The future is now for the Blue Jays ’best prospect, Gabriel Moreno, who is expected to rise in time for this weekend’s three-game series against the Detroit Tigers.
Moreno is not only the best prospect in the Jays organization, but he is also one of the top 10 potentials in all of baseball in almost every such ranking.
Scouting reports project Moreno to be an All-Star caliber receiver. He is a two-pronged player with a big arm and a power bat. He’s not hitting as hard this year as he was last year, but his .324 / .380 / .404 will play very well in the Jays lineup. Also, many players end up hitting for more power in the majors than in Triple-A. The pitchers of the majors are more around the plate than of the minors, where the pitchers can scatter the ball.
Moreno comes to the majors to play, not to watch matches. As general manager, I wouldn’t promote my best prospect in the middle of the season just to let him see what the major leagues are like.
I suspect the Jays will carry three receivers to use their receivers more safely as designated hitters. I would expect Alejandro Kirk to arrive at DH on the days Moreno is catching. When Kirk catches up, Moreno will do DH. When Charlie Montoyo wants to give a break to one of these two, he will insert a blow with his left hand Zach Collins as DH.
This is a low risk promotion. A Kirk / Collins tandem can surely hold the fort until Danny Jansen returns from the broken bone in his left hand. If Moreno excels, the Jays will have a decision to make when Jansen returns. My expectation is that if this is the case, Collins would be degraded, and they would take Jansen, Kirk and Moreno. What seems like a problem of too much depth and talent usually takes care of itself. If Moreno has problems, they can send him with experience and information on where he needs to improve.
Moreno is the future daily receiver of the Jays. The biggest unknown is about the future of Jansen and Kirk. One of them will probably be a commercial chip at some point to further strengthen the launch staff or add a left-handed bat to the lineup.
Vladdy could learn from Trout
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. he seems to be picking up his offensive production in June. He hit .217 / .333 / .348 in May with just three doubles and three homers. Guerrero already has four homers and a double this month. I broke down at SportsCentre which took a closer look at their struggles.
What adjustments can Guerrero Jr. make? to regain his MVP form?
After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. he set the league on fire last season, this year he has fought for the pitchers to adapt to him. What adjustments can the Blue Jays star make to return to his MVP form? TSN baseball analyst Steve Philips has some ideas for some simple tweaks that Guerrero Jr. can do.
Remember the whole talk about your launch angle? Major league batsmen have an average throwing angle of 12 degrees. Last season, Vlad hit 48 homers with a below-average throw angle of 9.4 degrees. How did he do it? By hitting the shots in the area where he could still hit the bottom of the ball with a flatter path to the ball. Vladdy is a high ball hitter. In fact, only 14 of his 78 extra-base hits hit fields in the area.
By comparison, LA Angels superstar Mike Trout is a low ball hitter. His average throwing angle this season is 24 degrees. It makes sense that Trout has to go down and take the low steps to make them fly, thus creating a more significant launch angle. Guerrero hits the top of the ball on low fields, where Trout stretches to hit the bottom of the ball when it is down. The pitchers know about Guerrero, so they throw him into the area, more than satisfied if he hits hard ground balls.
Guerrero could learn from the tortilla. The pitchers started attacking Trout for his weakness in the area and made an adjustment, grabbing that pitch until he had to hit it twice. Trout also made an adjustment in his swing on the high ball. He hit hard on balls that were high in the area and chased the pitchers to hit him exclusively there.
Guerrero must do the same in low fields. His batting practices should be almost exclusively about driving the ball low. I would avoid talking to him about changing his swing. I want you to think about driving the tone low on the wall. Naturally, it will make an adjustment. Guerrero only needs to lower the releases, then drive a few that he has been forced to change, to change the scan report.
Girardi, Maddon pointed to the door
Last Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies fired coach Joe Girardi and went on to sweep the Angels in a three-game series. Philadelphia has now won six games in a row since making the move.
On Monday, the Angels fired manager Joe Maddon. Los Angeles was 27-17 and ranked first in the AL West before its collapse. They lost 14 straight games before finally defeating Boston 5-2 on Thursday night. Maddon did not become a bad coach in a two week period. This is just the nature of the game. It’s a business, and the goal is to make a profit. If a team doesn’t win, things have to be tried to change that.
There have been some rumors that Maddon was not interested in the reception’s desire to use more analytics than he preferred. As a CEO, it’s hard to fire a manager who isn’t doing his job the way you want to when he’s earning. But when you lose 12 games in a row, it becomes the reason you are fired. This year there were high expectations for the Angels. I wasn’t buying exactly because I was worried about its launch depth.
A key factor in both layoffs is that neither had been hired by the current CEO. They were inherited by the reception. There is less emotional connection when this is the case. Sometimes movements like this work and sometimes they don’t. The thing to remember is that both teams have serious warts on their squad. There are real shortcomings that will keep popping up because they always do.
Marlins coach Don Mattingly called a 90-minute team meeting after those layoffs, probably acknowledging he could be in danger. His club (25-30) has performed poorly, and he does not work for the general manager who hired him. They have now won three games in a row.
It is an imitative league. When one team does something that seems to work, others will try it too. Don’t feel bad for Maddon or Girardi, they are the highest paid coaches in the game and they will be fine. I hope they both have another crack to deal with if they want to come back.