So when is Bruce going to start hitting?

[reds44]

If you're avoiding doing work on a Friday, this thread is hilarious to read if you have the time.

Sigh, he's been terrible this year. He's hit about two line drives all year long. I don't care how many want to come into this thread and rip me, whatever. I'd love more than anything to say this kid is a player but he has regressed completely and totally since he was called up! Let's call a spade a spade, he was a more complete hitter, having better at bats, working counts, and using all fields when he was 21 years old.

Someone last year said it best--I am like the kid who got a new toy and now they're not happy with the new toy now that it's out of the box. That's exactly how I feel.

What is it about this kid and his nervous pervous nice guy approach in the box? Night in and night out he just doesn't get it done in big spots or his poorer performance is masked by a 1-4 in which he did some VERY bad things. He is Ben Grieve II. He will be no more than that as a Major Leaguer. Remember I said that.

Ben Grieve had all of 435 ABs after turning 27. So awesome.

People using Jayson Heyward as a means to tear Bruce down as well is funny to look back on now.

[traderumor]

Yeah. Such a low down, crying shame.

All he became is the guy that leads the entire National League in homers over the past five seasons.

Where does his slash line rank him over the last five years, since I'm sure you understand that homers is a very limited counting stat and really doesn't tell us much of anything about a hitter, esp. whether or not he is a good hitter that is meeting expectations for a power hitting outfielder?

[Raisor]

Here's where Bruce has ranked in the NL in OPS in each of the last three season:

2011 26th
2012 17th
2013 25th

In other words he's in that group where he's a solid second best hitter on the team, which is exactly what he is.

[wheels]

Where does his slash line rank him over the last five years, since I'm sure you understand that homers is a very limited counting stat and really doesn't tell us much of anything about a hitter, esp. whether or not he is a good hitter that is meeting expectations for a power hitting outfielder?

In the context of what I was replying to, it was perfectly appropriate.

You've been around long enough to know that my knowledge goes a little deeper than the prosaic. Maybe you don't. Maybe I don't care.

Tough noogies.

[traderumor]

In the context of what I was replying to, it was perfectly appropriate.

You've been around long enough to know that my knowledge goes a little deeper than the prosaic. Maybe you don't. Maybe I don't care.

Tough noogies.

I would call what you did cherry picking a stat. The original poster didn't say he was a flop, just that he had not reached expectations of being the best all around hitter on the team. Votto is what folks generally thought Bruce would be. Saying he has hit a lot of homers as a "see what I just did there" was really just being smart alecky from where I sit.

[traderumor]

BTW, if Bruce was fulfilling his projections, which I think fit his pedigree from draft to Minor League Player of the Year, the Reds would be rivaling the Cards as one of the best offenses. He isn't, he's wildly inconsistent, and so is the offense.

[Raisor]

. He isn't, he's wildly inconsistent, and so is the offense.

It's been asked before: inconsistent compared to whom?

[powersackers]

What I don't understand is why people take Bruce's so called streakiness personally or as some kind of character flaw.

Because it's so extreme and unlike any hitter in history?

[cincrazy]

Bruce had an even worse start last year if I remember correctly. It's been cold, it's been rainy, they've faced BRUTAL pitching. I used to be in the "I overreact to every Jay Bruce slump" category. No more. at the end of the year he'll have 30-35 homers, 100 rbis, a .270 average, and several big hits. So he's not the next Hank Aaron or Stan Musial. Darn. I can still live with that kind of production on a yearly basis.

[traderumor]

It's been asked before: inconsistent compared to whom?

Yea, I get it, MLB hitters are inherently "inconsistent," but it doesn't take piles of data to note that Bruce is on the "feast or famine" end of the continuum. One cannot always plead "observation bias."

[Raisor]

Because it's so extreme and unlike any hitter in history?

I'm assuming you've compared him game to game against every player that ever played to say this ?

Shenanigans sir.

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Yea, I get it, MLB hitters are inherently "inconsistent," but it doesn't take piles of data to note that Bruce is on the "feast or famine" end of the continuum. One cannot always plead "observation bias."

Actually it would take piles of data to prove that.

[traderumor]

I'm assuming you've compared him game to game against every player that ever played to say this ?

Shenanigans sir.

- - - Updated - - -



Actually it would take piles of data to prove that.

Not playing the game. You are begging the question as well. Maybe we'll both be able to hold our opinions and live with them.

[osuceltic]

I would have hoped we were beyond the "is Bruce streaky?" questions. Of course he is. A lot of guys are. The more interesting question is how that impacts value. If you have two guys who end up around .255/30/100 with an OPS around .810, but one is a model of consistency and the other got there via extreme peaks and valleys, have they impacted the team's record differently? There probably has been a study about this, but I'm not aware of one or the results.

[Raisor]

"Compared to whom" is a really important question to ask if you are alledging that Bruce is more inconsistent than other players.

No one is going to disagree that he is streaky. What needs to be determined is that streakiness an issue. If you compare him to other players with an 825 ops, does it matter if the. "Bad" games are condensed into a "streak" or if they are spread out?

In a month does it matter if he has 10 bad games in a row or I'd those ten games are spread out?

[Raisor]

I would have hoped we were beyond the "is Bruce streaky?" questions. Of course he is. A lot of guys are. The more interesting question is how that impacts value. If you have two guys who end up around .255/30/100 with an OPS around .810, but one is a model of consistency and the other got there via extreme peaks and valleys, have they impacted the team's record differently? There probably has been a study about this, but I'm not aware of one or the results.

Exactly. We know, in the end, it's the totals that matter and we know this because of the accuracy of the pythag theorem.