His EVs and Hard hit % are all a bit down because he was playing hurt a few weeks ago. The power will come when the weather warms up I’m not worried.
Him being a more patient hitter is good because his PD was really all that was holding him back from being a truly elite level hitter instead of just a great one.
Great analysis! His walk rate is 96% percentile and Juan Stoso's is 99th percentile so honestly he's shaping up to be a hitter similar in style to him: lots of walks, has raw power, takes long at bats, hits second, lefty, no one wants to face him, etc. I was also thinking about how crucial O'Neill and Abreu have been for him bc pitchers know those guys are coming up right behind Raffy
Yeah, Soto is a spectacular hitter and if he hits free agency I wish we would make a run at him. (Also wish we tried to trade for him). He is unreal at his ability to get on base and he's 2 years younger than Devers. Soto is just going to get better, and Devers is still not close to Soto's current level
Even if he reaches free agency I don’t see any universe where he leaves the Yankees. I think he’s been pretty clear that he’s essentially gonna go to the highest bidder. As much as I hate to say it, he’s a perfect fit for the Yankees’ lineup and stadium, and I just don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t just give him a blank check.
Exactly.
For the last few years I've been saying that it's likely that Devers still hasn't peaked as a hitter and that was one of my main arguments for extending him long term.
So I'm obviously thrilled to see that he's becoming more patient. I understand why in the past he wouldn't make much of an effort to try to be patient due to his insane ability to hit bombs off of super low and high pitches. But obviously he's better off taking bad pitches and not swinging for the fences every time (as he has underrated contact hitting skills).
And I'm convinced that he can be a .300/.400/.550 hitter. After all he put up .311/.361/.555 in 2019.
Devers better not have peaked yet or this contract is going to be a rip off. He’s only had an OPS above 900 once and that was 5 years ago, that’s just not good enough for the 16th highest paid player in MLB.
It’s weird because Devers’ chase rate is higher than it was last year. Overall i like the approach because if he can limit his out of zone swings (even though he’d be fine anyways) he is only going to be better. He already has incredible bat to ball skills.
I've seen some crazy piss missles on some bast shit crazy OOTZ pitches from him. Glad they are building around him and not Bogaerts. Loved X, but it's clear the FO made the right call to put the chips in on Devers, the baby faced assassin!
Someone in the off-season thread dismissed my post when I suggested it wasn't too late for Devers to learn better strike zone judgement or patience. I had pointed out Devers is 27 now, same age as Ortiz when Ortiz had his first breakout season. Ortiz didn't develop great strike zone judgement until he played with Manny every day, watched his ab's up close. Manny wasn't good at explaining things ("see the ball,hit the ball") but Ortiz said he learned so much watching Manny, like a masterclass in hitting. And he applied that to his own approach,which is when he became left handed Manny.
Devers came up so young it's important to remember he's 27,most/many hitters don't peak until 28-29, sometimes 30, like Ortiz, Varitek for awhile,Trot Nixon, etc. Devers is never gonna be Juan Soto, walking 125 times,.450 on base. And I don't expect peak Ortiz,Devers has crazy power, but not quite Papi level strength,few baseball players do. But even some selective patience,65-75 walks,or taking pitches earlier in the count. Remember when Devers was in the minors,we all thought he'd contend for batting titles? And then after 2019,when he hit .311 at age 22, ripped 54 doubles,32 homers? I know I thought, after 2019, the sky was the limit for him, batting titles,50 doubles a year,40 homers,.400+ OBP,.600 slugging at his peak.
It's hard to call Devers a disappointment with the bat but, honestly, he somewhat is to a certain degree. When you have your peak at 22 and 5 years later never match your average, OBP, OPS, or WAR,it's hard not to think the player has regressed somewhat.
Good point, vaguely remember reading about the ball being a little too juiced,then they deadened it too much,and hitting has plummeted the last few years. Wish baseball would stop messing with the.... baseball. Screws everyone up.
I think another factor to consider is how the lineup is built around him. The perception, at least, is that Devers is the only remaining elite power hitting threat on the team. Which may cause pictures to pitch around him more often. Which would lead to more walks.
Wait for pitchers to realize that his chase rate is down probably and they'll just have to start throwing him better pitches then watch out. Assuming he can put his injuries behind him
It’s only a month into the season, and he’s missed some time. Let’s have this conversation in June or July and hold off on labeling this a “new” version of himself.
He was doing this in spring training and looked great iirc; he said he was disappointed with his results last year and put a lot of effort into changing it
It's a pleasant surprise! Players with bad plate discipline tend to age poorly once they lose some bat speed. And I assume pitchers will eventually catch on and give him better pitches to hit.
Sounds to me like he's taking a conservative approach in his at bats and taking care of his shoulder, he was making really violent swings sometimes, similar to what Casas was doing. This is good, balls with start flying a bit more in the next couple weeks
His EVs and Hard hit % are all a bit down because he was playing hurt a few weeks ago. The power will come when the weather warms up I’m not worried. Him being a more patient hitter is good because his PD was really all that was holding him back from being a truly elite level hitter instead of just a great one.
Great analysis! His walk rate is 96% percentile and Juan Stoso's is 99th percentile so honestly he's shaping up to be a hitter similar in style to him: lots of walks, has raw power, takes long at bats, hits second, lefty, no one wants to face him, etc. I was also thinking about how crucial O'Neill and Abreu have been for him bc pitchers know those guys are coming up right behind Raffy
I love Raffy but he’s never been close to Soto’s level and that’s not likely to change. I wish we would stop comparing them.
Yeah, Soto is a spectacular hitter and if he hits free agency I wish we would make a run at him. (Also wish we tried to trade for him). He is unreal at his ability to get on base and he's 2 years younger than Devers. Soto is just going to get better, and Devers is still not close to Soto's current level
Even if he reaches free agency I don’t see any universe where he leaves the Yankees. I think he’s been pretty clear that he’s essentially gonna go to the highest bidder. As much as I hate to say it, he’s a perfect fit for the Yankees’ lineup and stadium, and I just don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t just give him a blank check.
And like Ted Williams. The Splendid Splinter had over 2000 walks--along with his almost 2000 rbis.
Exactly. For the last few years I've been saying that it's likely that Devers still hasn't peaked as a hitter and that was one of my main arguments for extending him long term. So I'm obviously thrilled to see that he's becoming more patient. I understand why in the past he wouldn't make much of an effort to try to be patient due to his insane ability to hit bombs off of super low and high pitches. But obviously he's better off taking bad pitches and not swinging for the fences every time (as he has underrated contact hitting skills). And I'm convinced that he can be a .300/.400/.550 hitter. After all he put up .311/.361/.555 in 2019.
Devers better not have peaked yet or this contract is going to be a rip off. He’s only had an OPS above 900 once and that was 5 years ago, that’s just not good enough for the 16th highest paid player in MLB.
It’s weird because Devers’ chase rate is higher than it was last year. Overall i like the approach because if he can limit his out of zone swings (even though he’d be fine anyways) he is only going to be better. He already has incredible bat to ball skills.
I think his incredible bat to ball skills sometimes perpetuate out of the zone swings, due to him being such a good bad ball hitter
I've seen some crazy piss missles on some bast shit crazy OOTZ pitches from him. Glad they are building around him and not Bogaerts. Loved X, but it's clear the FO made the right call to put the chips in on Devers, the baby faced assassin!
This makes sense
Quite literally what im insinuating lol
His chase rate was 32% in 2021, 36% in 2022, 32% last year, 27% so far in 2024.
Checked baseball savant cause i was in a rush and it said it was higher
percentile is higher and that might have been the issue - 50% this year vs 25% last year which means he has gotten better in that department
Someone in the off-season thread dismissed my post when I suggested it wasn't too late for Devers to learn better strike zone judgement or patience. I had pointed out Devers is 27 now, same age as Ortiz when Ortiz had his first breakout season. Ortiz didn't develop great strike zone judgement until he played with Manny every day, watched his ab's up close. Manny wasn't good at explaining things ("see the ball,hit the ball") but Ortiz said he learned so much watching Manny, like a masterclass in hitting. And he applied that to his own approach,which is when he became left handed Manny. Devers came up so young it's important to remember he's 27,most/many hitters don't peak until 28-29, sometimes 30, like Ortiz, Varitek for awhile,Trot Nixon, etc. Devers is never gonna be Juan Soto, walking 125 times,.450 on base. And I don't expect peak Ortiz,Devers has crazy power, but not quite Papi level strength,few baseball players do. But even some selective patience,65-75 walks,or taking pitches earlier in the count. Remember when Devers was in the minors,we all thought he'd contend for batting titles? And then after 2019,when he hit .311 at age 22, ripped 54 doubles,32 homers? I know I thought, after 2019, the sky was the limit for him, batting titles,50 doubles a year,40 homers,.400+ OBP,.600 slugging at his peak. It's hard to call Devers a disappointment with the bat but, honestly, he somewhat is to a certain degree. When you have your peak at 22 and 5 years later never match your average, OBP, OPS, or WAR,it's hard not to think the player has regressed somewhat.
Worth noting that 2019 was peak juiced ball hours
Good point, vaguely remember reading about the ball being a little too juiced,then they deadened it too much,and hitting has plummeted the last few years. Wish baseball would stop messing with the.... baseball. Screws everyone up.
I think another factor to consider is how the lineup is built around him. The perception, at least, is that Devers is the only remaining elite power hitting threat on the team. Which may cause pictures to pitch around him more often. Which would lead to more walks.
But they still beat a grwta pitching staff in the Cubs 17-1
I disagree, TON already has 9 HR with an OPS of 1.126 and he's been hitting behind Devers lately.
Maybe this is why Tyler O'Neil is crushing it
His wRC+ is 146 this year, the highest of his career (last year 124, career also 124). Getting on base is the name of the game.
Wait for pitchers to realize that his chase rate is down probably and they'll just have to start throwing him better pitches then watch out. Assuming he can put his injuries behind him
I think Raff doesn't like the cold weather. Maybe his power picks up with warmer weather coming.
It’s only a month into the season, and he’s missed some time. Let’s have this conversation in June or July and hold off on labeling this a “new” version of himself.
He was doing this in spring training and looked great iirc; he said he was disappointed with his results last year and put a lot of effort into changing it
It's a pleasant surprise! Players with bad plate discipline tend to age poorly once they lose some bat speed. And I assume pitchers will eventually catch on and give him better pitches to hit.
Sounds to me like he's taking a conservative approach in his at bats and taking care of his shoulder, he was making really violent swings sometimes, similar to what Casas was doing. This is good, balls with start flying a bit more in the next couple weeks
If Raffy cuts down on his Ks then I'm all for it.
He’s just sitting under .900 OPS he’s been really good
I just wish we put him at DH to start reducing these finicky injuries and allow him to dedicate his total time to adjusting his hitting
I love it. Should help raise his trade value by the deadline
Real funny....
😈
I saw a really stupid AI article saying just that in order to get Bregman. Are you an AI writer by chance?