Did you miss me?
I’m getting back in the saddle after a long weekend in Paris. I’m back, possibly weighing less after offsetting all the bread expenditures while walking nine to 15 miles a day.
Thanks to Ted, Josh and Greg for helping fill in while I was away, and thanks to ParisSox and his wife for taking us to the best restaurant of the trip. They’re good people.
Glendale 4, Mesa 2
- Luis Robert went 0-for-4.
- Zach Thompson, 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Miss you? Who are you and what did you do with Gnix and Ted?
WB
HMMM…. Trump and Jim in Paris at the same time. Has anyone seen them at the same time? Is it possible Jim is Trump? Or visa-versa?
Jim is a journalist, Trump hates journalism…yes, let’s keep digging!We are onto something here. :p
Someone asked about the Sox philosophy aboout pitch framing as a teachable skill. Fegan delivers the answer.
https://theathletic.com/648427/2018/11/12/how-the-white-sox-view-their-pitch-framing-struggles/
Fegan also points out that a side effect of Sox personnel loyalty is that the staff that coached up Flowers are still in place. But there doesn’t seem to be much reason to be optimistic about Narvaez following that path. His receiving skills seem to have degraded rather than improved.
Being easier to learn than hitting does not really tell us much. Hitting is incredibly hard.
Kind of. I think if we parse his words carefully, he’s saying that hitting is more dependent on tools and talent. Receiving is more of a pure skill.
But the Sox seem to believe that’s true to a degree that’s not reflected in practice. Or they’re not able to identify coachable receivers and it’s a scouting problem. Or they need to adjust their training program.
Yeah, that’s fine as a philosophy but at some point they have to recognize it’s not at all translating to the major league level.
If ever there were an organization capable of resisting that recognition…
Completely speculation on my part, but this would seem like a better reasoning for acquiring minor leaguers who are seen as weak receivers and trying to coach them up. I don’t doubt that it can be taught to some degree, but to expect to pull in vets who have struggled with this their entire career and expect to fix them quickly seems a little ambitious.
Collins is the canary in the coal mine.
This seems a really bizarre attitude given that Narvaez has improved his hitting every year, to the point where he was our best hitter last year, while his receiving has remained just as awful/ gotten worse.
If receiving is easier to teach, then why is Zack Collins still a horseshit receiver after 2.5 years in the Sox system?
“The Prospect Development Pipeline League, which is expected to be announced by MLB on Tuesday, would start in June 2019 and stretch until early July. The league is expected to invite 80 of the best rising seniors – most of whom will be drafted in 2020 – and offer the best of the group a chance to play at a high school game during All-Star week in addition to a high school home run derby.”
This is interesting.
Interesting as a counterweight to Perfect Game and the other 3rd-party blue chip programs. When The Arm was published there was talk about something like that being in the works to steer kids away from being overworked.
But it only works if it replaces those 3rd party programs rather than adding another thing for aspiring professionals to do ahead of the draft.
It was good to meet you sir. We enjoyed it as much as you.
If anyone else happens to straddle by Paris, don’t hesitate to give me a shout.
Cool, Paris is great. I walked everywhere when I was there too.