How worried should we be?

[11larkin11]

I know that most believe Ross will do worse this year, but hes batting .174 this spring. Is this something we really should be concerned about, or will he be OK?

[GridironGrace]

wouldnt worry to much at this point.....how many AB's has he gotten so far? I dunno, but id worry a lil bit if it continues on up into mid april.. but he'll be fine im sure

[edabbs44]

There are a few Reds that could be coming down to Earth in '07. Ross is piloting that ship.

The good news is that this offense will not be that dependent on his bat. It's not like we're talking about Dunn stinking it up.

The bad news is that Ross' mitt won't cover a bad hitting performance.

[jmac]

While he can "come down to earth"...what he did last year was on 200+ ab's .
Now this year with more ab's plus the all important GABP factor, it wouldnt surprise me to see him put up similar #'s.
I think the GABP factor will help him and gonzalez.

[sonny]

Well, at least we have a safety net in Chad Moeller:thumbdown

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by sonny

Well, at least we have a safety net in Chad Moeller:thumbdown

That net is old and frayed in about 500 locations

[jmcclain19]

Everyone makes a big fuss about Adam Dunn being a TTO guy (Three True Outcomes being a walk, a strikeout or a homer) but Ross is right there with him.

Dunn in 2006 - 683PA, 40HR, 112BB, 194K - 346 of 683= TTO% of 50.6
Ross in 2006 - 296PA, 21HR, 37BB, 75K - 133 of 296= TTO% of 44.9

I don't know exactly what that means - but I find it interesting.

And I wouldn't worry about Ross not hitting. No 1- this is his first year being the "Big Dog" and maybe that's weighing on him - the catchers in ST tend to be a tight nit group and maybe playing the alpha male is weighing on him a bit. And the Reds have 10 million guys competing for a few spots and I'm sure he's working around helping each one trying to make the team as well.

Perhaps its a little of both.

[CINCYREDS#1]

hes fine

[KronoRed]

Spring training stats are next to useless.

See Womack, Tony of the last 2 springs.

[redsupport]

remember that statement spring training stats are useless, that would wipe out about 10,000 posts on wunderkind hamilton

[flyer85]

Originally Posted by 11larkin11

I know that most believe Ross will do worse this year, but hes batting .174 this spring. Is this something we really should be concerned about, or will he be OK?

depends on what your expecting.

If your expecting more than 20 HRs and and a 240 average you may well end up disappointed. I for one would not be surprised to see Larue have the better season.

[flyer85]

Originally Posted by edabbs44

There are a few Reds that could be coming down to Earth in '07. Ross is piloting that ship.

... and Hatty is navigating.

[PuffyPig]

Originally Posted by redsupport

remember that statement spring training stats are useless, that would wipe out about 10,000 posts on wunderkind hamilton

I think the reason posters get excited about Hamilton doing well is because of his enormous talent.

There's a world of difference between a chronic underachiever getting hot for a few weeks in March than when a real talent does it. The question remains as to which one Hamilton is.

[RedEye]

Originally Posted by PuffyPig

I think the reason posters get excited about Hamilton doing well is because of his enormous talent.

There's a world of difference between a chronic underachiever getting hot for a few weeks in March than when a real talent does it. The question remains as to which one Hamilton is.

In any case, it's hard to call Hammy a "chronic underachiever." He hasn't played enough yet to underachieve IMO... unless you want to call constant drug use underachieving--although that's underachieving in life, not on the baseball field.

[Superdude]

Everyone seems to expect him to fall off the face of the earth, but I think he'll be okay. I wouldn't be surprised to see his average dip a little bit, but he draws walks and should easily repeat 20+ homers considering he did it last year in 247 at bats.