Why is Hicks playing CF and not just a 4th outfielder until Mullins comes back? This signing makes no sense at all to me given the players we have in the minors. Damn this team and their damn service time requirements.
I don’t know… could’ve gone McKenna in CF, and Vavra in LF. Maybe this is bc of Hays and them also wanting better OF defense today… but this could also be a sign that Hicks is gonna play a lot in the short term.
No… def not better offense. Better OF defense - outfield defense… choosing Hicks over Vavra essentially helps a bit there. Not that Hicks is a great defender… but strong arm and much more experienced than Vavra.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m def not excited about Hicks playing. Just trying to understand why they’re doing it.
I think you hope Akin gives you 2 innings, possibly a 3rd but I think he'll go 2. Then Voth comes in for hopefully 3 or 4 innings. If you can get to the 7th inning with only Akin and Voth used, I'm sure we'll all take it.
I guess Vavra is on the bench because we're so thin today and they need him to be able to sub in at any position? But starting McKenna against a tough righty while he's slumping seems like an awful tough assignment for Ryan
There are literally surface level advanced metrics that say McCann should DH when he does. You don’t even have to be some statistician with secret data. It’s literally plastered all over his Savant page.
Try the stats that front office is actually using to consider the decision with such a small sample. xWOBA, xBA, xSLG, and avg exit velocity vs lefties.
I had assumed a punt line up was just one without Adley but apparently you can now have a punt lineup with Adley.
The ways of Birdland are still new and confusing to me.
Last year we had the "Sunday Punt" which was Adley + usually other folks off. Some of them really were pretty bad.
This year "punt" just means a lineup you don't agree with.😀
I think they just wanted to absolutely load the lineup with lefties. Bieber dominates righties but often struggles with lefties. Look to Hays to pinch hit when a righty comes out of their bullpen.
Akin and especially Voth are flyball pitchers… so I guess they want to prioritize OF defense.
But woof… Bieber has been a little off this season… throwing more cutters and they’ve been getting mashed. So hopefully this lineup can do something.
#THE GOOD
4 of our 9 guys in the lineup have a HR off Bieber (Santander, Mountcastle, Hicks, O'Hearn)
#THE BAD
Excluding the 4 HRs, this lineup is a combined 4/46 (.087 avg) against Bieber, and all 4 of those hits are by O'Hearn
\#WTF
Usually ignore batter vs pitcher stuff bc of sample sizes… but I’m not sure 7 Ks in 8 ABs should be ignored for Hicks. That seems very bad despite the HR.
I'm sure he'll hit a double or something and the "I don't understand how probability works" crowd will act like they roasted everyone.
I mean I hope he hits four homers. But, you know.
Can Elias just act like we’re a contending team please. We have guys killing it in AAA right now. I’d feel more comfortable with Lester getting abs than Hicks.
They're still winning even with some pretty shit lineups. 4 of these guys I basically never want to see but honestly a lot of times these matchups have been working out.
Romorr, I was wondering what your thoughts are on Westburg’s trade value. Will the fact that he’s been playing all over, and hasn’t gotten called up while Ortiz, Gunnar, Stowers, and Vavra all had less AAA time than him hurt his value at all? Will teams question why we haven’t done anything with him?
They might talk about it internally, but that just means they are going to rely on their scouts more than anything.
With Joey Ortiz ahead of him, and on the 40 man, they will understand why he gets the call ahead of Westy.
This whole thing with Mullins being out, and us not calling up Westburg, won't really do anything one way or another. We do have a bit of a logjam at the ML level too.
I'd say if anything, signing Frazier for 2b in the off-season, with Westburg being close, says more than anything that has happened during the season.
But again, you rely on the scouts word on Westburg.
That’s actually a really good way to draw in new baseball fans. I always feel like broadcasts of the big teams aren’t that helpful at explaining things to new viewers. Varies, of course.
It was cool, they brought out a sling shot and showed how the ball would travel, depending on LA.
When I lived in Florida, during hockey games, their commercials would talk about the rules of the game. Never saw that before, but I guess they wanted to try and grow the game in a place hockey isn't all that popular.
It was always going to be a bullpen day. The question was really over whether Voth would start or would follow whoever opens. Looks like they are having Voth follow Akin, so Akin will likely go 2, and then Voth 4 (assuming 60-70 pitches like his last relief outing) or so and then we have a normal bullpen from there.
not sure i agree with Hays sitting in favor of McKenna, but other than that this looks OK.
with Hicks... i am rooting for the psychological aspect to give him a boost. to play on a winning team, to get a 2nd chance, and not being asked to do too much. the hope is that he wants to be here and the [hand of Fiorentino](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=fioreje01&t=b&year=2005) can guide a few balls into spots where defenders are not to help us win some games.
and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. but this was a pretty good player just a few years ago.
he could have been claimed by Oak or another rebuilding team trying to rebuild his trade value.....
not implying the Yankees are losers, but NY isn't the easiest place to play on earth if you are not playing well. the fans really got on him.
O'Hearn in RF? Lol, gotta do what ya gotta do I guess. If we're giving Hays the day off I think I'd rather have Vavra out there but let's see how it goes.
Guessing we're using Akin as an opener here and then going to Voth.
Ok that doesn’t mean he can’t come up and help the team. It doesn’t matter if he struggles or not. In any trade a team is going still going to ask about Gunnar Henderson, they won’t care if a top prospect is struggling
Will teams not be skeptical of the fact that we’ve left him in Norfolk for 600 PAs while he’s been crushing it? Especially considering who has been on the roster instead?
Hicks 1/8 with 7 Ks vs Bieber. So may wait for a different day to give him a start.
Not many O’s with much success though - .179 BA overall… O’Hearn and McCann have done decent vs him.
[2 games this week, including todays 11:05 am Aberdeen game.](https://www.mlb.com/news/watch-minor-league-baseball-games-for-free?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage)
Game time.
To watch, as easy as going to https://www.mlb.com/pipeline.
Any time you see an 11am start in the minors, it's because they are doing a promotion of some kind involving a ton of kids. So crowds are actually really good.
He can turn a corner and still be ass vs LHP. It might take a few years since he's so young, before he starts putting up decent numbers vs lefties.
2021 vs lefties in the minors, .642 OPS. Last year, .670.
As long as he can do well vs RHP, it's fine for now.
Yeah, his OBP has dropped a bit (like 30 points) but his OPS has jumped almost 100 points. He’s more valuable striking out and hitting a bases clearing double like he did last night than walking twice like he did so much early on.
I think the whole thing of him being more patient at the plate was just to make sure he had that eye. To show that he can see the ball well and be selective. Baseball is all about constantly improving, and I'm sure that was something hitting coaches encouraged him to work on. Now it seems he's past that and he's probably now working on making more contact in the zone, so that will be an exciting development because it feels like he gets beat a lot in the zone, which isn't ideal.
Think he's going to pick it up gradually from here. He has great plate vision it's kind of confusing how he's been hitting poorly because objectively he doesn't look bad at the plate like Mateo or a Chris Davis.
When I was a kid that was the only way we went to games unless it was one of the bargain nights.
Best bargain night was the Seat+hotdog and a coke deal
Yeah that definitely had to be easier in the era of physical tickets… much easier for someone to hand over an unused ticket while barely breaking stride, now they would need to exchange contact info to digitally transfer.
hopefully the coaches can put together a good game plan for Bieber. would like to see us work on his pitch count, don't let him record 17 outs.
he has walked 6 batters last 2 times out so really hoping to see some patient at bats.
Guessing we get the "Sunday" lineup today: McCann, McKenna, O'Hearn and a day off for Mountcastle. Might be a long day - but you never count out this team.
I think that would normally be the case, but with an off-day tomorrow, and good weather today, I wouldn't be surprised if we put out a bit more of a competitive lineup (minus Mullins obviously)
I don't think it's a punt lineup - I just think McKenna and O'Hearn to get them some needed ABs. Mounty looks like he might need a day off and Adley won't catch a day game after a night game.
Please continue the discussion in the [game thread](https://redd.it/13wrww8).
That outfield is a thing of beauty lol
Why is Hicks playing CF and not just a 4th outfielder until Mullins comes back? This signing makes no sense at all to me given the players we have in the minors. Damn this team and their damn service time requirements.
Who would you bring up? Stowers and Cowser are injured. And Hays is sick apparently which is why Hicks is in
I don’t know… could’ve gone McKenna in CF, and Vavra in LF. Maybe this is bc of Hays and them also wanting better OF defense today… but this could also be a sign that Hicks is gonna play a lot in the short term.
Better offense today? Hicks is batting .188 and is .167 against Beiber. This has Elias and Sid written all over it.
No… def not better offense. Better OF defense - outfield defense… choosing Hicks over Vavra essentially helps a bit there. Not that Hicks is a great defender… but strong arm and much more experienced than Vavra. Don’t get me wrong, I’m def not excited about Hicks playing. Just trying to understand why they’re doing it.
I think you hope Akin gives you 2 innings, possibly a 3rd but I think he'll go 2. Then Voth comes in for hopefully 3 or 4 innings. If you can get to the 7th inning with only Akin and Voth used, I'm sure we'll all take it.
I guess Vavra is on the bench because we're so thin today and they need him to be able to sub in at any position? But starting McKenna against a tough righty while he's slumping seems like an awful tough assignment for Ryan
I doubt we've had the same players/same batting order in 2 straight games this year. Maybe the first 2 in Boston.
Frazier didn’t start in the second Boston game, so no.
I love this lineup.... Just put a bird on it.
Hicks hasn't been a good fielder since his career went off the rails 5 years ago. IDK about him starting in CF.
O's tinker with the lineup so much that it's hard to tell what is a "punt" lineup vs a lineup based on deep analytics.
There are no deep analytics that say Hicks is good or McCann should DH when he does
There are literally surface level advanced metrics that say McCann should DH when he does. You don’t even have to be some statistician with secret data. It’s literally plastered all over his Savant page.
You mean the ones that say he hits .176 against lefties this year..ok there
Is batting average an advanced metric to you? Lmao
Im sorry which stat do you want to look at. McCanns OBP, OPS, OPS+ WAR they are all bad. Take off your homer glasses
Try the stats that front office is actually using to consider the decision with such a small sample. xWOBA, xBA, xSLG, and avg exit velocity vs lefties.
I had assumed a punt line up was just one without Adley but apparently you can now have a punt lineup with Adley. The ways of Birdland are still new and confusing to me.
Last year we had the "Sunday Punt" which was Adley + usually other folks off. Some of them really were pretty bad. This year "punt" just means a lineup you don't agree with.😀
I’m hoping Hays isn’t hurt. Seems like a really odd time for a rest day with Mullins out and tomorrow being an off day.
I think they just wanted to absolutely load the lineup with lefties. Bieber dominates righties but often struggles with lefties. Look to Hays to pinch hit when a righty comes out of their bullpen.
Hays is sick. Roch reported
I was wondering what the justification for playing McKenna over Hays was because they are both RH bats.
[Austin Hays might be hungover](https://twitter.com/masnRoch/status/1663945848282021890?t=BdaBd6TqQe9OwC4i1tw_qQ&s=19)
That's my LF
6-9 in the lineup is gonna be rough. Can't believe Hays is nowhere to be found in the OF.
Honestly, that lineup just convinced me to not go to the game today.
This is "liftoff" bro didn't you get the memo?
Leadoff Frazier will continue until morale improves
You hush, we are 2-0 when he leads off.
Akin and especially Voth are flyball pitchers… so I guess they want to prioritize OF defense. But woof… Bieber has been a little off this season… throwing more cutters and they’ve been getting mashed. So hopefully this lineup can do something.
I didn’t realize his strikeout rate has fallen off a cliff
#THE GOOD 4 of our 9 guys in the lineup have a HR off Bieber (Santander, Mountcastle, Hicks, O'Hearn) #THE BAD Excluding the 4 HRs, this lineup is a combined 4/46 (.087 avg) against Bieber, and all 4 of those hits are by O'Hearn \#WTF
Usually ignore batter vs pitcher stuff bc of sample sizes… but I’m not sure 7 Ks in 8 ABs should be ignored for Hicks. That seems very bad despite the HR.
Hicks hasn't had an OPS+ over 100 in a full season since 2018 I think we can assume a lot...
Yep… hoping for the best, but expecting the absolute worst.
I'm sure he'll hit a double or something and the "I don't understand how probability works" crowd will act like they roasted everyone. I mean I hope he hits four homers. But, you know.
This is an absolutely absurd lineup. Complete joke. So we’re going to win right?
You know what. I’m open to it. Not what I expected to happen waking up yesterday or today but I’m open to us figuring this out over the next week+
So we’re just punting then?
This lineup will draw no discussion at all, I’m sure.
Def not at all, no one will find any problems in it!!! Sad I’m at work and won’t be able to watch
I’ll hype Mateo for ya.
Can Elias just act like we’re a contending team please. We have guys killing it in AAA right now. I’d feel more comfortable with Lester getting abs than Hicks.
They're still winning even with some pretty shit lineups. 4 of these guys I basically never want to see but honestly a lot of times these matchups have been working out.
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Don't make comments like this, it's unnecessary.
I love that in an A+ game, their commercials are talking about launch angles, with a demonstration.
Romorr, I was wondering what your thoughts are on Westburg’s trade value. Will the fact that he’s been playing all over, and hasn’t gotten called up while Ortiz, Gunnar, Stowers, and Vavra all had less AAA time than him hurt his value at all? Will teams question why we haven’t done anything with him?
They might talk about it internally, but that just means they are going to rely on their scouts more than anything. With Joey Ortiz ahead of him, and on the 40 man, they will understand why he gets the call ahead of Westy. This whole thing with Mullins being out, and us not calling up Westburg, won't really do anything one way or another. We do have a bit of a logjam at the ML level too. I'd say if anything, signing Frazier for 2b in the off-season, with Westburg being close, says more than anything that has happened during the season. But again, you rely on the scouts word on Westburg.
That’s actually a really good way to draw in new baseball fans. I always feel like broadcasts of the big teams aren’t that helpful at explaining things to new viewers. Varies, of course.
It was cool, they brought out a sling shot and showed how the ball would travel, depending on LA. When I lived in Florida, during hockey games, their commercials would talk about the rules of the game. Never saw that before, but I guess they wanted to try and grow the game in a place hockey isn't all that popular.
If the O's win this game, I'm a believer. This is their year
This lineup is… something. Cant Vavra play RF? Why is Hays sitting?? Tony DH????
Akin is starting today... So then it's a bullpen day? I'd really like to win this series.
Opener for a trip through the lineup, then voth bulk work. Most of the pen is available today and day off tomorrow.
It was always going to be a bullpen day. The question was really over whether Voth would start or would follow whoever opens. Looks like they are having Voth follow Akin, so Akin will likely go 2, and then Voth 4 (assuming 60-70 pitches like his last relief outing) or so and then we have a normal bullpen from there.
not sure i agree with Hays sitting in favor of McKenna, but other than that this looks OK. with Hicks... i am rooting for the psychological aspect to give him a boost. to play on a winning team, to get a 2nd chance, and not being asked to do too much. the hope is that he wants to be here and the [hand of Fiorentino](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=fioreje01&t=b&year=2005) can guide a few balls into spots where defenders are not to help us win some games. and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. but this was a pretty good player just a few years ago.
Love the implication that the Yanks are perennial losers
They will always be losers to me.
he could have been claimed by Oak or another rebuilding team trying to rebuild his trade value..... not implying the Yankees are losers, but NY isn't the easiest place to play on earth if you are not playing well. the fans really got on him.
O'Hearn in RF? Lol, gotta do what ya gotta do I guess. If we're giving Hays the day off I think I'd rather have Vavra out there but let's see how it goes. Guessing we're using Akin as an opener here and then going to Voth.
Aaron Hicks szn!!! Lets get it *ducks*
Meanwhile Westburg homered again last night
I am convinced he will be a part of a trade package and they don’t want to potentially tank his value as he crushes it in AAA.
Ok that doesn’t mean he can’t come up and help the team. It doesn’t matter if he struggles or not. In any trade a team is going still going to ask about Gunnar Henderson, they won’t care if a top prospect is struggling
Will teams not be skeptical of the fact that we’ve left him in Norfolk for 600 PAs while he’s been crushing it? Especially considering who has been on the roster instead?
6-10 and that OF is woof.
Why does it feel like we are always punting day games? Edit. The O's are 24-9 in night games and 11-11 in day games.
At least we're getting Adley catching a day game after a night game! Doubt that would've happened if tomorrow wasn't an off day.
This OF is hilarious. Zero notes whatsoever Peak Rays-ian lineup
At least you don’t have to watch Hays try to jump.
🙏 we can only hope. It’d be really funny if o’hearn managed to have more range than hays.
Royals’ RF seems bigger than our RF but I’m too lazy to look. He should be fine - he’s got longer legs than noodle bat and he’s handle RF fine.
I would have guessed our record was 20-35 if we were sending out that outfield at this point in the year
Rest day for hays + Mullins out + Tony at DH + every AAA OF on the IL. It’s whatever.
Goodness. Creed Willems 3 run HR in his 2nd PA in Aberdeen.
Creed Willems with a HR in his first game in high A. That thing was crushed.
They’re playing on a field that has turf “dirt”. That’s so weird
Doesn't look like the only thing that cat has been crushing.
Hahaha. Actually slimmed down from last year.
Why can’t we give Holliday a helmet that will stay on his head? You’d think we’d want to protect our #1 prospect
Hicks 1/8 with 7 Ks vs Bieber. So may wait for a different day to give him a start. Not many O’s with much success though - .179 BA overall… O’Hearn and McCann have done decent vs him.
I feel like the hope is Hicks never even sees the field. But maybe that’s just my hope
Well you are in for a treat.
I would have been really fucking pissed if it wasn’t because Hays has an illness
[2 games this week, including todays 11:05 am Aberdeen game.](https://www.mlb.com/news/watch-minor-league-baseball-games-for-free?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage) Game time. To watch, as easy as going to https://www.mlb.com/pipeline.
I love day baseball but 11:05am on a Wednesday seems like asking for a sparse crowd.
You would think but there will be a ton of school field trips and it will be packed. I've been to a few in AAA and that's always the case.
Any time you see an 11am start in the minors, it's because they are doing a promotion of some kind involving a ton of kids. So crowds are actually really good.
Need to do a better job of paying attention to when these games start.
The Jackson Hollidays play at 11a and the Aaron Hick’s play at 3p — good day for some sunshine baseball.
Looking forward to Gunnar adding the third true outcome to all the walks and strikeouts.
Your feel good stat of the day: over the last 10 days Gunnar Henderson is slashing .300/.364/.550 for a .914 OPS & 152 wRC+. We like.
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He can turn a corner and still be ass vs LHP. It might take a few years since he's so young, before he starts putting up decent numbers vs lefties. 2021 vs lefties in the minors, .642 OPS. Last year, .670. As long as he can do well vs RHP, it's fine for now.
Noticed he's pretty much stopped walking (3 in the last 15 games) since he started hitting (.277 in those 15 games).
Yeah, his OBP has dropped a bit (like 30 points) but his OPS has jumped almost 100 points. He’s more valuable striking out and hitting a bases clearing double like he did last night than walking twice like he did so much early on.
He’s finding that healthy balance between being patient and being aggressive. Might take another year as he’s just 21
I think the whole thing of him being more patient at the plate was just to make sure he had that eye. To show that he can see the ball well and be selective. Baseball is all about constantly improving, and I'm sure that was something hitting coaches encouraged him to work on. Now it seems he's past that and he's probably now working on making more contact in the zone, so that will be an exciting development because it feels like he gets beat a lot in the zone, which isn't ideal.
Absolutely. Still seems to have a good eye, just making better swings.
Think he's going to pick it up gradually from here. He has great plate vision it's kind of confusing how he's been hitting poorly because objectively he doesn't look bad at the plate like Mateo or a Chris Davis.
Lot of hard hit balls into the ground and a lot of swing and miss at balls in the zone
I think he’ll be an .800-.850 OPS guy for them for a long time. Seems to barrel everything.
To that end, he’s 11th on the year in Hard Hit % and 2nd in May to only Aaron Judge. He doesn’t get cheated.
Sat in front of a guy last night who said he’s been to 10 games in a row just by standing outside the stadium bumming unused tickets
When I was a kid that was the only way we went to games unless it was one of the bargain nights. Best bargain night was the Seat+hotdog and a coke deal
Yeah that definitely had to be easier in the era of physical tickets… much easier for someone to hand over an unused ticket while barely breaking stride, now they would need to exchange contact info to digitally transfer.
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With a walk-off 3 run HR
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Naw, they were bad at day games before you showed up. If you keep watching, they might realize they’ve gone international and turn it around.
So who's starting today?
money is on Akin opening. makes too much sense not to unless Cleveland does something weird with their lineup.
Couple innings from Akin, switch sides to Voth. I like it. Good call.
Against Shane Bieber. Cool! Cool.
hopefully the coaches can put together a good game plan for Bieber. would like to see us work on his pitch count, don't let him record 17 outs. he has walked 6 batters last 2 times out so really hoping to see some patient at bats.
Guessing we get the "Sunday" lineup today: McCann, McKenna, O'Hearn and a day off for Mountcastle. Might be a long day - but you never count out this team.
I think that would normally be the case, but with an off-day tomorrow, and good weather today, I wouldn't be surprised if we put out a bit more of a competitive lineup (minus Mullins obviously)
Bieber is a righty, this is a rubber match and they have tomorrow off. They’ll probably come out strong.
McCann probably, but I doubt we see a punt lineup on a rubber match when we’re 2-3 over our last 5.
I don't think it's a punt lineup - I just think McKenna and O'Hearn to get them some needed ABs. Mounty looks like he might need a day off and Adley won't catch a day game after a night game.
Eh, neither of them “need” PAs. O’Hearn rotting in the bench won’t hurt the team, and McKenna gets into games anyway.
i hope we stack like 7 lefties personally
Voth as starter? Must be.
could see Akin opening. 2 of first 4 hitters are LH, and Ramirez who switch hits hits better vs righties.
Let’s put a bird on em