Saturday, March 27, 2021

Thoughts from Saturday's game

 It was nice to get my work done in the morning so I could enjoy the game on TV today.   

  • Beiber looked better, albeit against Dodger reserves as the stars were on their way back to LA.   I have more confidence in him.
  • Austin Hedges is one of the worst catchers in baseball.   I counted at least 10 borderline pitches that he tried to frame for Bieber.   Bieber got 2 strike calls and some of the pitches looked like definite strikes.  Lavarnway did a much better job framing pitches when he came in.    Hedges K'd twice including ducking out of the way of a curveball that ended up over the heart of the plate.   His only good thing was that he got hit on the foot by a pitch.    I know all the starters must want Perez as their catcher and he would be more helpful to the other starters but, man, Bieber can't be asked to carry Hedges on his back every start!  Hedges is bad and should be out of here.  He does nothing well.  Nothing.
  • Gamel looked bad in centerfield.   He turned the wrong way on a ball over his head turning it into a double.   Naylor looked worse in RF with 2 errors in one inning and he didn't hit the ball well either, appearing to have a terrible approach and rolling over on balls he should have taken up the middle or to right field.  You have your Cy Young guy on the mound.   At least put people behind him who can catch and throw the ball appropriately.
  • Trevor Stephan looked really good again, mixing his fastball with a good cureball/slider off the plate at the knees which he complemented with some sort of backdoor slider.
  • Emmanuel Clase looked good today, mixing in a lot of sliders.
  • Nick Sandlin looked good, as well.   His stuff can be nasty.
  • Owen Miller, man, what can you say?  The guy is a hitting machine.   Given what they have in the minors at middle infield if they do not start working Miller exclusively in the OF tomorrow,, someone in this organization should be fired.   I mean, really: Amed Rosario, Josh Naylor and Ben Gamel as our outfielders?   Miller should get a couple of months of OF work in Columbus and then be recalled.
  • Tyler Freeman and Yu Chang looked good, too.  
  • Jake Bauers....didn't make an error and had a broken bat hit.   That, my friends, will be a good Jake Bauers day this year!
  • Trevor Bauer...always fun to watch, especially his matchup with Jose Ramriez.
  • I can't believe Cesar Hernandez made it back to the Indians.   He has looked good...and this is not spring training good.   I can tell the difference.  He is looking all-star good.
  • Andres Gimenez should still hit second with Hernandez leading off.   
  • Rosario down to the #4 spot.   I would still flip flop him and Reyes but Rosario hitting 4th is light years better than him hitting second.   But his swing still looks loopy to me as he is badly rolling over on a lot of pitches.  
  • Bryan Shaw did not choke away his one batter and that is a good thing, I don't care who he is facing.  This looks like a good pickup, better than a guy like Cimber who you knew it was only a matter of time until the league caught up with him.   Shaw, on the other hand, looks like he might have the juice to be an effective reliever for us the entire season.  Fingers crossed, maybe even a difference making reliever. 

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