Is James Jones legit?

[NWinAZ]

But most of the other guys won't be able to locate pitches as effectively as Weaver or use different speeds as effectively as Weaver. I'm not worried that Weaver gave the league pitchers a blueprint on Jones. Just because it worked for Weaver doesn't mean it will work for everyone else.

My point exactly. Elias has a great curveball, but if you can't disguise it well enough, which is Elias's problem right now, then it looks like a beachball coming at you. I watch the games with my wife and am calling Elias's curveball and when it is coming. I called the pitch to Cron when he hit it for a homer. It seems like every 3rd pitch he will throw the curve and that is hwat happened to Cron. Location is another issue. Elias is throwing the curve up and in the moddle instead of at the knees dipping at the plate to towards the ankle to induce a ground ball. See Moyer or Young on how to pitch w/o a fastball like Weaver.

 

[PolarVortex]

My point exactly. Elias has a great curveball, but if you can't disguise it well enough, which is Elias's problem right now, then it looks like a beachball coming at you. I watch the games with my wife and am calling Elias's curveball and when it is coming. I called the pitch to Cron when he hit it for a homer. It seems like every 3rd pitch he will throw the curve and that is hwat happened to Cron. Location is another issue. Elias is throwing the curve up and in the moddle instead of at the knees dipping at the plate to towards the ankle to induce a ground ball. See Moyer or Young on how to pitch w/o a fastball like Weaver.

You don't think Rick Waits is calling the pitches? Elias and Zunino are a very young, very inexperienced battery so I would think that the pitches are being called by Rick Waits. Maybe they aren't, but in my opinion they should be. I doubt if he is calling them for Felix, Iwakuma and Young, but he should be calling them for Elias and Maurer.

 

[NWinAZ]

You don't think Rick Waits is calling the pitches? Elias and Zunino are a very young, very inexperienced battery so I would think that the pitches are being called by Rick Waits. Maybe they aren't, but in my opinion they should be. I doubt if he is calling them for Felix, Iwakuma and Young, but he should be calling them for Elias and Maurer.

Good question and I have never read anything that says either case. Be interesting to find out.

 

[seahawksfan234]

James Jones sure has a hell of an arm. His bat has been slumping lately, but defensively he appears to be a strong upgrade over Almonte.

 

[dude82]

It's a few weeks later and Jones seems to be doing very well. His defense has been fun to watch and based on his stats so far, as small as the sample size is, he seems to be excelling in the #2 spot in the order. We'll have to see him play out the rest of the season to see whether that holds up or not, but here are his numbers so far...

Batting Order AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS

Batting #1 92 13 21 4 2 0 2 6 0 19 3 1 .228 .276 .315 .591

Batting #2 50 8 19 1 1 0 4 2 0 7 7 0 .380 .404 .440 .844

 

[Podunkparte]

This kid's awesome. He has been turning on the jets lately and flat out embarrassing the defense as far as stealing bases goes. The Padres even had him picked off and he said "fuck it, I'll take 2nd anyway."

His bat looks like it can hang too. He has that slap ability to hold back on a pitch he's beat on and either go through the 5.5 hole (RIP) or dribble it towards 3rd and beat it out for a single. Shit, how many 3 or 4 hit games has the touted bat Ackley had? I can think of 2 for Jones already. 3-5 today and he had a 4-4 game not too long ago too.

Jones, Saunders, Cano at 1-2-3 could be pretty nice for a while. Now we need a legit 4 hole hitter who's not afraid to lay off bad pitches. Gee, Morales would have fit nicely there. Adam Dunn though?

 

[PolarVortex]

Zunino?

Looks like he's been giving away at bats lately. It's like he is using all of his mental energy to catch and handle pitchers and just has nothing left when he comes to the plate.

The problem with this is that he wasn't drafted solely for his ability to catch and handle pitchers. The primary reason why he was drafted was for his bat, his offense. And maybe, a year or two down the road, he will blossom into a 20-25 homerun/65-80 RBI guy, but he isn't one this year.

I think they are catching him too much. I'd like to see his catching duties cut back to half of the games and maybe let him DH in a quarter of the games.

 

[Podunkparte]

Looks like he's been giving away at bats lately. It's like he is using all of his mental energy to catch and handle pitchers and just has nothing left when he comes to the plate.

The problem with this is that he wasn't drafted solely for his ability to catch and handle pitchers. The primary reason why he was drafted was for his bat, his offense. And maybe, a year or two down the road, he will blossom into a 20-25 homerun/65-80 RBI guy, but he isn't one this year.

I think they are catching him too much. I'd like to see his catching duties cut back to half of the games and maybe let him DH in a quarter of the games.

The guy is ridiculously young so you still have to cut him some slack for the bat ups and downs as long as he's playing as one of the best defensive catchers in the majors. I'm not worried about Zunino at all.

 

[dude82]

As Podunk said, Zunino is still very young (23) and as much as he has dropped off with the bat, his primary concern should be handling the pitching staff and being a vacuum cleaner behind the plate, which he's done a much better job of this year than when he first came up last year. If his bat was solid, but he was allowing passed balls or runners were running on him frequently without fear of getting thrown out, I think that's what would cause McClendon to give him less playing time. Last year, his bat was his ticket to staying in the big leagues, but his catching needed improvement. He worked on it in the off-season and you can see it paying off. Now that he seems to be confident there, knows his pitchers and the other hitters in the league and has upped his defensive game, he can spend this off-season getting his hitting back to where it was when he came up.

You don't want to see him hitting in the .220's and lower, obviously, but his is a position where offensive production probably isn't the priority unless you have a guy like Piazza who was good for 30+ dingers and a .300+ average almost every year.

 

[PolarVortex]

As Podunk said, Zunino is still very young (23) and as much as he has dropped off with the bat, his primary concern should be handling the pitching staff and being a vacuum cleaner behind the plate, which he's done a much better job of this year than when he first came up last year. If his bat was solid, but he was allowing passed balls or runners were running on him frequently without fear of getting thrown out, I think that's what would cause McClendon to give him less playing time. Last year, his bat was his ticket to staying in the big leagues, but his catching needed improvement. He worked on it in the off-season and you can see it paying off. Now that he seems to be confident there, knows his pitchers and the other hitters in the league and has upped his defensive game, he can spend this off-season getting his hitting back to where it was when he came up.

You don't want to see him hitting in the .220's and lower, obviously, but his is a position where offensive production probably isn't the priority unless you have a guy like Piazza who was good for 30+ dingers and a .300+ average almost every year.

I agree with the points that both you and Podu have made. Solid input. I just think we might get more out of his bat if he is frequnetly put in a situation (DH) where his only required contribution was offense. It might force to mentally prepare better for an at bat and no give so many at bats away. And John Buck is a good catcher/handler of pitchers in his own right. If Buck were to catch, say 40% of the games instead of 20%, and Zunino was to DH in 20% of the games, I think the break from catching duties would benefit him greatly.

But, as you guys brought up, would the pitching be hurt by Zunino catching less games? I don't know the answer to that question. I wish they would try and see how it turns out because I think under the right circumstances, Zunino could be an impact bat this year.

 

[Podunkparte]

I agree with the points that both you and Podu have made. Solid input. I just think we might get more out of his bat if he is frequnetly put in a situation (DH) where his only required contribution was offense. It might force to mentally prepare better for an at bat and no give so many at bats away. And John Buck is a good catcher/handler of pitchers in his own right. If Buck were to catch, say 40% of the games instead of 20%, and Zunino was to DH in 20% of the games, I think the break from catching duties would benefit him greatly.

But, as you guys brought up, would the pitching be hurt by Zunino catching less games? I don't know the answer to that question. I wish they would try and see how it turns out because I think under the right circumstances, Zunino could be an impact bat this year.

I don't think a player's hitting ability day to day changes very much, if at all whether they're playing the field that day or not. Basically I don't think Zunino DHing one day is suddenly going to make his hitting ability better that day. I just don't really believe in the idea that a player is more mentally prepared because he's not playing defense. Plenty of DH's go 0-4. If you can't be mentally prepared for a major league baseball game every day, you're not meant to be at this level.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Podunkparte]

Working on 6 consecutive hits. Yes, he's legit

 

[octagondd]

Hoping he can become our own Ricky Henderson with time and a few more pounds of muscle in the right areas.

 

[NWinAZ]

I said a few weeks back that he isn't legit until he starts driving some balls to the outfield (not pop ups) instead of hitting all these grounders to the right side. He is now proving he is legit with these recent hits and I applaud him for that. I don't know about being the next Rickey but I could see him being a Willie McGee which would be a great get for the M's.

 

[SeattleCoug]

The 2009 draft may not be so terrible for Jack Z after all. Seagar in Round 3 and Jones in Round 4. Heck if either Ackley or Franklin can turn out then it will be looking real good. Probably wishful thinking on the last two though

 

[Thisnamewasntaken]

Sweet James Jones

 

[DunceKaep]

DON'T give up on the bearded one. That said, please shave Dustin. It's UGLY, it serves NO purpose.
Chavez needs a BIG hit here.