Minnesota's Top 3 Most Underappreciated Players

[Riverbrian]

9 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Garlick went 0-7 with 5 ks in the double header. He may just be a platoon guy. 

He probably is just a platoon guy. 

18 AB's vs. RH's in 2019 with the Dodgers

8 AB's in 2020 with the Phillies.

40 AB's vs RH's in 2021 with the Twins

Now 67 AB's vs RH's this year. 

I would never make a declarative statement on sample sizes like those and I'm pretty sure that nobody should. 

Someone decided that he was a Koala Bear and fed him nothing but eucalyptus for 4 years. That mold has been setting for quite some time.  

Meanwhile... in 2022... the guy getting those left handed swings... is worse. 

 

[USAFChief]

6 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

He probably is just a platoon guy. 

18 AB's vs. RH's in 2019 with the Dodgers

8 AB's in 2020 with the Phillies.

40 AB's vs RH's in 2021 with the Twins

Now 67 AB's vs RH's this year. 

I would never make a declarative statement on sample sizes like those and I'm pretty sure that nobody should. 

Someone decided that he was a Koala Bear and fed him nothing but eucalyptus for 4 years. That mold has been setting for quite some time.  

Meanwhile... in 2022... the guy getting those left handed swings... is worse. 

 

Did he have years  of minor league play as well, from which to form an opinion? Demonstrated 300 pt OPS differential in those 350 MLB PAs? 

Managers and coaches watching his PAs against L and R hand pitching?

 

[Riverbrian]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Did he have years  of minor league play as well, from which to form an opinion? Demonstrated 300 pt OPS differential in those 350 MLB PAs? 

Managers and coaches watching his PAs against L and R hand pitching?

 

He Did

2019 - Oklahoma City

vs RHP 234 AB's - 19HR - ..308/.374/.637

vs LHP 99 AB's - 8HR - .292/.364/.708

2018 - Tulsa/Oklahoma City

vs RHP 297 AB's - 15HR - .259/.289/.478

vs LHP 105 AB's - 7 HR - .257/.313/.514

2017 - Tulsa

vs RHP - 255 AB's - 14HR - .246/.333/.478

vs LHP - 61 AB's - 4HR - .246/.314/.475

There is nothing in his minor league stats that says platoon. He came up in the Dodger organization and was called up in 2019 with the following list of outfielders in front of him: 

Cody Bellinger - OPS 1.035

Joc Pederson -  OPS .876

Alex Verdugo - OPS .817

AJ Pollack - OPS. 795

Chris Taylor - OPS .794

Kike Hernandez - OPS .715

Playing time was obviously tough to find and he was strictly platooned for a total of 15 games.

In 2020 Alex Verdugo was replaced by Mookie Betts while the other 5 remained. Kyle was out of options and DFA'd... he was picked up by the Phillies and was given 22 AB's, hitting .136 and released while the minor leagues were shut down.   

In 2021... The Twins signed him and kept platooning him despite Jake Cave bringing a hot OPS of . 541. He had been a platoon expert for 15 games with the Dodgers. Yet... Somehow Branded. 

In 2022... The Twins kept platooning him. 

The same eyeballs that decided he should be platooned because of some undemonstrated lack of ability to hit RHP are the same eyeballs who decided that Jake Cave could hit RHP despite a .541 OPS saying that he couldn't.   

Same eyeballs who decided to ride with Martin Perez over Randy Dobnak in September 2019 only to pull the plug on Perez right before the playoff roster was to be set and finally commit to Dobnak in the playoffs.  

Same eyeballs who chose half a season of Matt Belisle instead of 6 years of Nick Anderson. 

I am pro front office... they know 200 times more than I do...  But they are not infallible. If they were infallible... we wouldn't be worried about the Guardians and White Sox right now.

In 2022... Kepler was not good enough to keep the bat out of Garlick's Right handed hands and now we need Kyle Garlick to do something that he wasn't allowed to do.

Why wasn't he allowed? Strict adherence to the platoon concept? Jake Cave?