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Jake Burger is actually pretty interesting


bmags

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ACTUALLY

I think our experiences with players like Daniel Palka make us rightfully weary of putting too much in an encouraging debut - especially when paired with players not very interesting to prospect writers.

But there was some BA article referencing Burger and then I was just absolutely berating @Quin ruthlessly about how being a burger boy is better than an adolfo amigo and looked up the statcast numbers and this stuff is interesting

1. Burger hit the absolute crap out of the ball consistently in his (short) time up last year

      - His 60% hard hit rate (in this small sample) would be the best hard hit rate in baseball. Judge was at 57%. Hard hit rate is EVs over 95 mph and he did it in 14 of 23 batted balls.

      - His 115 mph max EV put him in the 90th percentile

      - Hitting the ball hard is good, imo

2. He's faster than I expected 

      - His 65% percentile speed is better than I expected, as was his athleticism

3. He walked 10% of his ABs, and his prior history makes me believe his 33% k rate should come down with more reps (as would hard hit rate but ...)

Basically I think it makes more sense to prioritize getting Burger at bats than Micker, and we should just bite the bullet on micker and hope he still ends up in Charlotte.

Ratings

Burger ? Adolfo ?

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I do think Max Muncy has been surprisingly good when limited at 2b. So maybe Burger could do it. Burger is faster than Muncy and imo 6'2 230 is less weird than Muncy's 6'0 215.

If he can make turns, then maybe.

But he's interesting, and is very likely a better hitter than we expect.

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1 minute ago, bmags said:

I do think Max Muncy has been surprisingly good when limited at 2b. So maybe Burger could do it. Burger is faster than Muncy and imo 6'2 230 is less weird than Muncy's 6'0 215.

If he can make turns, then maybe.

But he's interesting, and is very likely a better hitter than we expect.

I definitely chuckled at “less weird” lol

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I've already turned against my opinions from 10 minutes ago, I'm now on the side that Burger could be a part time 2b and I buy it.

In ten minutes I may come to the conclusion that given Harrison's career marks at 2b and Leury's weirdly bad 2b he may in fact be the best 2b on our team.

He may be an MVP candidate in an hour.

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14 minutes ago, bmags said:

ACTUALLY

I think our experiences with players like Daniel Palka make us rightfully weary of putting too much in an encouraging debut - especially when paired with players not very interesting to prospect writers.

 

Palka was some dude drafted in the 19th round.  Burger was drafted 1-11 - people just forgot about him because of his horrific injury luck.  People were right to be wary of Palka and those like him; it would not be that weird for Burger to deliver on the promise that made him a top pick.

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1 minute ago, bmags said:

I've already turned against my opinions from 10 minutes ago, I'm now on the side that Burger could be a part time 2b and I buy it.

In ten minutes I may come to the conclusion that given Harrison's career marks at 2b and Leury's weirdly bad 2b he may in fact be the best 2b on our team.

He may be an MVP candidate in an hour.

I like to compare Burger to a train. He's fast, but if you want him to turn, good luck. Eloy is kind of the same way. The guy looks so stiff when he runs and that's probably a product of his multiple Achilles injuries. But he just doesn't look like he has the agility and quickness to play 2B. 

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1 minute ago, chw42 said:

I like to compare Burger to a train. He's fast, but if you want him to turn, good luck. Eloy is kind of the same way. The guy looks so stiff when he runs and that's probably a product of his multiple Achilles injuries. But he just doesn't look like he has the agility and quickness to play 2B. 

No this goes against the MVP narrative.

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I think we might be able to stomach Burger at 2B if he showed he can hit ML off-speed and breaking pitches just a little bit. Because he did not hit them well in his short time here last year. I don't think he even made contact with a single curveball or change up. 

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30 minutes ago, bmags said:

ACTUALLY

I think our experiences with players like Daniel Palka make us rightfully weary of putting too much in an encouraging debut - especially when paired with players not very interesting to prospect writers.

But there was some BA article referencing Burger and then I was just absolutely berating @Quin ruthlessly about how being a burger boy is better than an adolfo amigo and looked up the statcast numbers and this stuff is interesting

1. Burger hit the absolute crap out of the ball consistently in his (short) time up last year

      - His 60% hard hit rate (in this small sample) would be the best hard hit rate in baseball. Judge was at 57%. Hard hit rate is EVs over 95 mph and he did it in 14 of 23 batted balls.

      - His 115 mph max EV put him in the 90th percentile

      - Hitting the ball hard is good, imo

2. He's faster than I expected 

      - His 65% percentile speed is better than I expected, as was his athleticism

3. He walked 10% of his ABs, and his prior history makes me believe his 33% k rate should come down with more reps (as would hard hit rate but ...)

Basically I think it makes more sense to prioritize getting Burger at bats than Micker, and we should just bite the bullet on micker and hope he still ends up in Charlotte.

Ratings

Burger ? Adolfo ?

Bmags is actually pretty interesting too, going all philosophical/sentimental/self-reflective in recent weeks.

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Burger was an excellent high school hockey play at CBC academy in high school. CBC is a national power in hockey at the high school level. 


So in case nobody has noticed it he’s a pretty good athlete. Watched him make a play last year where he charged a slow roller, stepped over the bag without tripping over it and gunned the guy out at first. He’s an athlete.


As far as hitting I saw him hit a rocket the other day that the pitcher and second baseman were lucky to get out of the way so as the OP he hits the ball hard.

the knock on him was that he was injured for two years and got out of shape. Really not a lot of that is his fault.

im surprised nobody has traded for him yet. Oakland could put him and 3rd and see what happens. My fear is that hahn will trade burger and sheets to Oakland for one of their pitchers and then have that pitcher leave and burger and sheets both have decent careers.

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8 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

The Phillies could use him. They totally disregard defense.

This season, the Phillies will probably be able to let everyone know how important defense, especially OF defense is, vs. having some serious sluggers.

Interestingly Bohm, taken right before Madrigal in that draft to play third…has had a largely disappointing start to his young career.

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At this point put Vaughn in RF, Burger at 2B, Sheets DH, Leury/Engel IF/OF subs and roll with it. At least it'll be interesting and/or hilarious. Watching Harrison hit .220 with an average 65 mph exit velocity will not be.

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8 minutes ago, runtheballdown said:

Burger was an excellent high school hockey play at CBC academy in high school. CBC is a national power in hockey at the high school level. 


So in case nobody has noticed it he’s a pretty good athlete. Watched him make a play last year where he charged a slow roller, stepped over the bag without tripping over it and gunned the guy out at first. He’s an athlete.


As far as hitting I saw him hit a rocket the other day that the pitcher and second baseman were lucky to get out of the way so as the OP he hits the ball hard.

the knock on him was that he was injured for two years and got out of shape. Really not a lot of that is his fault.

im surprised nobody has traded for him yet. Oakland could put him and 3rd and see what happens. My fear is that hahn will trade burger and sheets to Oakland for one of their pitchers and then have that pitcher leave and burger and sheets both have decent careers.

The Ghost of Nick Swisher still haunts us all.  Or Bradford.  Or Samardzija.  Or Foulke.

 

In reality, we don’t win a WS without Freddy Garcia (Olivo came over from Oakland) and Cotts.

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Just now, caulfield12 said:

The Ghost of Nick Swisher still haunts us all.  Or Bradford.  Or Samardzija.  Or Foulke.

 

In reality, we don’t win a WS without Freddy Garcia (Olivo came over from Oakland) and Cotts.

I remember running into Kenny Williams on the floor at Soxfest and I actually asked him "hey who did we get for Chad Bradford?"  He said "a nice young catcher named Miguel Olivo...I think you're gonna like him."  And damn if he wasn't right.  Thanks Kenny.

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