Jose Abreu back to the MLB soon?

[Texsox]

As far as Vaughn, some prospects just don't work out. Was it a bad draft pick, poor coaching, or maybe it was something he did or didn't do. We'll never know. 

[WestEddy]

2 hours ago, Texsox said:

As far as Vaughn, some prospects just don't work out. Was it a bad draft pick, poor coaching, or maybe it was something he did or didn't do. We'll never know. 

They drafted a "bad" body, lack of height for 1B, a "gap power" hitter who hasn't really tapped into it, yet, rushed by a GM no longer here, played out of position to fill a hole. I keep thinking about that promo video of Konerko meeting Vaughn last offseason, and it seemed more like the 2 of them had no idea why they were there, Konerko basically scolding Vaughn, and Vaughn looking thoroughly called on the mat. 

[WhiteSox2023]

2 hours ago, Texsox said:

As far as Vaughn, some prospects just don't work out. Was it a bad draft pick, poor coaching, or maybe it was something he did or didn't do. We'll never know. 

The Sox have a 25-year history of 1st round failures on the offensive side.  I think we know the answer as to why the majority of position players that were drafted in that time span ended up the way they did.  On the flip side, quite a bit of 1st round pitching successes in that same time span.

Edited November 20 by WhiteSox2023

[Dominikk85]

Abreu is a legend but I think his batspeed is just gone, he can't turn around fastballs above 95 anymore.

Last year he didn't pull a single fastball above 95 in the air, that is just the physical skill gone. 

He is still a good hitter and if he faces pitchers who throw 89 with 78 mph sliders he will destroy them but velo is just killing him and in mlb he doesn't see many guys who throw 90 but most are 95+ on fastball and 86+ on the slider nowadays. 

[almagest]

44 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

They drafted a "bad" body, lack of height for 1B, a "gap power" hitter who hasn't really tapped into it, yet, rushed by a GM no longer here, played out of position to fill a hole. I keep thinking about that promo video of Konerko meeting Vaughn last offseason, and it seemed more like the 2 of them had no idea why they were there, Konerko basically scolding Vaughn, and Vaughn looking thoroughly called on the mat. 

I remember Konerko asking how many years in Vaughn was, and after he answered Konerko said something like "well, now or never I guess" and I just started laughing.

[Dominikk85]

3 hours ago, Texsox said:

As far as Vaughn, some prospects just don't work out. Was it a bad draft pick, poor coaching, or maybe it was something he did or didn't do. We'll never know. 

The disappointing thing about him is the plate discipline.

In college he was advertised as having pristine plate discipline. In mlb his contact ability is fine but he consistently has above average chase rates and low walk rates. In college he walked a ton every year.

Not sure what the issue is. Either he got pitched around so much that he walked despite mediocre pitch recognition or he has more trouble seeing mlb stuff than college stuff.

His lack of ability to pull fly balls might actually be a coaching issue as sox have preached oppo approach and hit over power.

I still think under the right circumstances he could take a step forward. 90% zone contact and a 112 Max EV is a good combination even though a mid 30s percent chase rate is not ideal of course but also not extremely egregious. With the right coaching I could seem him having a season where he hits 280 with 30 bombs.

Edited November 20 by Dominikk85