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Post by jimed14 on Jan 29, 2018 17:15:15 GMT -5
Devers got pitched up almost exclusively after he hit that 103 mph pitch for a HR. He got a little cocky and thought he could hit anything at his eyes after that (understandably) and took way too many bad swings. That's something he should adjust to pretty quickly I'd expect. I'd like to see him a little more selective, especially by not swinging at pitches out of the zone. I also want to see him pull the ball more on inside pitches. His bat speed and hand eye coordination are unbelievable.
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Post by jmei on Jan 29, 2018 17:19:35 GMT -5
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Post by sarasoxer on Jan 29, 2018 19:44:03 GMT -5
Good stuff jmei..that confirms my beliefs. I don't remember a FB waste high and middle-in that Devers pulled with authority...off-speed and lower..yes. He has very good bat speed..no question..but greatest power is always to the pull side.. I hope Devers evolves to be able to pull middle-in while continuing to deliver middle-out to left/left center.
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steveofbradenton
Veteran
Watching Spring Training, the FCL, and the Florida State League
Posts: 1,826
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Post by steveofbradenton on Jan 30, 2018 7:50:23 GMT -5
Good stuff jmei..that confirms my beliefs. I don't remember a FB waste high and middle-in that Devers pulled with authority...off-speed and lower..yes. He has very good bat speed..no question..but greatest power is always to the pull side.. I hope Devers evolves to be able to pull middle-in while continuing to deliver middle-out to left/left center. If he does, he will probably develop into a 35 plus homer kind of guy. This year will be interesting in how Devers handles a full year in the majors. I'm sort of expecting a (still) pro-longed transition. I wouldn't be surprised, if we see his real capabilities in 2019. IMO I would see him hit about 25 bombs, and have a line of .270/.330/.480/.810 this upcoming season. Certainly I hope he puts up stronger numbers in 2018. I just think a 1st full season in Boston is hard to comprehend.
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Post by DesignatedKyle on Jan 31, 2018 14:50:11 GMT -5
Good stuff jmei..that confirms my beliefs. I don't remember a FB waste high and middle-in that Devers pulled with authority...off-speed and lower..yes. He has very good bat speed..no question..but greatest power is always to the pull side.. I hope Devers evolves to be able to pull middle-in while continuing to deliver middle-out to left/left center. If he does, he will probably develop into a 35 plus homer kind of guy. This year will be interesting in how Devers handles a full year in the majors. I'm sort of expecting a (still) pro-longed transition. I wouldn't be surprised, if we see his real capabilities in 2019. IMO I would see him hit about 25 bombs, and have a line of .270/.330/.480/.810 this upcoming season. Certainly I hope he puts up stronger numbers in 2018. I just think a 1st full season in Boston is hard to comprehend. I'd be overjoyed with .270/.330/.480 and 25 homers, and I think it's certainly within the realm of possibility. Which is crazy for a 21 year old.
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Post by Bogey2Short on Jan 31, 2018 15:16:40 GMT -5
MLB.COM has his nickname as Carlita....anyone tell me where that is from?
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Jan 31, 2018 15:23:28 GMT -5
If he does, he will probably develop into a 35 plus homer kind of guy. This year will be interesting in how Devers handles a full year in the majors. I'm sort of expecting a (still) pro-longed transition. I wouldn't be surprised, if we see his real capabilities in 2019. IMO I would see him hit about 25 bombs, and have a line of .270/.330/.480/.810 this upcoming season. Certainly I hope he puts up stronger numbers in 2018. I just think a 1st full season in Boston is hard to comprehend. I'd be overjoyed with .270/.330/.480 and 25 homers, and I think it's certainly within the realm of possibility. Which is crazy for a 21 year old. You actually came within a few thousandths of his Steamer projection: .285/.338/.481, with 19 home runs in 126 games. You're not just within the realm of possibility, you're living on 123 Main Street, Possibility, USA.
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Post by Coreno on Jan 31, 2018 15:55:03 GMT -5
MLB.COM has his nickname as Carlita....anyone tell me where that is from? It's actually Carita. No L. Spanish for "baby face"
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Post by voiceofreason on Jan 31, 2018 21:35:10 GMT -5
Maybe I am overly optimistic but I would be willing to bet Devers goes for 30+ with an OPS over 830.
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Post by Bogey2Short on Jan 31, 2018 23:15:30 GMT -5
MLB.COM has his nickname as Carlita....anyone tell me where that is from? It's actually Carita. No L. Spanish for "baby face" m.mlb.com/player/646240/rafael-deversthx, guess mlb.com is bad with there spanish then lol
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Post by rjp313jr on Feb 1, 2018 8:06:41 GMT -5
Was listening to a podcast where they compared Devers to Trout and Harper. They said that Devers swing was a lot like Harper's and produce tons of power this coming year and they don't see Devers with a sophomore slump with Cora and Febles around. I don't want to jinx Devers but I believe he's good for 20 to 30 home runs this year maybe doesn't hit for average but the power should be there. I do not think either are very good comparisons. Both Trout and Harper are, based on everything I have read, good defenders. While I think Devers is ready as a hitter (and will be disappointed if he doesn't hit 25 plus home runs wit at let an average OBP), I am still not sure he is a major league ready third baseman defensively. Hopefully, having his minor league manager on the team as a coach will help with his defense and my concern will be unwarranted, but if I were the Red Sox I would want a utility player on the team that plays an above average third base defensively in case Devers has problems and needs a late inning defensive replacement. Yea it’s definitely the defensive difference that makes this a bad comparison and not all the other things like speed or that little fact that Trout is one is the best MLB players of all time.
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Post by rjp313jr on Feb 1, 2018 8:11:37 GMT -5
Just caught up on the rest of the thread, I’m glad the expectations for Devers are under-control for this season... smh
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Post by jimed14 on Feb 1, 2018 9:20:53 GMT -5
Just caught up on the rest of the thread, I’m glad the expectations for Devers are under-control for this season... smh What are you shaking your head at? Nothing looked outrageous to me.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2018 18:26:34 GMT -5
Y'know, I kind of see it on the swing comp. Interesting. I don't think it means anything in terms of what to expect from him the coming year and don't think you can expect Harper numbers, but it's an interesting swing comp that seems to bear out. Just wanted to show the video evidence on this page too.
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Post by DesignatedKyle on Feb 2, 2018 8:22:47 GMT -5
I'd be overjoyed with .270/.330/.480 and 25 homers, and I think it's certainly within the realm of possibility. Which is crazy for a 21 year old. You actually came within a few thousandths of his Steamer projection: .285/.338/.481, with 19 home runs in 126 games. You're not just within the realm of possibility, you're living on 123 Main Street, Possibility, USA. Hadn't even looked at the projections yet. This kid is so good.
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Post by rjp313jr on Feb 2, 2018 16:46:01 GMT -5
Just caught up on the rest of the thread, I’m glad the expectations for Devers are under-control for this season... smh What are you shaking your head at? Nothing looked outrageous to me. Because i started reading with the Harper and Trout comparisons. Not all posts were in that regard and even the Harper Comp tried to temper it by saying didn’t expect him to be Harper but eliciting those names no matter how you try to frame it is out of bounds for him. Is it possible Devers is big time and a legit middle of he order bat? Sure but same thing happened with Beni last year. Beni had a good year and it was short of most people’s expectations
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Post by Coreno on Feb 2, 2018 17:06:21 GMT -5
Bryce Harper put up an OPS+ of 111 in his age 21 season. I also don't think anyone was disappointed in Benintendi's year. He went through a couple of rough stretches but still had a really solid all-around year.
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Post by jimed14 on Feb 2, 2018 17:27:40 GMT -5
What are you shaking your head at? Nothing looked outrageous to me. Because i started reading with the Harper and Trout comparisons. Not all posts were in that regard and even the Harper Comp tried to temper it by saying didn’t expect him to be Harper but eliciting those names no matter how you try to frame it is out of bounds for him. Is it possible Devers is big time and a legit middle of he order bat? Sure but same thing happened with Beni last year. Beni had a good year and it was short of most people’s expectations I haven't even seen anyone predict that he'd have a higher OPS than he did last year. That's what I was talking about.
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Post by larrycook on Feb 3, 2018 2:14:25 GMT -5
Baseball is a game of adjustments. You have to think pitchers will figure out devers, but hopefully he adjusts to how they pitch him.
I like his swing. Plenty of bat speed and power. If he and benintendi can grow off of last season, we should have a solid line up.
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Post by voiceofreason on Feb 3, 2018 3:20:37 GMT -5
The thing about some great hitters is that the bat seems to be whipped thru the strike zone. The bat speed is so evident that it looks like the bat is a whip. Devers has that kind of bat speed, it is not just a normal swing. That is why I am so optimistic that he will continue to excel.
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Post by Bogey2Short on Feb 3, 2018 15:22:55 GMT -5
Devers did have a period of adjustment from the league in 2017 if you remember. I don't know the exact dates but I'm sure everyone can recall the period after he went berserk on callup, he didn't hit a HR for like a month and didn't hit well at all, due to pitchers pitching him in. Then he adjusted in the series with the reds and was great from then through the playoffs. It seems to me like the kid WILL be able to adjust.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Feb 3, 2018 19:08:02 GMT -5
Devers did have a period of adjustment from the league in 2017 if you remember. I don't know the exact dates but I'm sure everyone can recall the period after he went berserk on callup, he didn't hit a HR for like a month and didn't hit well at all, due to pitchers pitching him in. Then he adjusted in the series with the reds and was great from then through the playoffs. It seems to me like the kid WILL be able to adjust. Oh man I love the arbitrary endpoints game! 7/25-8/19: 20 G, 28/77, 4 2B, 8 HR, .364/.424/.727 8/20-9/17: 26 G, 22/98, 6 2B, 0 HR, .224/.283/.286 9/18-10/1: 12 G, 13/47, 4 2B, 2 HR, .277/.306/.489 That said, the second cutoff point is kind of hard to pick. the two home runs came during a three-game set at HR-friendly Cincinnati (in 2016, it was as HR-friendly as Colorado: www.baseballamerica.com/minors/new-way-think-ballpark-factors/#YsbeFVUcTYjWHpgp.97 ), so the power outage really lasted from 8/20 onward. It's just that he started hitting better in a more general sense on 9/18 (BABIPs in the second and third groups were both fine, by the way—.300 and .333 or so—so it's not likely luck-driven). Based on his history, I wouldn't be surprised to see him have a slump of some sort early in the season. I also wouldn't be surprised to see him come out of it with aplomb.
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Post by iakovos11 on Feb 4, 2018 10:33:52 GMT -5
Alexa - what does aplomb mean?
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Feb 4, 2018 12:11:41 GMT -5
I'm studying for the SAT. Sue me.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Feb 7, 2018 2:07:40 GMT -5
Miss baseball ?
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