gbg

Reading recent (and not so recent) discussions about Matt Wallner, it got me thinking and researching a hunch. I think the diverging views around Wallner stem from the fact that there's really three Matt Wallners, and they each show up at different times. Let me explain. Looking at his career (2022 - 2026) slash line splits by month, you get this: April - June: .168/.314/.401 - .715 OPS July - August: .242/.355/.566 - .911 OPS Sept - October: .236/.347/.421 - .768 OPS Interestingly, his strikeout percentage doesn't change all that much month to month, hovering between 30 and 35%. Even with suspect defense, I think we'd all be happy with Midsummer Wallner patrolling RF. He'd probably be an All Star - only Judge and Soto had higher numbers among outfielders last year. But Spring Wallner is awful, and Fall Wallner is pretty much an average COF. So far this year, we're not even getting Spring Wallner, but if you look at just his March/April career splits (.185/.307/.352), he's about one double away from almost exactly matching that (terrible) career stat line for that period. He's exactly what we'd expect him to be at this point in April. History says he'll heat up when the weather does, but in the meantime, it's going to be painful. And then he'll likely fade as the weather cools off again. This is why there's so polarizing of views. If you love the hometown boy, you point to the MidSummer version and hope that he can turn it on year-round. On the other hand, if you went to kindergarten with him and he stole your lunch money, you point to the other months and are totally justified wanting him off the team. Is he worth keeping for those two months of tater-mashing brilliance each year?

Both can be true. As I see it, the Twins had two bullpens: The really good one with Duran, Jax, Varland, Coloumbe and Stewart. Then you had the other one. The one with Funderburk, Wentz, Alcala, Davis, and Jonah Bride. The first pen was solid, and a definite strength. Then there was the other one, which weighed us down on nights when the first pen wasn't available or we needed some innings to get to it. That hurts the overall metrics. Of course, we traded away that first one, so heavens help us if we don't score 10 runs a game.

Clemens is blocking Bride.

Wait - we're all missing the biggest story here. We drafted a guy named Callen Fang. Callen Fang! It doesn't get much better than that.

Yep - it is the exact same article that Matthew wrote for JaysCentre. I guess you can't plagiarize yourself, but that's really disappointing from a site that used to have strong work.

FWIW - the article links to the wrong Bubba Thompson Should be this one.

I'd hate to see how angry this board would be if we'd been swept instead of doing the sweeping...

I clearly need to read your posts before making my own, because twice now you've gotten there sooner than me with more detail! :-)

Deep breath, please. I'm not bending anything to my will, and I alluded to his spark during that week. However, when you make a statement like "he's been raking for a couple months now", you can't just exclude 50% of that period and then turn around and accuse others of "cherry picking".

That's because of his June tear. His numbers for the month of May were .198/.306/.436, most of that coming between May 2 and 9. I hope his current form continues!

Gaurdians just grabbed Giolito and Lopez! Reds got Bader. Olney is reporting that "all available players" have been claimed.

From his splits - his Hard Hit percentage stayed the same. His FB% actually increased. BB% down a bit, K rate up slightly but K/9 down a touch. Ah - here it is. First half BABIP: .280. Second half BABIP: .056 Wow. I guess that answers the question. There is no Paganaissance that is anything but a rabbit's foot.

Heading West to Target Field. Buxton on paternity list. Willie Joe Garry Jr will probably never make the bigs, but that is a might fine baseball name!

I'm an OHS grad, but that was (checks calendar...uses slide rule...) 37 years ago, so my intel may not be up to date.

Around the time he was drafted, he was described as a "glove-first" catcher. Haven't seen much since, but that seems to bode well.