Andres Gimenez May be Closer Than You Think - Tom Brennan

Many folks (sometimes me included) make the mistake of looking at a player's overall stats to weigh how good they think the player is.

In Pete Alonso's second minor league season, some made that exact mistake.  

"The Slugger Formerly Known as Peter"  was coming off a broken hand in his debut season, then got another broken hand injury in April that subsequent full season, and hit like crap when he returned - until, as I recall it, June 19 that season.

Then he flipped the switch, and he hit great the rest of the way.

I was not at all surprised, therefore, that in 2018, playing in AA, AAA and the AFL, he had 42 HRs and 146 RBIs in 159 games.  

Because I saw what he did after June 19 the year before.

Of course, we all know how 2019 went for Pete.  

POW-POW-POW!

Now, back to Andres Gimenez:

Andres got to play in frigid, winter-temperatures-in-April Binghamton in 2019.   

Making it worse, they also played lots of night games in April there - they should have had a Thermal Underwear Giveaway Night there.

His first game gave a clue: 0 for 5.  

He was 1 for 14 in his first 3 games.  

Hard to grip a bat when your hands are numb.

He rallied a bit, but then slumped, and slipped to .222 on June 29.  

OK, let's ignore that lousy, stinking start, OK?  

We forgot Pete's bad start, didn't we?  

Let's forget Andres' bad start, too.

How did AG do from then on, including Arizona's Fall League?  GREAT!

263 at bats, 83 hits (.316), 16 doubles, 4 triples, 10 HRs, 35 RBIs.

RBIs would have been higher if his teammates in Binghamton got on base more often.  They didn't.

OK, now looking at THIS Andres, the .316 one, do you now perceive him differently?

Add in that he only made an average of 1 error every 10 games at SS, remembering that some of those game were played on ugly wind-chill factor days, proving his rep as a stellar SS in the field - and what do you conclude overall?

That Andres is in fact very good; a future major leaguer, perhaps a high impact one when he adds some more muscle; and that should make you smile.

I'm smiling.  I won't wait for you to catch up.