Once upon a time, he was young, svelte, full of promise.
Two struggling hitters.
One in the majors, one in the minors.
Dominic Smith, in 312 plate appearance in the last 365 days, has 2 HRs and 20 RBIs while playing a power position. Another 1B you may know, Pete Alonso, has 44 HRs and 121 RBIs over the past 365 days.
And former first rounder Dom has just 2 homers in his last 500+ plate appearances. He would have fit right in with the dead ball era.
Yet, he somehow starts at 1B for the Washington Nationals.
Hope springs eternal, I suppose, although his career 0.3 WAR in 1,634 plate appearances in the majors suggests that hope is delusion here.
Luke Voit, recently signed and assigned to AAA by the Mets, is a 32 year old first baseman who has had more success smacking HRs and driving in runs in the big leagues (95 and 247 in 1,680 at bats), but has not hit so well of late. (To be fair, he did have 22 HRs and 69 RBIs in 500 at bats in 2022, which isn't so bad at all. That, if a Met in 2022, would have had him at 3rd in Mets' HRs and RBIs in 2022). (And Luke has been on base 10 times in 4 Syracuse contests).
Interestingly, both of these struggling first basemen had their moment of huge success in 2020.
Quite a similar amazing level of achievement for the two, and a juxtaposition vs. the rest of their less successful careers.
Smith set the Mets' season slugging record in that shortened season (.616), although his slugging % has been Bud-Harrelson-like ever since - about .335.
Luke Voit, meanwhile, led the majors with 22 HRs in 213 at bats in shortened 2020.
If their respective clubs had 20-20 vision after 2020, they would have promptly traded both in 2020.
Now that the Mets own Voit, though, it is interesting to note that in Citifield, he is 10 for 47 career, 0 HRs and 3 RBIs, no doubt imitating a former Citifield resident, Dom Smith.
(Voit, of course, has a career .513 slug % in his old Yankee Stadium haunt).
Luke is also one of the many guys who as a righty somehow hits significantly worse vs. lefties in his career than vs. righties. SMH.
Maybe he catches fire in AAA and paves a return for himself to the bigs. After all, the Mets hitting is Smith-like in many respects in 2023 - they could use a Voit to fill a void.
RONNY MO = DARRYL
Don’t think so?
Then watch this Friday night launch video…
Voit is very Duda like in all aspects.
ReplyDeleteA perfect insurnace policy for Pete and, frankly, a DH candidate going forward,
Mack, Voit has to have Vogie looking over his shoulder. Before his HR last night, Vogie was 4 for 44. That makes the lesser speed a non-factor. Can't clog bases if you don't get on base.
ReplyDeleteThose 2 Mauricio HRs were hit lefty, and went in high arc to the opposite field in left center, 431 feet and 441 feet. The exact stuff Darryl used to do. Watch and judge) for yourself. Anyone who wants to trade that is a dope. He will be a star outfielder.
ReplyDeleteVoit HR last night? 458 feet.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Luke can be the next Sanchez for some other team..
ReplyDeleteHow can you not love a post that uses Juxtaposition. Tom you made my day but Porky's HR last night means he's going to be around awhile longer and with Voit arriving soon Vientos surely goes down and we'll all wait longer for RonnieMo. Once again the DH should be Mauricio if only because you want to see for yourself if his power, which we desparately need by the way, is real but they keep using the excuse of where he plays ITS DESIGNATED HITTER STUPID!!! Who's really making these decisions? Mack and Tom isn't there somebody you guys can call? LOL it's just mindboggling to me.
ReplyDeleteI DM'd Steve
DeleteHis box was full
Gary, I have another great word on Tuesday - don't miss it.
ReplyDeleteI also blame Mauricio, Gary. If I was him, I am shagging flies and fielding liners and grounders, and practicing some outfield every day in the off season. This way, you're almost ready to go. Maybe he did. But if it was me, I'd give them no excuses that "he's not ready, because..."
Small Voit sample in Syracuse, but excellent... a triple and 2 HRs in 10 at bats, with 6 walks and a HBP, on base 10 of 17 times, which tells me he is ready, and feared by pitchers there. 460 foot bomb last night.
Look guys
DeleteA team can't have 75 DHers
You aren't going to see Mauricio until he can play a position at a major league level
Voit's ego is bigger than his batting average and OPS. Bad signing.
ReplyDeleteDefense is the most underrated skill in baseball. Most teams that exceed expectations have a plus defense,especially up the middle,most underperforming teams have poor defenses.
ReplyDeleteGentleman I get all that but Kyle Schwarber who does one thing well signed for 4 years for 79 million and thats for a .228 lifetime avg. and 1004 K's in 9 years but who cares because he can on occasion hit one a long way. Look I'm not saying Ronnie is the 2nd coming but why not give him a shot because at this point what have we got to lose as another snooze fest at Citi resulted in another loss which would have been worse w/o Luis G's wind blown HR. Power is our biggest weakness like dam give it a shot and I still don't get not trying him at DH like at least 2 weeks EVERY GAME please. We're a boring team lets at least show we're trying something different here it might just work.
ReplyDeleteRonny 3 singles, a HR…and an error tonight.
ReplyDelete