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Post by ochobeavo on May 1, 2017 14:41:50 GMT -8
We've talked a lot about Madrigal, Jake Thompson, Luke, whether or not Fehmel is terrible or awful, or horrible (I disagree with all of those) etc. -but a couple of surprises this season that I never saw coming:
1. Steven Kwan. .313 overall, hitting .380 in Pac-12 play. OBP .466 in Pac-12 play. Looked completely over matched last season, and I thought he was going to wind up a late inning defense guy / bunt specialist.
2. Jack Anderson .318 overall, .406 OBP overall, .316 in P12, .400 OBP. Every time I look up it seems he's involved in a key play. I was worried about losing Nobach as I thought he'd be a key piece this year. Officially no longer worried.
3. Catcher. We lost one of the best catchers to come through here and it hasn't come back to bite us. I thought it would be Gretler with an assist from KJ (really glad it's not KJ). Of course, winning can sure help you quickly move past a .210 BA. But AR is doing just enough at the plate and is getting better all the time.
4. Donahue. Just can't seem to get it going. Not striking out as much as he did early on. Went 2-6 with 4 walks on the weekend, so that's encouraging.. Still plenty of time to bounce back, but we could sure use last year's version.
Anyone else have any pleasant (or unpleasant) surprises?
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Post by orangeexpress on May 1, 2017 14:52:52 GMT -8
I believe there were questions whether or not we had a true "Friday guy" at the beginning of the season, and it seems instead we have two to bookend each weekend series.
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Post by ostate on May 1, 2017 14:55:19 GMT -8
keeping the Pac 12 opponents batting average of .189 is a surprise for me - I know it's a product of our pitching but keeping our conference opponents under .200 is pretty surprising...
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Post by mbabeav on May 1, 2017 15:00:36 GMT -8
Steven Kwan is the truly standout surprise for me individually and it couldn't be happening to a better young man; the frosh bullpen production and overall pitching prowess has surprised everyone I think (and I thought we would have great pitching). Adley may only be hitting the Mendoza line, but he seems to be in on a lot of scoring, and teams are just not running on us, which has kept a lot of people out of scoring position.
My most unpleasant (but hopefully improving based on this weekend's results) issue surrounds power. For a team with a bunch of big kids with power potential, we certainly haven't translated that into production. Goss in cold/cool weather is not a home run park, but we also are not pulling the ball well. Then there is our fielding - making the most incredible plays, but getting a bit lackadaisical on some routine stuff. Most of the time it has not come back to hurt us, but I find it difficult to take.
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Post by ochobeavo on May 1, 2017 15:09:16 GMT -8
Steven Kwan is the truly standout surprise for me individually and it couldn't be happening to a better young man; the frosh bullpen production and overall pitching prowess has surprised everyone I think (and I thought we would have great pitching). Adley may only be hitting the Mendoza line, but he seems to be in on a lot of scoring, and teams are just not running on us, which has kept a lot of people out of scoring position. My most unpleasant (but hopefully improving based on this weekend's results) issue surrounds power. For a team with a bunch of big kids with power potential, we certainly haven't translated that into production. Goss in cold/cool weather is not a home run park, but we also are not pulling the ball well. Then there is our fielding - making the most incredible plays, but getting a bit lackadaisical on some routine stuff. Most of the time it has not come back to hurt us, but I find it difficult to take. Agreed on power. In my mind, I had built up KJ into "our next Conforto"- which is ridiculous I know (and shows how spoiled we've been)... and so is banging on a guy hitting .320, but I guess I still feel like there's a lot of room for improvement there. But our middle infielders + KJ are responsible for most of our home runs. If you would have told me Grenier would be our co-leader at this point, I wouldn't have believed you. |
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Post by mbabeav on May 1, 2017 16:55:51 GMT -8
Steven Kwan is the truly standout surprise for me individually and it couldn't be happening to a better young man; the frosh bullpen production and overall pitching prowess has surprised everyone I think (and I thought we would have great pitching). Adley may only be hitting the Mendoza line, but he seems to be in on a lot of scoring, and teams are just not running on us, which has kept a lot of people out of scoring position. My most unpleasant (but hopefully improving based on this weekend's results) issue surrounds power. For a team with a bunch of big kids with power potential, we certainly haven't translated that into production. Goss in cold/cool weather is not a home run park, but we also are not pulling the ball well. Then there is our fielding - making the most incredible plays, but getting a bit lackadaisical on some routine stuff. Most of the time it has not come back to hurt us, but I find it difficult to take. Agreed on power. In my mind, I had built up KJ into "our next Conforto"- which is ridiculous I know (and shows how spoiled we've been)... and so is banging on a guy hitting .320, but I guess I still feel like there's a lot of room for improvement there. But our middle infielders + KJ are responsible for most of our home runs. If you would have told me Grenier would be our co-leader at this point, I wouldn't have believed you. Pitchers are definitely pitching to take away the home run from KJ, but he's learning to go with what he is getting and his average is way up over last year. Besides, he hits home runs in bunches, so by the end of the season we still might be talking about double digits. Grenier and Madrigal have not hit a home run in ages tho, if you would have told me 15 games ago that they would still be stuck on 4 and 3, I wouldn't have believed you. There isn't anyone around to protect the #4 hole. Now if he could just stop all those pop ups! |
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Post by 56chevy on May 1, 2017 19:49:22 GMT -8
Jake Thompson.
Steven Kwan.
Gretlers clutch hitting.
The depth of the bullpen, done mostly without a healthy Max.
Preston Jones with a walk off base running game winner.
A team batting average higher in Pac-12 play than outside of it.
Sweeping Stanford on the road and the 1300 mile spur of the moment drive with my son to watch it.
Six straight weeks as consensus #1
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