That's KAY-ber(t). Sorry if the title mislead you. Here's him saying it.
Well right after saying all his PCL (yes, yes I know AAA-West or whatever) homers were ending up as EL doubles Ruiz goes out and hits four homers in two days. K-bert and Gray are really they keys to the trade deadline being success or failure because of the talent given up for them. To see both do well (Gray had another fine outing - sure it was the Marlins and he gave up another homer but all I care about right now is him coming out giving the Nats a chance to win, which he did) is the best reasonable expectation for the Nats to have.
Ruiz is now hitting .318 / .384 / .636 in AAA and the question is how long he'll be down there. Rizzo is not much of a service time manipulator which is good because most of the time the far end doesn't matter as much as the near. But Ruiz is in AAA to play everyday. Would he play everyday in the majors? Not "is he good enough to get that time" but "are the Nats ready to do that"
Tres Barrera is nearly 27 (Sept 15th) which puts him bottom on the totem pole and up until a week ago his hitting was basically average. Add that to a generally unimpressive minor league career at the plate (.704 OPS in AA in 2019, .668 in AAA before call-up) and you'd think you'd have no problem sitting him or sending him down. But he has been tearing it up lately .421 with a homer in his last 6 games.
Riley Adams just turned 25 (June 26th). He struggled even more than Barrera initially and has shown some power and patience in the minors but isn't really seen as a long term answer given his generally high swing and miss numbers. Maybe sit or send down Riley? But he's even HOTTER in HIS last 6 games;.476 with a homer and 3 doubles
Too many good players is a great problem to have but it's still a problem. The solution is probably very simple. Ruiz will come up but most likely it'll be when the minor league season ends. There's no real reason to throw all these guys around before that. The Nats aren't playing for anything. Neither is Rochester, if that matters. My guess is Riley remains the back-up, spot starter, Tres hangs on as emergency catcher. However there are scenarios where either guy just sees his season end or sent down to FL for some end of season work.
Expect to see Ruiz soon but not TOO soon. A little more than 2 weeks or so.
7 comments:
my understanding is Ruiz's bat is ready, but the glove still could use some polishing. There's service time to consider (if he's going to be a Realmuto-level hitter, you get $20M of value in his 7th season as opposed to being the guy who helps you win 74 games instead of 68 now. Meh) but also he gets to play every day, polish catching skills, and save the team money. Barrera is, IMO, getting a beta test for having a long career as a #2 catcher. Adams is too, but I think they're also trying to see if his bat is good enough to warrant moving him to another position so they can keep him in the lineup.
In any event, I'm fine with this.
Not sure you're entirely off on Ruiz' AAA-West homers and EL doubles.
The Harrisburg Senators stink. They're not just last in their division, they're 12 games behind the second-last team in their division (in what's now called the AA Northeastern League). But I thought the Nats spared Ruiz the agony of playing for that team. So there's that.
Then again, the Syracuse Chiefs are the second-worst (nearly the worst) team in all of AAA. Each of Ruiz' 5 (Nats organization) homers were against Syracuse. Make of that what you will.
But in the matter of doubles, Eastern League or elsewhere, drilling lots of doubles in the higher minors is a pretty good indicator that those doubles translate into home run power as a prospect ascends the career ladder.
Incidentally, to read "too many good players is a great problem to have" about this Nats team is acutely discombobulating.
Tres Barrera has shown more than any of the other Nats backups the last several years (outside the tandem of Gomes/Suzuki). Would rather have him than Alex Avila, Jose Lobaton, Pedro Severino, Spencer Kieboom, Raudy Read
I think it's pretty clear Barrera is the long-term backup with Ruiz as the starter. The question is what to be done with Adams. Do they think he's riding high right now and will crash so flip him for somebody else? Do you move him to LF? If he keeps hitting for contact and power, he's too good to be the backup or in a platoon with Ruiz. You'd want both those bats in the lineup, not one or the other. I don't know enough about his defense/speed, but if he is better than Schwarber in the OF, why not move him to left?
Again, this could also simply be SSS and it may be better to sell high on him for a proven LF
Off topic: Is Max Scherzer (that pitcher for the Dodgers) back in the running for the Cy Young? Even remotely?
This guy Scherzer is pretty good. 7.2 last night, 2 hits, 1 BB, 10 K. Was throwing 97, and had a wicked change up.
Scherzer is in the Cy Young race, but his teammate, Walker Buehler, is the leading candidate with a 2.02 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and a record of 13 - 2 (not that W-L matters anymore). Walker has also pitched a lot more innings (that's a good thing), although he has fewer K's.
Also in the running are Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Kevin Gausman (never thought I'd say that), and Zach Wheeler.
Scherzer should finish in the top 5.
Patrick Corbin could win the award for worst pitcher. 31 home runs and counting. 6.09 ERA, 1.4 WHIP.
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