Articles from October 2011

Where’s Ray Vinson when you need him?

Last July, as I reviewed the best commercials across Major League Baseball, I took a look at the St. Louis Cardinals’ team commercials

After Tony La Russa was re-signed prior to the 2011 season, Ryan wrote an article called, “La Russa is back! Bring in the geezers!” where he scrutinized TLR’s tendency to employ aging infielders.

Several of the Rangers’ players made an appearance in our beloved MLB Look-alikes series:

–       David Murphy and Allan Ruck (link)

–       Josh Hamilton and Cole Hauser (link)

–       Ian Kinsler and Efraim E. Diveroli (link)

–       Ron Washington & Lil’ Ron Washington (link)

Shortly after the Cardinals signed Nick Punto in January, I also examined TLR’s affinity for pocket-sized infielders.

As both Spring Training and the Albert Pujols negotiations reached an end this past spring, Justin argued that Pujols’ impending free agency was bad for baseball.

On the contrary, Griff contended that Pujols’ free agency was good for baseball

Ryan detailed some of Tim McCarver’s (who he deems to be baseball’s worst announcer) finest facepalm moments from World Series past.

I posted the video of the worst commercial of all-time, courtesy of the super-awkward TLR.

We captured Rob on TV during Game 1 of the World Series, right next to David Freese

Just the other day prior to Game 3 in Arlington, I wrote that Allen Craig would torch the Rangers’ left-handed starters, and he made me look like a genius by launching a home run in his first at-bat against Matt Harrison.  Thanks, Allen.

Back when it was still relevant, I explored the significance behind the Rangers’ claws and antlers.

Dear Fox: More shots of Ron Washington, please.

With the fall baseball season in full swing nationwide and the WWBA championships coming to a close in Jupiter, FL, it seems fitting to discuss a prospect who perhaps has the most to gain or lose out of anyone in the months leading up to the June draft.  Stanford SS Kenny Diekroeger is arguably the best athlete in this year’s college crop.  He is basically a 60 across the board player in the “athlete” tools as well as with the glove.  He has all of the tools necessary to be a key up-the-middle contributor with a very good chance to be average at short or plus at second.  Diekroeger will have three years at Stanford under his belt come June and that combination of tools and experience should mean a very high selection in the draft, right?  Not necessarily.

Diekroeger posted a .293/.364/.356 slash line for the Cardinal in 2011 after .356/.392/.491 line as a freshman.  Many have used the new bat regulations to explain this drop in production.  I think there is more to it.  Kenny’s bat speed is easily at least plus, but he creates very little loft with his swing mechanics and produces entirely too many GB’s because his hands drop as he loads.  For most belt-high pitches and above (easily within the NCAA strike-zone) Kenny is a below-the-ball hitter.  This is not necessarily an easy fix, and it could be a problem that he will fight the rest of his days on the diamond.  It’s not necessarily as though he will ever be a bad hitter with his current mechanics, but he cannot be elite with them either, and with a frame as large as the one he currently has, sliding to third or the outfield is a real possibility.  An average or below hit tool on a 60 runner is not a first round player in many organizations’ opinions, and Diekroeger has potentially millions to gain from improved bat track and mechanics this year.

Diekroeger fails to transfer all of his weight and tends to close his lower half off as well.  This is usually an easier fix than the bat track issues, but is much tougher to do when also attempting to correct upper body flaws.

The PAC-12 is loaded with strong pitching this season, and Diekroeger will be able to prove (or not prove) that he is deserving of the top-10 talk that he was receiving after his freshman year as opposed to the late first round or early compensation round talk that he began receiving after his numbers softened up in 2011.  Diekroeger might very well be the second infielder off of the board in 2012 behind ASU SS Deven Marrero, but he also could end up falling behind several prep kids too like Gavin Cecchini.