The Burying of Devin Mesoraco

[edabbs44]

It's not 2 games:

In the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Giants, Mesoraco went 3-for-4 with two singles and a three-run homer in a victory. It was his second straight three-hit contest and second straight night with a longball. Over the last 15 games, Mesoraco is sporting a .308 batting mark with three dingers.

Bum

In the 12 games prior to the Mon/Tues outburst, his line was .244/.304/.366 with 1 HR and 4 RBI in 46 PAs. It is pretty much an open ended 2 game sample.

[UK Reds Fan]

Not negative, grounded. IMO, insinuations that prior struggles are related to a perceived lack of opportunity are pretty aggressive, especially when we are talking about a two game sample.

In the month of July he is OPS at a .954 clip. He's been hot for a few weeks. He may turn back into a pumpkin in August, but let's hope his potential at the plate is starting to come on and we have a legit RH bat in the back third of our lineup.

THis and Ludwick coming back (hopefully) could be the fuel we need to jump start our offense and zoom ahead of the pack in NL Central.

[Bumstead]

In the 12 games prior to the Mon/Tues outburst, his line was .244/.304/.366 with 1 HR and 4 RBI in 46 PAs. It is pretty much an open ended 2 game sample.

Whatever fits your argument...

[edabbs44]

In the month of July he is OPS at a .954 clip. He's been hot for a few weeks. He may turn back into a pumpkin in August, but let's hope his potential at the plate is starting to come on and we have a legit RH bat in the back third of our lineup.

THis and Ludwick coming back (hopefully) could be the fuel we need to jump start our offense and zoom ahead of the pack in NL Central.

Month of July for Devin: .349/.396/.558 in 48 PAs
Last 40 PAs for Cozart: .351/.359/.568

More fuel, right? Right?

Look, I know there is a difference between Mesoraco and Cozart at this time. But we are also talking about a 2 game explosion added to more recent mediocrity from Devin. Monster 10 PA samples can greatly skew slightly larger samples due to the still relatively small size of the overall sample. Looking at it objectively, Devin just annhilated 2 pitchers who were generally annhilated by everyone on the team, including Cozart, Frazier and Robinson. I know everyone has spent a lot of time and energy promoting Devin for a long time, and blaming a number of external forces for Devin's struggles to this point. And this could truly be the true beginning of Devin's breakout. But let's wait and see a little bit...it could just as easily be just a real good 2 game span.

[reds44]

Mesoraco has a .730 OPS on the season.


What's with the need to tear him down, edabbs? He's getting consistent playing time and he's hitting better. Could it be a coincidence? Sure, but I have hope it's not.

[*BaseClogger*]

Hey edabbs44, I'll bet ya that Mesoraco keeps his OPS over 700 for the rest of the season. If I'm right, will you change your user title to "Devil's Advocate"?

[RedEye]

Mesoraco has a .730 OPS on the season.


What's with the need to tear him down, edabbs? He's getting consitent playing time and he's hitting better. Could it be a coincidence? Sure, but I have hope it's not.

Yep. "Struggling" to league average production. Above average for a catcher alrwady and has room to improve, too.

[fearofpopvol1]

What evidence do we have that he is "emerging"? That he has a couple of good games in overall offensive routs? On Sunday his OpS stood at .671. In the month of July on Sunday his OPS stood at .695 with a .360 babip. In the 30 days prior to Sunday he had a .598 OPS. In the time that Hanigan got hurt to Sunday, when Devin theoretically knew he wouldn't need to worry about not playing tomorrow, his OPS was .598.

Two games is a start, not an emergence. He appears to have the talent. But let's not get hysterical because of his pedigree or because this is what the Reds could really use or this is totally what we want on a personal level.

So when Devin has limited playing time and doesn't hit well, you claim (or have claimed), he's not making the most of his opportunities and therefore doesn't deserve more playing time. Now, he's hitting quite well and you're still seemingly saying he hasn't show much or earned anything (this despite him outplaying Hanigan on the season in more PAs).

So which is it? Your logic has been inconsistent.

[edabbs44]

Mesoraco has a .730 OPS on the season.


What's with the need to tear him down, edabbs? He's getting consistent playing time and he's hitting better. Could it be a coincidence? Sure, but I have hope it's not.

I'm not sure that I am tearing him down. Quite often we use logic on this board to understand what we are truly seeing on the field. I don't see how, logically, we can talk about a two game span as an emergence, evidence that he has gained confidence in himself or his role, or that this is linked to a perceived opportunity that he is currently receiving.

I know this will probably be received with mixed emotions here, but it seems like there are certain situations on this board where some will beat you to death with stats and then other situations involving other players where we don't need to do that. If my introduction of the fact that Devin's two game SF explosion is materially skewing his numbers, then I apologize. But in a 200 PA sample, 2 games like that will make a huge difference and I'm not sure that we can truly say that he is on his way to a 750 OPS, 660 OPS, or something else.

I just find it odd that some want to link these two games directly to some sort of opportunity, insinuating that this would've been all season long if he played 5 times per week. Just seems way illogical for me.

[edabbs44]

So when Devin has limited playing time and doesn't hit well, you claim (or have claimed), he's not making the most of his opportunities and therefore doesn't deserve more playing time. Now, he's hitting quite well and you're still seemingly saying he hasn't show much or earned anything (this despite him outplaying Hanigan on the season in more PAs).

So which is it? Your logic has been inconsistent.

He has had a monster two game span where he has hit more than quite well. My logic is that he will need to do more than blow up in two games where many hitters in the lineup blew up before I believe that we are witnessing anything more than just that.

[RedsManRick]

	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA
Mes	.258	.326	.405	.313
BP	.262	.313	.406	.311

If only Mes could learn to be clutch, people would fawn over him.

As for BP, he better be grateful that he's tearing it up with runners on base, because otherwise people might realize that he's having the worst season of his career.

[kaldaniels]

Just because a guys best 2 games just happened doesn't mean you can't count them.

Mes is a .730 OPS bat for the season, and is trending up. What is there to argue on that?

[edabbs44]

Hey edabbs44, I'll bet ya that Mesoraco keeps his OPS over 700 for the rest of the season. If I'm right, will you change your user title to "Devil's Advocate"?

So all he would need to do is hit about .650 OPS for the rest of the season? Not sure if that is any great achievement.

[edabbs44]

Just because a guys best 2 games just happened doesn't mean you can't count them.

Mes is a .730 OPS bat for the season, and is trending up. What is there to argue on that?

Of course you have to count them, but I'm not sure that we should feel any different about him than we did 48 hours ago, when he was sitting at .671.

[VR]

Very promising progress, I'm pleased to see it.

Start taking the outside pitches to right instead of pounding them into the dirt to the left side.....and we'll have a well above average catcher for many years.