Final Tally on the Diaz/Cano for JK trade

[Big_Maple]

As yet, however, Atlanta's coaching staff hasn't seemed concerned about his performance.

Um, yes. That's a common refrain.

From the Seattle Times June 15, 2023:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mar ... ld-streak/

"I don’t know if I’d use the word “concern” from the Mariners about Jarred Kelenic’s recent stretch of games. Maybe some slight unease about the swing-and-miss issues and lack of consistent production.

I think most people in the organization and around baseball figured there would be a period of time when the league would adjust to Kelenic’s hot start to the season, and he would need to readjust to the changes that teams made against him."

And then Pacific Northwest Sport on 3 May 2022:
https://pacificnwsports.com/seattle-mar ... d-kelenic/

"Since Kelenic is struggling to hit, the thinking might be for him to face more righties so he can have some success and build his confidence. Once he’s hitting better and more consistently, he can have more chances against lefties. Keep in mind not every highly touted prospect succeeds at the MLB level."

And again 5 June 2021:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mar ... ing-slump/

"Otherwise, Servais said it’s business as usual, and that he thinks all Kelenic is experiencing is the same growing pains all young players inevitably endure."

There's only so many excuses you can make. Yeah, it's spring training. Yeah, he's adjusting things. Yeah, none of this counts. Yeah, he's a youngster.

It's like stepping in a pile of dogshit and then being in denial. "yeah, but I meant to step in it" or "yeah, but I like the smell of dogshit" or "yeah, but I missed a bigger pile of shit before I stepped in this one".

[Big_Maple]

Donn - I feel bad for the guy. I really do. There is a lot of pressure on him to succeed, and likely success came easily for him early on.

He just flamed out when he got to the Bigs. No big deal - there are legions of players who were successful in the minors but could cut it in The Show. Just move on. Become a coach. Or a scout. Or a trainer. Or sell insurance.

But again - I get it. Everyone wanted this kid to succeed - perhaps none more than me. And it sucks to be in the public eye and have fans like me crapping on you because you can't hit a ball with a stick.

But (a) it's his chosen profession, and if you get paid a lot of money to have people watch you hit a ball with a stick, then you have to accept fan criticism as part of the gig, and (b) at some point you have to stop making excuses for the guy and admit that he's not going to be a hall of famer. Or even a solid .250 bat.

Maybe he will be a late, late bloomer. Maybe he'll find his stroke in another year or two. Maybe I'm wrong. But the preponderance of data does not bore the conclusion that he's going to have success in the minors translate to success in the majors. But let's wait and see - he's not our problem (or potential success story) anymore.

[D-train]

As yet, however, Atlanta's coaching staff hasn't seemed concerned about his performance.

Um, yes. That's a common refrain.

From the Seattle Times June 15, 2023:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mar ... ld-streak/

"I don’t know if I’d use the word “concern” from the Mariners about Jarred Kelenic’s recent stretch of games. Maybe some slight unease about the swing-and-miss issues and lack of consistent production.

I think most people in the organization and around baseball figured there would be a period of time when the league would adjust to Kelenic’s hot start to the season, and he would need to readjust to the changes that teams made against him."

And then Pacific Northwest Sport on 3 May 2022:
https://pacificnwsports.com/seattle-mar ... d-kelenic/

"Since Kelenic is struggling to hit, the thinking might be for him to face more righties so he can have some success and build his confidence. Once he’s hitting better and more consistently, he can have more chances against lefties. Keep in mind not every highly touted prospect succeeds at the MLB level."

And again 5 June 2021:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mar ... ing-slump/

"Otherwise, Servais said it’s business as usual, and that he thinks all Kelenic is experiencing is the same growing pains all young players inevitably endure."

There's only so many excuses you can make. Yeah, it's spring training. Yeah, he's adjusting things. Yeah, none of this counts. Yeah, he's a youngster.

It's like stepping in a pile of dogshit and then being in denial. "yeah, but I meant to step in it" or "yeah, but I like the smell of dogshit" or "yeah, but I missed a bigger pile of shit before I stepped in this one".

Great pulls. LOL And and even better analogy!!

[Donn Beach]

The thing is the Braves like him, they traded for him

[Big_Maple]

The thing is the Braves like him, they traded for him

Fair enough.

Their turn to make excuses.

[Donn Beach]

“With our lineup, we’re not looking for anyone to carry the load,” Anthopoulos said. “He’s talented, and the outfield depth for us is a little thin. He’s got tremendous upside and ceiling. He’s a good defender.”

They feel they can afford to let him struggle with the talent around him, stick him at the bottom of the lineup. See if they can get him straightened out. That's from when they traded for him.

[Donn Beach]

They are going to use the beginning of the season to try and get him figured out. So it's basically the same thing the mariners did. They aren't concerned about missing the playoffs by a game.

[Big_Maple]

“With our lineup, we’re not looking for anyone to carry the load,” Anthopoulos said. “He’s talented, and the outfield depth for us is a little thin. He’s got tremendous upside and ceiling. He’s a good defender.”

They feel they can afford to let him struggle with the talent around him, stick him at the bottom of the lineup. See if they can get him straightened out. That's from when they traded for him.

It was a low risk, potentially high yield trade for them. The M's were seemingly tripping over themselves to offload him and salary dump Marco and White.

If Kelenic comes around, the Braves will handily have won the trade. Obviously their FO has a lot of eggheads who crunch data, and they clearly figured he'd be worth the risk.

Me? Not so convinced. He doesn't need to go to a hitting clinic. He needs to go to a Buddhist meditation retreat. Dude gets too much in his own head.

[Donn Beach]

Was gonna say, they bought him more than traded for him. Yeah, he's emotional or whatever. I don't think he's that unusual really. It's usually punching lockers than kicking water coolers, or destroying equipment. I also could think of worse issues to deal with. I'd rather the guy that's too wound up than the guy that lacks desire, drive.

Servais on kelenic

"I don't think swing-wise, there's a ton of adjustments. He needs to relax and try to play and go and have fun again."

Funny, thinking how fans get pissed off when players are seeming to have too much fun. They aren't taking things seriously enough. I guess kelenic takes it too seriously

[GL_Storm]

I'll say what I've always said about JK: if you can unlock even a fringe average ML hit tool, all the other tools will play and it's a 10+ year career. But that hit tool may not be there.

The main issue is probably pitch recognition. I suspect he doesn't pick up some combination of velocity, spin, pitch type, location, etc. quite fast enough. These are made up numbers, but lets say a player like Soto picks all that up 100 milliseconds out of the pitcher's hand and the average major league hitter has it at say 200 milliseconds, then maybe JK has the pitch at like 250 milliseconds and that's the hairline difference for him right now between where he is and the promised land of an average hit tool. I doubt that's exactly what's going on, but I think it's something like that, which would also explain why he tinkers so much with his swing. And if you add the above to his upbringing, his parents basically doing everything they could to turn him into a major league baseball player, and the kind of pressure that comes along with that, it all sort of starts to make sense.