Look at Ray Ray Run

Hes literally on pace for 6 WAR right now so this is what it looks like.

wRC+ is factoring in league play. The league was better last year offensively than this year so Robert's production is more outside the leagur average. Stolen bases are not a part of wRC+.

Nice start from cease. Way too much adrenaline in the first leaving everything high. That change up k he got late was disgusting.

Thinking speed is defined by SB is a bit much. Speed actually has more added value elsewhere.

I think they're all exciting, absolutely, but Gladney had that limited rep question being local and I always go in assuming those kids will take a little extra time to adjust and get comfortable because they're not used to seeing good competition every night and havent seen a lot of it consistently enough to have been acclimated prior to draft.

Gladneys start is really exciting I think. More so than the rest imo.

Guy should probably be at W-S tomorrow. AZL is like BP to the guy - just something to warm him up before the real competition.

It would be kind of fun to see Vaughn play a year in the AZL to see the absurdity that would be his EOY numbers. It's like sending him back to high school showcases.

Would be shocking if they moved his first start the night before. Much more likely they move or skip detweiler.

Yeah hot and disgustingly muggy. Summer is here.

Mike Trout was the best high school player in the country, it wasn't close, but scouts back then definitely over thought his competition level and discrediting his tools and production because of that. You could easily argue that Trout and Josh Hamilton were the two best high school baseball players in the past 30+ years - in my lifetime. J Up was pretty unreal too.

Great but he cited his ceiling as billy butler. If he hit like butler did his first 5 years and played third base he'd be a 4 WAR+ player. He cited Butler because Butler is fat and he wanted to rip burger but Butler had hands of stone and Burger has very good hands. The comparison was poor and as ignorant as when people just compare black baseball players to each other because they're both black. Oh and Butler played 1400 MLB games which is significantly more than 97% of guys drafted after the 10th pick.

Not Sox related, but that man Tre Fletcher has a homer and 2 doubles in his first 4 professional games despite a k rate around 40%. 1120 ops. Kid is going to be fun to follow.

No, bad first round draft picks happen every single year to good and bad teams. In fact, once you get past the 5th pick youd be happy to get a guy that contributes 8 WAR for his MLB career.

Pretty comical to compare a kid who won the award for college baseballs best defensive 3rd baseman to a guy who couldnt even play 1st base at an 8th grade level.

These things really kill me. Celebrity deaths typically don't have much impact on me. I always try to save my emotional attachments for those around me but something about teammate deaths destroys me. The bond. The brotherhood. The love you have for even the guys you don't share the same views, political opinions, and moral compass with is immense. The reality and absolutness of death has always shook me. Its uncontrollable. The bond you make being around your guys 150 days a year in college and even high school+travel is amazing. I go almost an entire year without seeing my old teammates from college and high school - sometimes longer - as I've gotten older but every year we host all the guys at my parents home over the 4th of July - where I'm headed now. Everytime we see each other, it's like we never missed a beat or an at bat. This year it's only going to be 11 of us as families grow and commitments cause us to go a year or two without making the time, but it'll be a great time and is one of my favorite times of year. Even losing one of those guys now would be like losing a piece of myself as I grew up. I cant even imagine losing one of the pieces of the clubhouse while you're playing. Everyone had their roll and their impact and not having that person around leaves such a massive hole. Trout's tweet summed it up so well. I know their mothers and fathers... brothers and sisters... and now their wives and kids. The loss for me, selfishly, would be hard enough but you've bonded with their loved ones and imaging the loss for them just destroys me. It's no different than celebrity deaths and I wish I could seperate my emotions from it like I do theres but something about being in a clubhouse for so long makes it so much more personal even though rationally that makes no sense because it's not my clubhouse in regards to skaggs. Life is so fragile and unpredictable. Sometimes you can lose track of that along the way... until something that feels so personal despite being so distant, slaps you upside the face and reminds you to cherish your time with those who helped you grow because their impacts are infinite despite their life being uncertain. RIP Tyler. You were far too young.

To further this point, this team can afford to keep all of its stars - especially when winning. The sox crying poor should not be a reason to hold a player down when he is deserving and ready for the opportunity. Its funny because I am frequently cited as pro-ownership and supporting the front office but I am probably the most player-friendly person here. It's not that others arent player friendly, but it's because the game is made by the players and they deserve as much of the piece of the pie as humanly possible. I didnt play baseball for 20 years in hope of becoming rick hahn one day and screwing a kid out of a year of mlb pay that he deserves. What it robert comes one year from the top level of mlb retirement benefits and then gets hurt ending his career? Those thoughts bother me. At any other profession on earth I wouldnt be held down just to keep my salary suppressed - that would be illegal. Just because they're richer than me doesnt mean that shouldnt share the same rights.

Really great post (not because you agree with some of my thoughts but because you presented your thoughts and supported them reasonably and under control) and I appreciate you chiming in. I take elongated breas from message boards and the internet frequently because the confrontational style and personal jabs over opinions grows tiresome. I appreciate everyone being respectful and listening. We all want to be right and have our opinions heard - its human nature - which leads to some shouting down the thoughts of others. That hasn't happened here. I remember as a kid finding it annoying when I made a point and my old man asked me to substantiate it... sometimes as internet strangers we find it easier to shout down those who dont agree with us - frequently belittling them - instead of substantiating our opinions and listening to those who dissent. I'm glad that hasn't happened and appreciate the cordial discourse. Good companies, teams and organizations are full of people who have different trains of thought. It's the culmination of those thoughts being implemented with all in mind that separates the successful from the unsuccessful things in life imo.

This once again would mean you think he's ready but want to exploit his service time and labor. That excuse is not valid since it is against the cba even if it does happen. I agree plenty of cant miss guys fail but robert has that safety blanket like Buxton. Roberts tools are simply otherworldly. If you had a power centric prospect with Robert's power and hit grade youd have a potential + big leaguer. If you had a speed first centerfield prospect with his speed, defense and arm grade youd have a legit prospect. If he doesnt hit for average hes a 3 WAR player rolling out of bed with his baserunning, defense and home run threat. If he doesnt steal bases as well or run as effectively but he has an 800 ops with great CF defense you have a 3-4 WAR player. He can contribute in so many facets of the game that you could be horribly wrong about two of his grades and he'd still be mike cameron.

I think our definitions of struggle in this case are just different. Everyone slumps, but not everyone struggles to acclimate themselves to the big leagues. For example, Acuna and Soto have had slumps but they have never struggled to show they belong and are amazing and their year end outcomes back that up.

In somber unrelated news, RIP Tyler Skaggs. Holy sad.

Oh I understand your view entirely but it's against MLB rules and the CBA and service time manipulation isn't ok with me. MLB already exploits the hell out of their minor league athletes. They already underpay most of them for the first 7 years of their careers (likely their most valuable years) and as noted above the Sox do this to push extensions, but Robert has about 50 million reason to say screw your extension, so in reality we're talking about leaving him down solely to exploit his service time and to get 2027 under team control when the sox can just RESIGN him if he's great. I think Robert is a rare case of being so gifted he honestly has nothing left to learn in the minors.

It is entirely possible that Luis Robert doesn't struggle a day in his MLB life. He may have 2 week shortcomings similar to his AA struggles, but it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he physically dominates the MLB similarly. He is that talented.

It might look something like this: 337/405/613 in the MLB - another young player who K'ed at a 27% rate in AA and walked under 8% as a 20 year old in AA last year. 24.25% isn't even worse than league average.

The excuse used for Eloy - which was also complete BS - was that he needed to work on his defense. At least Eloy had a legit deficiency in his game though - he isn't a good fielder. I'd argue he never will be and nothing has changed from last year to his call-up this year, but Robert is quite literally a 5 tool talent showing all of those talents at a very high level.