Aaron Hicks May

[LaBombo]

Hicks was not only rushed to the bigs but was a notorious slow starter. I'm not sure what people were expecting from the kid.

I was expecting him to start the season in AAA, and am still expecting him to see time there. Haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that's an unrealistic or wrong expectation.

[Anorthagen]

If Hicks is going to return as the lead off hitter. Then I would rather see that average to go up and the home runs go down

[mikecgrimes]

Closes the month with a walk. In June he becomes a guy you look forward to in the on deck circle.

[stringer bell]

Closes the month with a walk. In June he becomes a guy you look forward to in the on deck circle.

Sorry, Mike. May has 31 days. There's a game tomorrow.

[kab21]

I think the unexpected HR's are making things appear better than they are. In his good month he is still striking out way too much AND now not walking enough. I don't have his May L/R splits available but he still appears to be way below average as a LH hitter.

 

I think Hicks can still be a good player but I also think it's more likely that he ends up as a platoon OF'er (the small side) than coming anywhere close to a perennial AS like Hunter.

[Oxtung]

I don't have his May L/R splits available

 

On a separate but somewhat related note, does anybody know where to find this data? Normally splits are season long and game logs aren't splittable into L/R data.

[diehardtwinsfan]

On a separate but somewhat related note, does anybody know where to find this data? Normally splits are season long and game logs aren't splittable into L/R data.

 

Considering he switch hits based on the handedness of the pitcher, you can look at the left/right splits...

 

That said, fangraphs.

[cmathewson]

Hunter carried a .224 BA through his first 46 games and it was as high as .252 midway through May. He was striking out at an 18% clip. Hicks has topped out at a paltry .165 and is striking out at a 28% rate.

 

There is a difference between struggling but hanging in there and just flat out getting dominated. Through the same points in their career Hunter was the former while Hicks is the latter.

 

I'm willing to give him a mulligan on his first 10 days in the majors. If you do that, they are very comparable.

[kab21]

Considering he switch hits based on the handedness of the pitcher, you can look at the left/right splits...

 

That said, fangraphs.

 

We're looking for multiple splits. L/R splits in May for example.

[jimbo92107]

Just not worried about Hicks. He's the kind of guy that takes awhile to build up his expertise, but then he takes off. Two years from now, maybe one, he'll be great.

[DaveW]

Not an awful game from Hicksy today

[greengoblinrulz]

Last 12gms

12-43 (.279) w/.605slgg

again, baby steps

 

Did anyone catch Berts postgame comments that if Aaron keeps playing how he's playing, he's a rookie of the year candidate!!!

[MichiganTwins]

It amazes me how people are looking at Hicks. He struggled really bad at the beginning of the year, and he probably is still only in the majors because of injuries. But I also think Hicks is going to continue to figure things out in the Majors. He was 3 for 4 today (double and triple batting left handed), but just watching him daily, it is clear that he is going to turn things around. That being said, you cannot really look at his BA and say he is awful and needs to be sent down. Just wait until after the season, if you say something stupid like, "he is going to be a platooner."

[mikecgrimes]

Last 12gms

12-43 (.279) w/.605slgg

again, baby steps

 

Did anyone catch Berts postgame comments that if Aaron keeps playing how he's playing, he's a rookie of the year candidate!!!

 

He's on pace for 20 HR's that gets you in the discussion

[Craig Arko]

He's on pace for 20 HR's that gets you in the discussion

 

And his presence in Web Gems is getting him some good national exposure.

[Benchwarmerjim]

Did anyone catch Berts postgame comments that if Aaron keeps playing how he's playing, he's a rookie of the year candidate!!!

 

DicknBert were talking about this during the game. They listed a bunch of categories that Hicks was leading AL rookies (pretty much everything but batting average) and said if his BA numbers were something like .250, Hicks would be the front runner.

[Joe A. Preusser]

DicknBert were talking about this during the game. They listed a bunch of categories that Hicks was leading AL rookies (pretty much everything but batting average) and said if his BA numbers were something like .250, Hicks would be the front runner.

 

If he hits .300 the rest of the way he probably would top .250, so.........Nah!

[diehardtwinsfan]

He got his average up to .176 today with that 3/4 game. Another game or two like that and he's flirting with the Mendoza line.... Given how horrid has April was, that's a pretty nice May/June comeback. It gives me hope that he should be pretty decent by his Junior season, which is when the Twins will be looking at competing again.

[jokin]

And his presence in Web Gems is getting him some good national exposure.

 

What about his presence on "Not the Top Ten"?, he's had a few of those, too.

 

From Prospect Pipeline:

 

"Eventually, Hicks will have to start hitting much better than he is right now in order to keep his job. He is far behind the eight ball in the Rookie of the Year race, though the good news is that the AL crop hasn't been particularly strong so far this season. Somewhat surprising is just how bad Hicks' defense has been. He is regarded as a plus defender in center field with plus-plus arm strength and plus range, but his UZR is minus-3.9 already (UZR updated to -5.3 as of June 1- that ranks #18 out of 22 qualifed CFs). On the bright side, he has saved the Twins one defensive run thus far. (no doubt due to the inordinate number of rather lucky OF assists he has made)."

 

If Hicks wins ROY, it might be by default, as much as anything.

[greengoblinrulz]

As for ROY, Hicks is helped by a very poor rookie crop but despite his HRs/RBIs this yr.....is no way the writers would vote for a guy hitting in the low .200s (if Hicks hits .275 the rest of the year @ 340ABs..173 so far after 1/3 season..he finishes at .240)

Profar/Myers type players will easily win with FAR less ABs as writers still like BAve.

Doesnt mean that he's not an ascending player.

Thought his defense has been mediocre myself. Im not impressed by web-gems as much as others in rating defense. I want the basic plays to be made all the time & he's misjudged far too many balls that fall in.

[jokin]

As for ROY, Hicks is helped by a very poor rookie crop but despite his HRs/RBIs this yr.....is no way the writers would vote for a guy hitting in the low .200s (if Hicks hits .275 the rest of the year @ 340ABs..173 so far after 1/3 season..he finishes at .240)

Profar/Myers type players will easily win with FAR less ABs as writers still like BAve.

Doesnt mean that he's not an ascending player.

Thought his defense has been mediocre myself. Im not impressed by web-gems as much as others in rating defense. I want the basic plays to be made all the time & he's misjudged far too many balls that fall in.

 

Yep. Across the board, correct. Hicks is coming exactly as his career thus far indicated, perhaps with a little more power. The Twins are just being patient for him to "flip the switch", as he did last year at New Britain. It might not entirely get flipped until next year, but that's OK with the Twins, given the way the front office punted the offseason.

[cmathewson]

No doubt due to the inordinate number of rather lucky OF assists he has made.

 

Lucky outfield assists? Every scouting report says he has a rocket arm. Yet he gets guys run on his arm and he guns them down. The only "lucky" outfield assist he had was when he threw to second instead of the cutoff man and Joe made a miraculous tag on the relay, getting the guy out because the umpire blew the call. The others were legit.

[jokin]

Lucky outfield assists? Every scouting report says he has a rocket arm. Yet he gets guys run on his arm and he guns them down. The only "lucky" outfield assist he had was when he threw to second instead of the cutoff man and Joe made a miraculous tag on the relay, getting the guy out because the umpire blew the call. The others were legit.

 

When did I say anything about his lack of arm strength Christy? I've seen everyone of his assists and commented on such throughout this season, at least half were due to him misjudging the ball in the first place and runners then challenging his arm, plus the cutoff man mishap that miraculously resulted in yet another "assist".

[cmathewson]

When did I say anything about his lack of arm strength Christy? I've seen everyone of his assists and commented on such throughout this season, at least half were due to him misjudging the ball in the first place and runners then challenging his arm, plus the cutoff man mishap that miraculously resulted in yet another "assist".

 

Well, I disagree. Hicks is very adept at decoying runners. He appears to misjudge balls he has no chance to catch in the air in order to get guys to run on him. When they do, he turns on the jets, wheels and fires. That's how you get outfield assists.

[Willihammer]

Well, I disagree. Hicks is very adept at decoying runners. He appears to misjudge balls he has no chance to catch in the air in order to get guys to run on him. When they do, he turns on the jets, wheels and fires. That's how you get outfield assists.

Dark, this is preposterous. Hicks is not feigning misjudgment to goad runners into biting off extra bases so he can throw them out from center field.

[cmathewson]

Dark, this is preposterous. Hicks is not feigning misjudgment to goad runners into biting off extra bases so he can throw them out from center field.

 

He does it all the time. He pretends to be ready to catch a ball in the air that he has no chance to catch. The runner looks at him, not the ball. He's trapped three guys this way, of his six outfield assists.

[Willihammer]

He does it all the time. He pretends to be ready to catch a ball in the air that he has no chance to catch. The runner looks at him, not the ball. He's trapped three guys this way, of his six outfield assists.

 

How many of those traps occured with runners on base?

 

I think he tried it against Aramis Ramirez in the Brewers series. Got all turned around every which way and ended up watching the ball bounce over the fence for a ground rule double.

 

The bases had been empty.

[jokin]

He does it all the time. He pretends to be ready to catch a ball in the air that he has no chance to catch. The runner looks at him, not the ball. He's trapped three guys this way, of his six outfield assists.

 

I'm going to just politely say that this is a stretch, he clearly misjudged and/or muffed the plays that I saw.

[Larsbars08]

Hasn't UZR/150 been pretty much debunked as useless without a sample size of a few years? I can't speak for his deception abilities or lack thereof, but he seems to have vastly improved his defense over the last month or so. I know that his web gems probably bias me more than anything, but he's seemed much more consistent the longer he's played. He's been described as defensively ready for the big league center field job by scouts and prospect experts for a couple years now, and it's not like he lacks the athleticism. I'd say his more recent exploits are much more indicative of his defensive ability than his horrendous first month.

[John Bonnes]

He does it all the time. He pretends to be ready to catch a ball in the air that he has no chance to catch. The runner looks at him, not the ball. He's trapped three guys this way, of his six outfield assists.

 

"Lucky" outfield assists are lucky in that you have to be somewhat lucky that batters are trying to stretchable double. That will certainly go away as he's more established.

 

But I agree that he does fake out runners well. I've seen him o it several times too. The cases I've seen is where he pretends he can catch a ball on which he has no chance. He freezes runners that way.

 

Thats different than saying he deliberately isn't getting to fly balls so he can throw people out. His range this year has been poor because he has been very bad at reading the ball off the bat. I'm surprised any system, even when counting ose outfield assist, has him anywhere near average.