Matt Wallner: A Powerful Assessment

[Riverbrian]

I'm not posting this for a fire bombing of Matt Wallner...  I know he has lost some fans on this site.  

Wallner in this purpose, is an example for a front office assessment discussion. I'm not doing this to blame the front office either. Player assessment has to be difficult. 

Thought #1 - Matt Wallner was CHOSEN as the opening day RF. He wasn't even originally chosen to platoon. The staff went around the room... talked about it and concluded that Wallner was the opening day RF. 

Thought #2 - Matt Wallner remained the designated starter for 43 games. The Twins staff determined that there was something there. 

Thought #3 - Poof... He's gone. Possibly for good if they decide not to retain him. 

Thought #4 - Any statcast metric considerations, any measurements, any projections would have been part of the discussion for the consideration of thought #1 and thought #2. Is he our RF? They said yes... he is our RF. 

Thought #5 - Poof... He's gone. 

How can a front office miss that badly? From the keys to the kingdom to Poof... He's Gone. It wasn't gradual... It was poof... he's gone. 

 

 

[Cory Engelhardt]

16 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm not posting this for a fire bombing of Matt Wallner...  I know he has lost some fans on this site.  

Wallner in this purpose, is an example for a front office assessment discussion. I'm not doing this to blame the front office either. Player assessment has to be difficult. 

Thought #1 - Matt Wallner was CHOSEN as the opening day RF. He wasn't even originally chosen to platoon. The staff went around the room... talked about it and concluded that Wallner was the opening day RF. 

Thought #2 - Matt Wallner remained the designated starter for 43 games. The Twins staff determined that there was something there. 

Thought #3 - Poof... He's gone. Possibly for good if they decide not to retain him. 

Thought #4 - Any statcast metric considerations, any measurements, any projections would have been part of the discussion for the consideration of thought #1 and thought #2. Is he our RF? They said yes... he is our RF. 

Thought #5 - Poof... He's gone. 

How can a front office miss that badly? From the keys to the kingdom to Poof... He's Gone. It wasn't gradual... It was poof... he's gone. 

 

 

This is a good question. He certainly never had great range, but the arm is very much there. Maybe a different hitting coach could help more. 

The strikeouts were also always part of his game, but he just stopped making any contact. Then Keaschall came up and lit the world on fire AND even though he was bad in the outfield, he certainly had better range than Wallner ever showed. Austin Martin too. And then of course both Jenkins AND Rodriguez clearly have better range.

If Wallner could get with a coach that truly fixes the hole in his swing, then he could be something again. I don't know what is up with him, but you are right, he was the guy until he wasn't.