Moncada

[Dunt]

36 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Let's get the cycle in a game where that last hit is not a meaningless one in the overall scheme of the game...haha.

Also great to see his strikeout percentage get back down under 40%.

 

He has a higher OPS than Altuve as of tonight (good for 9th among qualified 2B).

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/2b/sort/OPS/order/true

Is there any way to get the updated fWAR numbers?  Have to subscribe to fangraphs?  By bWAR, he's only at 0.5.

He's at 1.0 fWAR after today's game

[Lillian]

Moncada's split stats, so far this season, continue to reveal that he is having a very good start, to his young career, as a left handed hitter:  

.291

.391

.618

1.009

 

The issue of whether, or not, he should continue to try to be a switch hitter is the one, about which we should be debating. It's hard to imagine that he could do much worse against lefties, batting left handed. At some point, it might be worth while to see how he would fare. There are several reasons why it might be advantageous for him to try:

1) Regardless of the pitcher, the left handed batter always enjoys the benefit of being a step closer to first base and falling in that direction, with his swing. Given his speed, Yoan would likely scratch out a significant number of infield hits.

2) Drag bunts for base hits, from the left side are easier to successfully execute.

3) Breaking balls from left handed pitchers, break directly into the swing plain of a left handed stroke, when the batter is pulling the ball. It's complicated, but I wrote an article on the subject, many years ago, which I entitled "The Angle Of Contact". I gave a copy to Greg Walker, and discussed it with him, the following Spring, He agreed with the principle. It's an intriguing observation, and worthy of a much deeper analysis. Try to visualize where the ball is moving, when a hitter gets around on a breaking pitch, from his side of the plate, versus the opposite side. If you draw the respective angles out on paper, you will see the point. It's the reason that Hawk always used to say that he hated facing left handers and that he suggested an "inside out swing," in which the hands come before the barrel of the bat. He may not have understood why that works so well, but it is because the angle of contact is much better.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Lillian
spelling error

[caulfield12]

633 ops as rhb in 71 atbats

776 ops as lhb in 147 ab’s

(730 overall)

Not as dramatic as Jose Valentin...

 

[Panerista]

As far as I'm concerned, Yoan is left handed.  I know my opinion doesn't matter but we need him on base.

[reiks12]

What were his splits in cuba and in the minors?

[caulfield12]

741 as rhb in Charlotte, 2017

691 as rhb in AA, 2016

797 as rhb in High A, 2016

951 as rhb in Greenville, Sally League, 2015

 

By the way, 0.8 bWAR right now...not 0.5, 6.4 extrapolated out for a full season (0.8 x 8)

8 fWAR for full season...

[StateStSports]

Make Moncada a lefty and stick him in the 2 hole for life.

[Chicago White Sox]

Can someone more stats savvy provide a summary of Moncada’s defense?  I’d love to hear what the advanced metrics actually say.  He’s looked fantastic in the field to me, but the eye test obviously has its flaws.

Part of the reason I ask is to see if his defensive value is sustainable.  Right now he’s on pace for an 8 WAR season and I’m just curious how much of that (if at all) is driven by flukey defense.  I hope the answer is it hasn’t, because if that’s the case the kid will blow everyone expectations for 2017 out of the water.

[maggsmaggs]

7 minutes ago, StateStSports said:

Make Moncada a lefty and stick him in the 2 hole for life.

I do wonder at what point you just stop switch hitting. He's been brutal this year from the right side in a very small sample size. He definitely has way less power from that side.

[Chicago White Sox]

Some stats on Yoan so far this year:

• 19th in fWAR at 1.0
• 57th in wRC+ at 131
• 2nd in avg exit velocity
• 1st in base-running value
• 23rd in defensive value

This kid is already a fucking monster and will only get better if he can cut that K rate down a bit.

[G&T]

33 minutes ago, maggsmaggs said:

I do wonder at what point you just stop switch hitting. He's been brutal this year from the right side in a very small sample size. He definitely has way less power from that side.

Probably never. Old article, but interesting: Baseball Prospectus

[SoxAce]

1 hour ago, StateStSports said:

Make Moncada a lefty and stick him in the 2 hole for life.

I actually agree with Stone and said the same thing a year ago. I personally think like Cano, Moncada will be in the 3 hole driving in runs. Dude has major upside and I think he and Eloy will be our future 3-4 hitters. (perhaps Robert as a dark horse there too, but so far I like the other two) 

[soxfan49]

3 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

I actually agree with Stone and said the same thing a year ago. I personally think like Cano, Moncada will be in the 3 hole driving in runs. Dude has major upside and I think he and Eloy will be our future 3-4 hitters. (perhaps Robert as a dark horse there too, but so far I like the other two) 

Assuming Anderson's eye continues to improve, I think in 2021, it's fun to predict the Sox top 4 in the order being: 1 Anderson, 2 Robert, 3 Moncada, 4 Jimenez. That's a s*** ton of speed and power; I actually read that Robert, right now, would be the fastest player in the MLB.

[caulfield12]

http://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/yo-yo-and-big-elephant-now-show-south-side-fans-have-been-waiting

Yo-Yo and The Big Elephant (Abreu)

Not to be confused with BJ and the Bear.

[caulfield12]

3 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

Assuming Anderson's eye continues to improve, I think in 2021, it's fun to predict the Sox top 4 in the order being: 1 Anderson, 2 Robert, 3 Moncada, 4 Jimenez. That's a s*** ton of speed and power; I actually read that Robert, right now, would be the fastest player in the MLB.

Not faster than Hamilton or Buxton, but he’s right up there....

[soxfan49]

4 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Not faster than Hamilton or Buxton, but he’s right up there....

Stone said in Spring Training that he spoke with a few scouts that said in a foot race, Robert and Hamilton would be dead even. Of course, that's just one scout.

[Bob Sacamano]

I understand 100% why guys switch hit. I do. But what if he stopped it and realized he could hit better against lefties from the left side? It's not that crazy as there are guys who hit decent and sometimes better against the the same split.

[southsider2k5]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Can someone more stats savvy provide a summary of Moncada’s defense?  I’d love to hear what the advanced metrics actually say.  He’s looked fantastic in the field to me, but the eye test obviously has its flaws.

Part of the reason I ask is to see if his defensive value is sustainable.  Right now he’s on pace for an 8 WAR season and I’m just curious how much of that (if at all) is driven by flukey defense.  I hope the answer is it hasn’t, because if that’s the case the kid will blow everyone expectations for 2017 out of the water.

Just from the eye test he seems to have TONS of range, and gets good reads on balls.

[southsider2k5]

52 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

I actually agree with Stone and said the same thing a year ago. I personally think like Cano, Moncada will be in the 3 hole driving in runs. Dude has major upside and I think he and Eloy will be our future 3-4 hitters. (perhaps Robert as a dark horse there too, but so far I like the other two) 

What we have on the roster and in the system could look a lot like the mid 90's Indian teams that led off Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel and then Robbie Alomar.  We could have a track team at the top of our order, except with a decent amount more pop in the line up if guys continue to mature into power.

[Balta1701]

39 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

I understand 100% why guys switch hit. I do. But what if he stopped it and realized he could hit better against lefties from the left side? It's not that crazy as there are guys who hit decent and sometimes better against the the same split.

What everyone has been pointing out with Moncada is that in 2016 and 2017 his splits strongly favored him from the left side, but in 2015 his (100 PA) splits strongly favored him from the right side and that was where most of his power came from. So, he looks much better from the left side right now, but that doesn't express his entire career, and figuring out what the difference is might be an important step here.

[Lillian]

On 4/20/2018 at 4:11 PM, TaylorStSox said:

I'm gonna go ahead an toot my own horn here. I also thought his problems aren't pitch recognition, but bat control. If he can learn to fight off good pitches, he'll be a monster. 

Maybe he should try to choke up, just a little. He is certainly strong enough and hits the ball hard enough, to be able to maintain reasonable power, while improving his bat control. It seemed to work pretty well for Barry Bonds. Moreover, as lively as the ball is, these days, I'm confident that he would still have a respectable exit velocity, even if he no longer was among the games best, in that regard. If he could make more contact, it just might be worth a try.

[Dam8610]

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Can someone more stats savvy provide a summary of Moncada’s defense?  I’d love to hear what the advanced metrics actually say.  He’s looked fantastic in the field to me, but the eye test obviously has its flaws.

Part of the reason I ask is to see if his defensive value is sustainable.  Right now he’s on pace for an 8 WAR season and I’m just curious how much of that (if at all) is driven by flukey defense.  I hope the answer is it hasn’t, because if that’s the case the kid will blow everyone expectations for 2017 out of the water.

FWIW, UZR and DRS are pretty much saying what people in this thread are saying, that his defense is above average mostly because he has incredible range. In fact, his current UZR score of 1.1 comes entirely from his range score, with DPR (runs above or below average from turning double plays) and ErrR (runs above or below average from committing errors) cancelling each other out.

ETA: Most of his value thus far has come from the offensive side, with 3.2 batting runs and 2.2 baserunning runs. If you're worried aboutthat 8 WAR pace being sustainable, it probably isn't, but 6 is and would still blow every prediction out of the water.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Dam8610

[Lillian]

While we're talking, anyone else skeptical about his being 6' 2"?  I'd swear that he's no taller than 6', if that. It doesn't matter, but I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed.

[Chicago White Sox]

4 minutes ago, Dam8610 said:

FWIW, UZR and DRS are pretty much saying what people in this thread are saying, that his defense is above average mostly because he has incredible range. In fact, his current UZR score of 1.1 comes entirely from his range score, with DPR (runs above or below average from turning double plays) and ErrR (runs above or below average from committing errors) cancelling each other out.

Thanks for sharing.  This probably isn't the place for it, but if we were to draft Madrigal I don't think moving Moncada off 2B is a serious option now.  I know for a while people were tempted to play him in CF, but he's simply too good of a defender at 2B to consider such a change.  And 3B would be a waste of his incredible range IMO.  Therefore, Madrigal would have to steal the SS job from Anderson or be trade bait.  

[OmarComing25]