8/31/12 - Reds at Astros

[Kc61]

Originally Posted by Brutus

Heisey's career numbers suggest otherwise.

1.002 OPS on the first pitch. What part of that is problematic for you?

Like Tony said... you don't try to make hitters into something they're not. Some people prefer high tops. Other prefer loafers with khakis. Some people like hitting early in the count, others prefer waiting until later. Not everyone can be Joey Votto or Albert Pujols. Joe Morgan had a Hall of Fame career hitting pitches early in the count. Does he have bad fundamentals?

A hitter should hit the pitch he feels he has the best chance of hitting. Doesn't really matter if that's 0-0, 0-2 or 2-0.

A walk is preferable to a strikeout, but a good pitch to hit is preferable to the mere chance of a walk.

With it all, with his first pitch OPS, and his comfort zone, and his preferences, Heisey is a .750 OPS hitter. That isn't good enough for a starting corner outfielder. It is good enough for a good defensive CFer, but the Reds obviously feel Heisey's CF play doesn't measure up to, say, Stubbs'.

So what you get with Heisey, with his first pitch hitting, with his comfort zone, with his preference, is a fourth outfielder.

If he were more patient, if he walked more than 12 times through August, maybe Heisey could be an .800 OPS hitter and would have a better chance to be a starter. But right now, with his early swinging, with his preferences, with his comfort zone, he's a backup who is getting a chance because of Stubbs' monumental slump.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Now THAT was a fun game to go to. :O) I kept looking at the LF scoreboard and grinning at the 10-0 spanking the cards got, and the Buccos down 5-1. Jay was having a ball in RF chatting it up with his friends and family and playing hit the target with Heisey before innings began.

I must admit though, I owe Mike Leake an apology. It was my fault. I got up out of my seat ONE TIME during the whole game for like 3 or 4 minutes....dinger, dinger. All of the Astro fans around me kept asking me if I didn't need to go get some more food or have another bathroom break, anything to get me out of my chair. No can do. :O)

Lets keep this rollin' boys right up to the WS title!!!

~edit~ And this was my first time seeing that kid Jimmy Paredes for the Astros...he's a total butcher in the field. Wow. Horrible routes, crappy concentration, bad decision making. Yikes.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by Reds Fanatic

Yes it is kind of hard to draw a crowd when you are 40-91 and no one knows who half the lineup is.

And yet with 30 people in attendance they STILL attempted to do the wave. Just pitiful.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by Tadasimha

Actual bat flying around inside Minutemaid Park

Yep, that sucker was dive-bombing everyone tonight. The kids freaking LOVED it. They paid more attention to the bat than the game. No contest.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by Kc61

With it all, with his first pitch OPS, and his comfort zone, and his preferences, Heisey is a .750 OPS hitter. That isn't good enough for a starting corner outfielder. It is good enough for a good defensive CFer, but the Reds obviously feel Heisey's CF play doesn't measure up to, say, Stubbs'.

So what you get with Heisey, with his first pitch hitting, with his comfort zone, with his preference, is a fourth outfielder.

If he were more patient, if he walked more than 12 times through August, maybe Heisey could be an .800 OPS hitter and would have a better chance to be a starter. But right now, with his early swinging, with his preferences, with his comfort zone, he's a backup who is getting a chance because of Stubbs' monumental slump.

He's not a starting corner outfielder. He's a starting centerfielder, as of this moment. The average CF, starting or otherwise, has a .730 OPS. So Heisey's .750 OPS would be above average.

I don't see why it matters where his OPS comes from. Whether it's first pitch or seventh pitch, the bottom line results are what matter.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

~edit~ And this was my first time seeing that kid Jimmy Paredes for the Astros...he's a total butcher in the field. Wow. Horrible routes, crappy concentration, bad decision making. Yikes.

In fairness, he's an infielder just now making the conversion to the outfield. But yeah, he was awful. I wasn't aware that the Astros infield was so rich in talent that it necessitated moving Paredes to the OF.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

In fairness, he's an infielder just now making the conversion to the outfield. But yeah, he was awful. I wasn't aware that the Astros infield was so rich in talent that it necessitated moving Paredes to the OF.

That's what I meant, it was my first time seeing him in the OF. The boo birds were getting on him pretty bad after that second boot. I still can't believe they didn't give him an error on that second one too.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Apparently the Astros still aren't done cleaning house either. I just saw this on the ESPN recap of tonights game.

Houston traded OF Ben Francisco to Tampa Bay for a player to be named later during the game.

And they also did this little adjustment.

A hearty congratulations goes out to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus who bid farewell to the internet today as he will be joining the Astros as a Pro Scouting Coordinator

And this last bit about the Lastros. Ugly stat.

The Reds have more wins in Houston (four) since the All-Star Break than the Astros (three). Yes, the Astros are that bad.

[Kc61]

Originally Posted by Brutus

He's not a starting corner outfielder. He's a starting centerfielder, as of this moment. The average CF, starting or otherwise, has a .730 OPS. So Heisey's .750 OPS would be above average.

I don't see why it matters where his OPS comes from. Whether it's first pitch or seventh pitch, the bottom line results are what matter.

We agree that the bottom line is what counts. For Heisey it's .750 OPS.

We also agree that .750 OPS would be good enough for CF duty. But Heisey has never been the regular CFer, likely because he isn't a prime CF defender.

And he's not the starting CFer now. Stubbs started every game in Arizona in CF and two against St. Louis before that.

Heisey's overall package, including his hitting approach, gets him fourth outfielder status. Last three games he's played LF, RF, and CF, once each to spell Bruce, Ludwick and Stubbs.

Heisey has the power to be a starting player, and he hustles like crazy, but the 12 walks and relatively low OBP don't help him. A little patience at the plate might help.

[CrackerJack]

Err, shouldn't Dusty just be platooning Heisey/Stubbs against righties/lefties? Isn't it as simple as that?

[Big Klu]

Updated Reds HR list (players in italics are active):

Reds 100-Home Run Club
1. Johnny Bench - 389
2. Frank Robinson - 324
3. Tony Perez - 287
4. Adam Dunn - 270
5. Ted Kluszewski - 251
6. George Foster - 244
7. Ken Griffey, Jr. - 210
8. Eric Davis - 203
9. Barry Larkin - 198
10. Vada Pinson - 186
11. Wally Post - 172
12. Gus Bell - 160
13. Joe Morgan - 152
13. Pete Rose - 152
15. Lee May - 147
16. Brandon Phillips - 139
17. Dan Driessen - 133
17. Joey Votto - 133
19. Jay Bruce - 128
20. Reggie Sanders - 125
21. Ernie Lombardi - 120
22. Sean Casey - 118
23. Frank McCormick - 110
24. Dave Parker - 107
25. Chris Sabo - 104
26. Dave Concepcion - 101

[Unassisted]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Now THAT was a fun game to go to. :O)

I was there, too. Thanks to StubHub, I got a bargain on some awesome club seats behind home plate.

My entire row was Reds fans. It seemed like 80% of the fans behind the Reds dugout were Reds fans. There were even quite a few Reds fans in the premium seats on the lower level, behind home plate. I would be surprised if there were 3,000 people in the ballpark that night.