5/25 Gameday Thread: Morning, afternoon DH, & evening games

Chavis steals home and his next AB hits a 3-R bomb, accounting for all Salem runs.

His year has been pretty unbelievable. Love it. I just wish he wasn't considered a defensive liability at this point but theres time to improve there.

I missed this, why has he not been playing the field?

Devers never hit like this in Salem, no matter how many arbitrary endpoint games you play; to wit he has as many HRs as Devers had in ~ 1/3 of the PAs.
If Devers "hit his way out of Salem", Chavis has more so.

He should stay in Salem until pitchers stop pitching to him. I'm surprised that hasn't happened yet.

I realize Ockimey is getting the bulk of the first base AB's, but i would think they give Chavis a look there at some point if he continues to mash.

Ha! There's nothing arbitrary about BOS - YTD (that's so obvious as to require no explanation), especially for a 21-year old getting his first look at a level (I think it's fair to disregard his 27 PA at Salem last year).

My point is that any comparison to Devers is specious, Devers has never done this at any level; there's "holding your own" and then there's dominating; Chavis has an over *200+* in ~ 160 PAs - for me, the gold standard is Betts' 2014, where he had *only* a 177+ in ~250 PA; now perhaps you were against promoting Betts in 2014 at AA (because after all his most likely outcome was as a ML utility player - oops!), but it sure seems to have worked out.

As to promoting him now, probably not because Devers is in AA at 3B - once Sandoval is activated, I would promote Devers to AAA and Chavis to AA; you generally promote a player once he's no longer being challenged - what would you need to see? a 300+? 200+ for another 150 PAs? If that's the standard, Devers would still be at Salem or Greenville. What's the point?

Chavis's BB% is up, his K% down - there's nothing in his peripherals that screams "fluke" - sure a couple more weeks isn't make-or-break, but then let's give the kid a shot

Because hitters behind Chavis are Ockimey and Kemp.

The claim that Devers' July 2016 is equivalent to what Chavis has done this year isn't serious and requires no detailed refutation.

I do not understand the claim that you don't promote a player unless he has nothing else to work on; if a prospect has fixed all his deficiencies then you either:
a. promote him to majors
b. trade him
c. adjudge him dispensable

Why couldn't Chavis continue his defensive work at AA? Unless he is such a butcher that it would negatively impact his pitchers/fellow infielders. What can't be duplicated in A is the quality of pitching at AA.

And I fail to see how data-based arguments are "hostile" - that's on you

He's talking about things like "no matter how many arbitrary endpoint games you play," "that's so obvious as to require no explanation," "because after all his most likely outcome was as a ML utility player - oops!)," "isn't serious and requires no detailed refutation", and, coincidentally, "that's on you." You're getting weirdly confrontational and hostile, and it's not clear why. It'd be appreciated if you cooled the tone down a bit - it's just a discussion. I'm not sure if you're directing that at just me, or me and James, or everyone, but that doesn't really matter - we've got a thread on here in which we tried to convince readers of the board to post, and we had multiple people say that they don't post because of the way that the tone shifts in debates on here sometimes. So again, please try not to be so hostile in your posts.

I think that's a misinterpretation of my point that "You can't make the argument that he has nothing to work on - see my point on his defense." I wasn't trying to say he literally can't be promoted until he has nothing left to work on. I was saying he's been bad there, and that getting work at this level, while he's at least comfortable in the offensive part of the game, might be a good time for him to focus more on his defense (which is why I tried to make that point earlier, apparently unsuccessfully). Certainly, he doesn't need to stay at the level until he becomes Machado over there. My point was that he's legitimately struggling there, and I don't think it's wise to hotshot a guy up a level when there's an aspect of his game in which he's so clearly struggling.

For what it's worth, another reason you don't promote a guy after 150 PAs is that you want him to go around the league more than once to see how opposing pitching staffs adjust to him. He's seen Wilmington, Frederick, and Potomac for two series, and he's seen Lynchburg, Winston-Salem, Myrtle Beach, and Buies Creek once (this is actually his second series against Buies Creek happening now). He hasn't even played against Carolina yet this year and he has a single game against Down East, his first game of the year before going on the DL. There are looks he potentially hasn't been exposed to at this level yet, so it's not like every at-bat at the level is wasted.

For me, 200-250 PAs is when I start to look for a promotion for a guy drafted out of HS or signed internationally (you can go 150-200 for a high-end college draftee). I'd prefer he get about 100 more PA before going up, but I could see it after another 50 or so, and would be stunned if it happened sooner.

I'll disagree. We need to look no further than last year's flavor of the month, Dalbec. Killing it at one level over a small sample insures nothing at the next. I like Chavis' bat as well as anyone, I have since the team drafted him. But this is the first stretch where he's moved past difficult times.

Outside of the one that takes you to the majors, there's no jump bigger than the one to AA. I'd like the Sox to be certain he's ready for that. In my judgement, less than two months of this new Michael Chavis isn't enough to insure this isn't an aberration.