DAT 9/1: YFPHA vs Mariners

What a boring opening post for today's DAT.

Little league Lloyd about to be relieved of his duties on the next week or two. Lulz

Reading up about Tyler White working on catching in the Winter. He played catcher in high school, but hasn't done it since (played 1st & 3rd in college). Before he was drafted, he was contacted by the Giants and they told him they were interested in drafting him and would consider switching him back to catcher if they did.

So apparently it isn't just an out of the blue suggestion by JL to try him back at catcher. But considering he is going to be a 25 year old prospect sometime next season and hasn't played catcher in probably 7-8 years, I can't imagine how difficult that process will be. Learning to play 1st base or LF is one thing. Learning to receive balls as a catcher and call games is another. We'll see...

you'd think he would learn his lesson after we have bitch slapped the mariners all year, especially in Houston.

I think defensive catchers are pretty underrated. I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of calling a game, but it seems crucial and having a catcher than can limit baserunners is obviously important. And Fivethirtyeight just did a writeup on how valuable Posey is with his ability to frame (so much so that the article is basically making a claim that he might be the MVP).

Not sure I would compare him to Conger when the context is certainly a long term view, and it's hard to imagine him getting in in 2016 anyway. Conger's a pretty shitty baseline since he's a stopgap/backup catcher that is an okay hitter. If he shows signs of promise that would be great, but would hate to see us build a team around the concept of him being a Catcher for the long haul if it's not the optimal move.

It obviously means they don't see him having much of a future at 1B, perhaps because they don't think his bat can play there

I really hope baseball does the right thing and moves to automated balls and strikes...that would eliminate the BS framing concept...speed up games and cause less ejection and arguments.

quote:

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the human aspect

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People who aren't actually playing the game influencing and even affecting the outcome of it through their own mistakes and biases.

Among all the traditionalists' arguments to preserve the game, saving home plate umpire error/undue influence is the worst one IMO.

For anyone wanting to see the game tonight, Astros just posted a flash sale for $20 bullpen seats