Posted by bripat42 on 7/15/2019 3:17:00 PM (view original):
I know you're looking for someone to agree with you, but his OPS was about what I'd expect from a right-handed batter with his ratings and a home ballpark like Seattle (-3, -2, -1, -2, -2). I can speak only to what his ratings are currently since I can't see what they were in past seasons, and based on his current ratings, he's not as good as you seem to think he is. Did he underperform a bit? Maybe—but nothing extreme. It's worth noting that he did hit .275/.379/.494 (.873 OPS) on the road, so the Seattle factor clearly was huge. He actually outperformed his career averages—and his ratings, in my opinion—on the road. It was at home where he was atrocious, and that's not uncommon in Seattle.
It's also worth noting that he posted a respectable .788 OPS against left-handed pitching. Right-handed pitchers, not surprisingly, chewed him up and spit him out. I stress this because you described his ratings as "very high," but 70ish is about average for an ML player, and Christian's only batting rating north of 77 is his vsL. A right-handed batter with ratings in the 75-77 range can't be expected to dominate right-handed pitchers, many of whom are boasting control, vsR, P1, and P2 ratings up around 80 or higher.
His 86/57 speed/baserunning combination is a perfect formula for getting caught stealing. Yes, 12-for-24 might be a bit worse than expected, but I still wouldn't expect much better results from that combination. So, again, his underperformance there was nothing extreme.
Good luck going forward.
Thanks, I appreciate your analysis and I am looking fot other perspectives besides my own. I am very ok with being taught, that is why I post.