off with two in scoring position and nobody out, he came back with three massive strikeouts to keep the Astros off the board entirely. When we talk about Eovaldi as a playoff warrior, this is what we mean. That the offense didn’t pick up on this momentum seems impossible to me, but in the moment that was a huge sequence from the Red Sox starter.
I know a lot of people had issues with when Eovaldi came out, but to me it was the right move. His stuff was starting to tick down just a bit, as did his command, and he started off his last inning by giving up a line drive single to Martín Maldonado, which is never a great sign. If he hadn’t come out in relief in Game Four I think I would’ve wanted him to go deeper, and I think he probably would. But he emptied the tank in the fourth, and given how big that inning was at the time it was totally worth it. It goes without saying that any managerial decision is essentially moot given the lack of offense in the game, but there are a few that I want to point out. We’ll start with what was clearly the worse in pinch hitting Danny Santana to lead off the sixth inning. Garcia is a cutter-heavy pitcher, which makes him tough on righties, so I get wanting to sub out Kevin Plawecki for a lefty. But Santana is not the guy. His spot on the roster was defensible for his versatility in the field and his speed, but a hitting option should have never been on the table. Not only is there very little chance he’s giving you value in that spot (and sure enough he did strike out) but that also takes him out of play as a potential pinch runner later in what was a low-scoring game. This game also showcased how shallow the Red Sox bench was. It didn’t come into play a ton during this run, but it’s something that will need to be addressed ahead of next season with players both internal and external.
The other major problem I had with Cora in this game was not using Garrett Whitlock. Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth, it felt like a no-brainer to put Whitlock in and keep the deficit at two. Instead, they started with Houck who was in a third inning of work and ended with Ottavino, and they combined to give up three runs to put the game all the way out of reach. Again, nothing really matters with the way the offense played, but losing with your best reliever never even getting in the game is bad managing. One other big play was to end the seventh with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out with Travis Shaw at the plate and Alex Verdugo running. To me, this one came down less to the call itself and more to Verdugo not being set in his lead to steal. Replay showed he was late to getting his lead, and thus was not in the proper position to break for second base. Being thrown out on a bang-bang play, that extra step was huge. I’m not even totally convinced Verdugo wasn’t running on his own, but either way once he knows he’s not getting the jump he needs, to me it’s on him to hang back and not take the risk. I know I said we were going to focus on this game for this post, but it feels wrong to end this on a negative. This was a great season, and I absolutely wanted to thank the readers and commenters here for keeping us going. It was a hell of a ride, and we couldn’t do it without people supporting our work. So sincerely, thank you for it all.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Oct 23, 2021 10:09:16 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 5h You can complain all you want about this move or that move, but the bottom line is that the Astros are the better team. That's about right. We beat the NYY and beat TB. It's difficult to keep beating people.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 23, 2021 13:04:31 GMT -5
These imperfect Red Sox ultimately had perfect timing
By Rob Bradford WEEI 93.7 4 hours ago
HOUSTON - Sister Mary Catherine stood in back of the Minute Maid press box so excited. The nun had just thrown out the first pitch prior to Game 6, tossing in a little panache along the way thanks to a simple tap of the wrist.
"This is the Astros' time. This is our time," she said, simulating the watch-tapping gesture made famous by Carlos Correa (and Eduardo Rodriguez) throughout the American League Championship Series. "This is it."
She couldn't have been more right. It was the Astros' time. The 5-0 win, gold and blue confetti, and midnight middle-of-the-field celebration could attest to that.
But in many ways, the Red Sox couldn't have had better timing. In hindsight, this is a group that won't be defined by those few Friday night hours - or even those last three uncomfortable games.
This was about the big picture. And in that realm, the Red Sox were like clockwork.
It was the far-from-perfect team that offered Boston sports fans the perfect seven-month dose of jubilation. Little did we know at the time, but it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
"I told them how proud I am," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora after his 2021 team officially landed at 98 wins. "It's an amazing group. It's a group that we will always remember. In the offseason trying to recruit players and trying to buy into the concept that we were going to be good, it was hard. But at the end of the day, we did an amazing job to have that meeting. Not too many teams can say that they're in the League Championship Series, and I know it doesn't sound great, to have that meeting it means something, right?
"And we did an amazing job throughout the season. We just got beat at the end, but when we look back and everything that we went through, the thoughts of this team early in the season, it's just amazing. It was a great year. Obviously, very disappointed that we didn't win this series, but we're going to look back and we're going to be very proud of the group, the organization, and everybody that got to be part of this operation on a daily basis."
In the minutes after the final out it was easy to pick apart what transpired after the Red Sox took that 2-1 series lead. When you get outscored 23-3 in the final 27 innings, that's fair.
It was likely the feeling when Bob Gibson finished off the 1967 "Impossible Dream" Red Sox. The sting of that final out doesn't give way to the memories and appreciation until at least the sun comes up the next day. There will be songs or poems this time around, but you get the idea.
Here we are, and now it can be declared how important this collection of hoping-for-better baseball players were to a community that was starved for good news.
Without most of us seeing it coming, the Red Sox made Fenway Park the staging area for the resurfacing of sports-induced joy. Such a statement might be viewed as somewhat hyperbolic, but it shouldn't be. Anybody who stepped in that ballpark throughout this team's unexpected run should understand that very real reality.
As co-host of the "Ken and Curtis Show" Chris Curtis pointed out, all that was missing was Alex Cora channeling his inner-Bill Belichick.
“It was fun, man. It was fun," said Xander Bogaerts. "Obviously, a lot of guys are familiar with him, a lot of guys would have loved to have him back. So I think it was some times that were hard during the season, but for the most part, we came together, especially towards the end of the season when everything started clicking for us and we were able to write a great story this season. It didn’t end the way we wanted but it was great.”
"I think we're definitely disappointed right now. We obviously wanted to win this game and win the series and go on the to World Series. No one expected us to be here. We proved a lot of people wrong," Nathan Eovaldi added.
"We believed in ourselves as a team. We were able to overcome a lot of obstacles together and get to this point. I mean, obviously, the end goal is the World Series, but, you know, when you don't get there, you got to look back at the season and realize everything that we were able to accomplish. We were able to accomplish a lot of good things."
This sort of feel-good conversation might not have much of a shelf life, especially considering how - whether unexpected or not - Red Sox fans now have a taste for what be.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. J.D. Martinez. Eduardo Rodriguez. Rafael Devers. Xander Bogaerts. The list of roster-building forks in the road is a long one. The page is already in the process of turning. This isn't going to be an offseason of Chris Farley-esque, "Remember when you won those games in 2021 ... That was awesome."
But we should understand this: Boston sports fans have rediscovered a spring in their step. For that, they can thank the very imperfect 2021 Red Sox who somehow found a very palatable path.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 24, 2021 2:51:44 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Kiké Hernández laments the ending, but overjoyed with his Red Sox decisionBy Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated October 23, 2021, 6:56 p.m. HOUSTON — As lopsided as the Red Sox’ 5-0 loss to the Astros felt in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, the team still lamented a few specific pivot points that it believed could have forced a Game 7. In particular, Kiké Hernández felt doubly disappointed about how close he came to altering the dynamics of the game in the first inning. With two outs and a runner on first, Yordan Alvarez nearly punctured the Minute Maid roof with a deep drive to right-center. Though Hernández was shaded significantly to left-center, the ridiculous hangtime of the blast permitted the center fielder to reach it — only to have it bang off the bottom of his glove. “I thought about this for nine innings,” Hernández said after the Sox were eliminated. “I still think if I catch that ball, it’s a different ballgame.” Of course, it remains somewhat remarkable that Hernández was in center in the first place. After all, he signed his two-year, $14 million deal with the Sox with the idea of being chiefly a second baseman. Had he known he’d end up in the outfield, he wouldn’t have correctly guessed where. “In the back of my mind, I knew that if I was going to ever end up playing the outfield every day, it was probably going to be left field because the metrics grade me as a plus-plus left fielder,” Hernández said. “I knew that I was an above-average center fielder, but I never got to do it for an extended period of time. And I knew left field that the numbers were really, really good. “To me, left field was really easy because it was like playing shortstop 300 feet away,” he added. “But my pride said [last offseason] that I’m a shortstop and a second baseman. There’s no way that if I end up playing every day at one position that it’s not going to be one of those two. But I’ve learned to love center field. I had a blast this year. Maybe I’ll only bring my outfield glove next year to spring training.” Hernández is the only player in the last two winters to sign a multi-year deal with the Sox. The long-time Dodgers role player entered last offseason focused on getting a one-year deal for 2021 so he could test free agency again after a full year as an everyday player. After hearing from the Sox and a few other teams, he changed his outlook. “Number one, allowed me to play every day in year one, and two, I wanted to win,” said Hernández. “I understood that they might not go for it as far as like, going for it — to their eyes, this may not be the year, but I was like, ‘There’s no way in hell Boston fans are gonna let this team not make the playoffs more than three years in a row. So even if we don’t make it to the playoffs in year one, I know that we’re gonna go out there and try to make it in year two, and I want to be a part of that.’
“I’m glad it all worked out. And yeah, maybe I could have gotten more money next year by signing a one-year deal, but I don’t really care about that as much as I’m thankful that these guys gave me the chance, and I repaid them for it.”
Minor details
Middle infielder Jeter Downs, after a year-long struggle in Triple A Worcester that produced a .190/.272/.334 line in 99 games, is off to an excellent start for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. He’s hit four homers with more walks (7) than strikeouts (5) through five games, posting a .333/.520/1.000 line through 25 plate appearances … With the ALCS over, catcher Connor Wong — who’d been on the Red Sox playoff roster for the Wild Card Game, and spent the ALDS and ALCS on the taxi squad — is tentatively slated to join Downs in the AFL … Righthander Kutter Crawford will pitch in the Dominican Winter League, where Julio Rangel, a Red Sox minor league pitching coordinator, is a pitching coach. While Crawford (6-6, 4.28 ERA, 12.5 strikeouts per nine in Double-A and Triple-A this year) will start, his workload will be limited … Red Sox quality control coach Ramón Vázquez will once again manager the Caguas Criollos in the Puerto Rican Winter League after he spends two weeks at home in Southern California with his family.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 24, 2021 2:57:00 GMT -5
Mastrodonato: Red Sox couldn’t hit the fastball, and other leftover thoughts from ALCS defeat
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: October 23, 2021 at 5:39 p.m. | UPDATED: October 23, 2021 at 6:37 p.m.
HOUSTON — The Red Sox hitters were stunned that an offense that scored 25 runs over the first three games could muster just 10 hits combined over the final three.
Alex Cora thought it was a simple change from Astros catcher Martin Maldonado in the middle of Game 4, when the Astros started pumping in more fastballs and the Sox weren’t ready for it.
As good as the Sox were at hitting off-speed pitches all season, they weren’t quite as adept at hitting fastballs. And after the Astros threw just 67% fastballs in Games 1 through 4 of the American League Championship Series, there was a clear change of attack in Games 5 and 6, when they threw 76% fastballs.
The Red Sox chased too many, struggled to make good contact and became the same team they were late in September, making quick outs and appearing like they had a home run swing every time up.
In the first four games, the Astros needed an average of 167 pitches. Over the final two, they threw just 235 pitches combined, a 29% decrease in pitches thrown.
“He gets out of his script, and that’s something that is very impressive,” Cora said of Maldanado. “And I think it was halfway through Game 4, I felt that they were changing, and they used the fastballs in different spots. Their righties. Especially their righties. And we just weren’t able to catch up with the fastball.”
Some other leftovers as the Red Sox took an early flight home from Houston on Saturday and will spent the rest of the postseason on the couch:
1. Xander Bogaerts spent most of the series looking like the hitter he was in 2014, the last time he was a below-average offensive player.
The Astros threw everything low and away and Bogaerts was in swing mode. When he’s going well, those are pitches he lays off or pokes to right field for easy singles. He’s almost always content with singles. It’s why he ranks fifth in MLB since the start of 2015 with 1,099 hits and also ranks fifth with 717 singles in that time.
But when it’s going wrong, he’s taking big swings on those pitches and trying to drive them to his pull side. He swung over everything on the lower, outer half in the final game and was beside himself about it afterwards.
“Man, I wish I had answers for that,” he said. “Today, we kind of expanded the zone a little bit more. At home, I don’t feel like that was the case. Framber Valdez threw a great game and we just hit a lot of balls on the ground. Coming here, we chased some pitches, me included. It didn’t work out.”
2. The Astros clearly changed their plan of attack against Kiké Hernandez, who went 8-for-13 in the first three games and just 2-for-13 over the final three.
The Astros made more of a point to pitch outside to Hernandez too, giving him more fastballs after he did so much damage on breaking balls in the first few games.
“Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other team,” he said. “They made a quick adjustment. They adjusted to us and we were not able to be as quick as they were at making the adjustment ourselves.”
3. In the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 4, the Red Sox had a 79% chance of winning the series, according to Baseball Reference win expectancy chart. 4. The decision to have Alex Verdugo steal with one out and runners on the corners in the seventh inning was the fifth-most impactful play of the series, according to Baseball Reference, and it lowered the Sox’ chances of winning the series by 4%. It was a full count and Travis Shaw was at the plate. The Sox were down two runs and getting them both in scoring position would’ve been huge. It seemed like a risk worth taking to Cora. “I just bet on my players in a 3-2 count,” he said. “We put the ball in play against a sinker-baller, we score one. Maldonado threw like a 1.4-second to second base… We were trying to score one, and we felt that we had the right guy (on the mound). The times were 1.6, 1.65, and it just mattered that their catcher just came out shooting and he made a perfect throw.”
5. Where was Garrett Whitlock in Game 6? Cora said he liked the matchup with Adam Ottavino late in the game. Whitlock and Tanner Houck combined to throw 7 1/3 innings in the series. 6. The Sox clearly needed another left-handed reliever. Josh Taylor was the choice against Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez, but once he was burned the Sox had few options. It seems inexcusable that Martin Perez made four appearances in this series. 7. Kyle Schwarber’s play at first base when he turned a double play but let the run score from third was a great athletic play, but one that experienced first basemen don’t let happen. Schwarber admitted afterwards he should’ve prioritized the guy going home. 8. Danny Santana had just three big league at-bats in the last 42 days and he’s 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in those at-bats. 9. The Sox begin the 2022 season on March 31 at Fenway Park against the Rays.
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Post by Kimmi on Oct 24, 2021 7:19:03 GMT -5
Red Sox ran out of karma, and it all started after the wristwatch tauntBy Dan Shaughnessy Globe Columnist,Updated October 22, 2021, 11:48 p.m. HOUSTON — The Red Sox season ended Friday night with a 5-0 loss to the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. The Sox went down passively, losing three straight games after dominating the ‘Stros and even mocking them in a Game 3, 12-3 rout at Fenway. The record will show that the Sox flatlined after Eduardo Rogriguez ridiculed Houston shortstop Carlos Correa (pointing at an imaginary watch — a patented Correa move that means “it’s our time”) while coming off the mound with a 9-3 lead in the sixth inning of Game 3. Alex Cora yelled at his young pitcher for poking the bear. But it was too late. Karma shifted. And so did the series. A team should never give another team any added reason to get fired up. It does seem to come back to bite you every time. Just ask Aaron Judge.
It's frustrating how our offense can go from being such a powerhouse in a couple of games, to hardly being able to score in the next games. I have always been more frustrated with our offense in losses this season than I was with our pitching.
I'm heartbroken that we're not going to the WS, but at the same time very proud of and pleased with how well our team did. If we were told at the beginning of the season that the Sox would make it to Game 6 of the ALCS, I think any of us would have taken that deal. A lot of people were just hoping to have a watchable product. The Sox entertained us all summer long and into October.
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Post by Kimmi on Oct 24, 2021 7:30:02 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 5h You can complain all you want about this move or that move, but the bottom line is that the Astros are the better team. The Astros are the better team, and they played better in this series, on the whole, than the Red Sox did. I never like to blame the outcome of a game, much less a series, on a particular play or a particular decision. There's just too much that happens for the end result to be pinpointed to one move.
Anything can and does happen in a short series. The Rays are also a better team, and we beat them. IMO, the playoffs are largely a crapshoot, where 3 teams who won 100+ games are sitting at home while an 88 win team is going to the WS. That's baseball.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Oct 24, 2021 12:13:29 GMT -5
Middle infielder Jeter Downs, after a year-long struggle in Triple A Worcester that produced a .190/.272/.334 line in 99 games, is off to an excellent start for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. He’s hit four homers with more walks (7) than strikeouts (5) through five games, posting a .333/.520/1.000 line through 25 plate appearances … ======================================== I gotta tell you, I am quite pleased with this. I'd much prefer that Downs think of himself as an all-around hitter, rather than a power hitter. It's a small sample, but the 57 K/W is about 100x better than the 131/38 he showed in AAA. And Downs is important to us. In another year or two, him, Mayer and Yorke, we have some real talent pushing through.
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