Jackie Bradley, Jr. - Help

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Hate to see him being used just as a defensive replacement. Hopefully he will get starts at least the half of the time if not more.

 
I'd expect that if Victorino is going to get starts primarily in CF, that it would be as the weak side of a platoon with JBJ.  Victorino is not going to be at his most effective if he's a full time player, particularly if he's going to be in CF most of the time.  He's probably best suited as the 4th OF next year splitting time amongst all three positions.

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
I'd expect that if Victorino is going to get starts primarily in CF, that it would be as the weak side of a platoon with JBJ.  Victorino is not going to be at his most effective if he's a full time player, particularly if he's going to be in CF most of the time.  He's probably best suited as the 4th OF next year splitting time amongst all three positions.

Who said anything about Victorino in CF next year? He's a gold glover in right, for some reason not as good in center. It's beginning to look like Cespedes has stated a preference for LF. Cespedes in left, Bradley/Betts/Holt, somebody step up, please, in center, Vic in right. Nava fills in left or right for guys needing a night off, for injured (ugh) guys, RHP's only.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Who said anything about Victorino in CF next year? He's a gold glover in right, for some reason not as good in center. It's beginning to look like Cespedes has stated a preference for LF. Cespedes in left, Bradley/Betts/Holt, somebody step up, please, in center, Vic in right. Nava fills in left or right for guys needing a night off, for injured (ugh) guys, RHP's only.

I'm pretty sure he was a gold glover from 2008-2010 playing CF.  However, at this point, I'm also skeptical of Victorino being the everyday CF next season, but what happens to Craig in your scenario?

 

[E5 Yaz]

I'm pretty sure he was a gold glover from 2008-2010 playing CF.  However, at this point, I'm also skeptical of Victorino being the everyday CF next season, but what happens to Craig in your scenario?

 
Given what's available to them now, the only near-certainty is that Cespedes will be in a corner outfield spot next season. Everyone else carries a significant "if."

 

[Plympton91]

 
There is absolutely some of that, yes. But that is a larger problem in the abstract than it is here. We know Bradley's range was useful to the Sox and Gardner to the Yankees precisely because they made the outs that allowed them to rack up the OOZ plays that led to their huge UZR numbers. 
 
It is like RBI in that it depends on opportunities provided by teammates but it's in covering the slack of teammates, rather than receiving credit for their positive contributions. This is important, because it speaks to important truths of roster construction. Basically, in your scenario, Gardner is getting credited by UZR for allowing the Yankees to play a poor-defending slugger in CF. Which he did, and they did. 
 
For a team that appears to be contemplating an outfield with Yoenis Cespedes and Allen Craig in the corners, having somebody who can cover a meaningful proportion of the RF and LF zones might well be very valuable. UZR would value Bradley less playing between, let's say, a healthy Brett Gardner and a healthy Shane Victorino. And he would, in fact, be less valuable. 
 
Bradley saved something like four total bases relative to an average CF in two innings of a close game last night. The question of whether, let's say, Brock Holt or Mookie Betts can get to those balls as well (I doubt it) is really important to us right now. 

These are good points, especially noting that a defender like JBJ would allow a team to trade defense for offense at at least one corner outfield spot. I think this is what people have in mind when they say things like, "if the rest of the offense does it's job then you can carry a guy like JBJ." However, the way I'd say it based on your post is, "with JBJ, you can add offense elsewhere in the OF to make up for his lack thereof," and that would be more accurate I think.

I would also question whether Cespedes and a healthy Craig actually are the type of negative value defenders (they're close to average) that maximize the value of the JBJ tradeoff. I'd have more a Manny Ramirez or Kevin Mitchell, Jose Canseco in their primes as the template. I'd think a Cespedes, Craig, healthy Victorino OF (since we're wishcasting health already) would be perfectly defensively adequate while not giving the opposing pitcher a free out every time through the order.

Separately, another good point made by someone up above is that while calculating the overall WAR as a straight sum of oWAR and dWAR may work for players near the middle of the distribution, it may not be appropriate for players with a large discrepancy between offensive and defensive value. It could be that the loss function becomes nonlinear in oWAR due to the lineup synergy issue.

There was plenty of talk about the relentless lineup last season being greater than the sum of its parts, and discussion of Pierzynski's lack of plate discipline messing that up. I'd have to think having one of the worst OPS outfielders of the past half decade has similar concerns about undermining what the rest of the team is doing.

 

[Reggie's Racquet]

Maybe he just is what he is with the bat.
We know he is fast.
He is a good baserunner.
Maybe he should just work on his base stealing which of course he cannot do unless he gets on base a bit more.
If you have speed...stealing bases is a learned skill.
If he stole 30-40 bases a year and played the kind of defense we have seen this year that would be very valuable.
Right?

 

[Plympton91]

I don't think anyone has ever suggested he has the type of speed necessary to steal 30 bases with an acceptable success rate. Almost everything I've seen suggests average speed for a CF who makes up for it with awesome reads and jumps. He was projected as a 10-12 HR / 10- 15 steal guy.

 

[Cellar-Door]

He's the worst hitting regular outfielder in baseball by a solid margin.
Among the 56 OF with enought ABs to qualify for leaders he is:
 
Last in OPS by  .029
Last in SLG by .036
Last in wOBA
Last in wRC+
only 4th to last in OBP HOORAY!
 
 
If you expand it to the 96 players who have 250+ ABs and play OF you get Nate Schierholtz (DFA'd by the Cubs) with a worse OPS, Eric Young ties him for worst SLG, Schierholtz and Alexi Amarista (who plays mostly at 2B/SS) have worse wOBA, and only Schierholtz has a worse wRC+
And all the way up to 12th worst OBP.
 
I love JBJ, but he isn't a below average or even bad hitter who is a great fielder right now. He's a great fielder who is a truly terrible hitter, as in.. no other starter in MLB is close to that bad. I just don't think there is any way they can have him as a starter next year unless he starts to show significant improvement at the plate.

 

[Sprowl]

Jackie Bradley 2014 is hitting better than Jose Iglesias 2012.

 

[OttoC]

Wonder if Junior makes the catch on the ball that Holt deflected in the first inning last night that led to two runs?

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Who said anything about Victorino in CF next year? He's a gold glover in right, for some reason not as good in center. It's beginning to look like Cespedes has stated a preference for LF. Cespedes in left, Bradley/Betts/Holt, somebody step up, please, in center, Vic in right. Nava fills in left or right for guys needing a night off, for injured (ugh) guys, RHP's only.

 
Who?  How about geoduck two posts above mine, to whom I was responding (via quoting scotian who was also responding to geoduck).

 

[Traut]

Jackie Bradley 2014 is hitting better than Jose Iglesias 2012.

The Tigers could use a defense oriented centerfielder.

 

[arzjake]

JBJ the other night vs who was it the Yanks when Kruk mentioned his batting stance with toe tapping. Last nights I believe it was the first AB I didn't see any front foot toe tap and he ripped a bullet for an out to CF...
 
Mental? Coaching?  I believe u gotta stick with this kid more so than Middlebrooks at this point..

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
Who?  How about geoduck two posts above mine, to whom I was responding (via quoting scotian who was also responding to geoduck).

I meant who from the Red Sox talked about Victorino in center next year. They tend to do the position planning and make the final decisions on such things. In the few games he's played in center for the Red Sox, hasn't he been really average, or was it just on a few plays so small sample? An overwhelming goal has to be to get Bradley hitting, which has been said a few million times already here and everywhere people talk Red Sox. I would play Vic in right whenever he's healthy Cespedes in left, Bradley in center (if he can get even an uptick in his hitting) and let Craig be the utility outfielder. Actually, Craig, with his lack of speed, can probably only play left, and that seems to be where Cespedes wants to play. Craig is the square peg. Maybe they see him as Papi's replacement at DH.

 

[E5 Yaz]

"I'm definitely not going to let these struggles affect me. One day I'm going to look back on this and say I'm glad I went through that. Anybody who struggles even a little bit can come to me. 'Let me help you.' I struggled more than a little bit, and I'm going to get through it."
 

 
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/11333649/jackie-bradley-jr-full-confidence-hitting-slump?ex_cid=espnapi_public
 
If faith in yourself can will it to be so, he has a chance

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/11333649/jackie-bradley-jr-full-confidence-hitting-slump?ex_cid=espnapi_public
 
If faith in yourself can will it to be so, he has a chance

I read the whole article. He's talking like he's hit bottom mentally, like someone ready for a 12 step program (or no step program, just go up and hit). It's Sunday. Back in the 50s on a hot humid day in NY, with Gil Hodges struggling mightily and hitless in the world series against the Yankees, a priest in Brooklyn, Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church told his flock: "It's far too hot for a homily. Keep the Commandments and say a prayer for Gil Hodges."
 
Let's all say a prayer for JBJ and his hitting, now.

 

[Reggie's Racquet]

I read the whole article. He's talking like he's hit bottom mentally, like someone ready for a 12 step program (or no step program, just go up and hit). It's Sunday. Back in the 50s on a hot humid day in NY, with Gil Hodges struggling mightily and hitless in the world series against the Yankees, a priest in Brooklyn, Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church told his flock: "It's far too hot for a homily. Keep the Commandments and say a prayer for Gil Hodges."
 
Let's all say a prayer for JBJ and his hitting, now.

 
Can I get an AMEN from all the Sons and Daughters of Sam Horn?

 

[Madmartigan]

JBJ the other night vs who was it the Yanks when Kruk mentioned his batting stance with toe tapping. Last nights I believe it was the first AB I didn't see any front foot toe tap and he ripped a bullet for an out to CF...
 
Mental? Coaching?  I believe u gotta stick with this kid more so than Middlebrooks at this point..

 
Good observation.  Here's a swing from the Yankees series last week:
 
View attachment 533
 
And last night:
 
View attachment 534
 
No more toe tap and "double hitch", as Kruk called it.  Hopefully he sticks with the simplified mechanics and they work out for him. 

 

[Al Zarilla]

I just watched Billy Butler double to right using a toe-tap before raising his lead leg and swinging. Butler is hot right now too.

 

[E5 Yaz]

I read the whole article. He's talking like he's hit bottom mentally, like someone ready for a 12 step program (or no step program, just go up and hit). It's Sunday. Back in the 50s on a hot humid day in NY, with Gil Hodges struggling mightily and hitless in the world series against the Yankees, a priest in Brooklyn, Father Herbert Redmond of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church told his flock: "It's far too hot for a homily. Keep the Commandments and say a prayer for Gil Hodges."
 
Let's all say a prayer for JBJ and his hitting, now.

 
I read the entire article, too. And I have no idea how you got that impression

 

[Reverend]

 
Good observation.  Here's a swing from the Yankees series last week:
 

jbj3.gif
 
And last night:
 

jbj2.gif
 
No more toe tap and "double hitch", as Kruk called it.  Hopefully he sticks with the simplified mechanics and they work out for him. 

 
There's a lot more different than just the lack of toe tap including what looks like a loss of the herky-jerky motion in the upper leg and hips and different timing on the step.
 
The new swing looks much more like a real swing. The other thing looks like an exaggerated parody of baseball players' weirdness, like a cartoon thing or something.

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
I read the entire article, too. And I have no idea how you got that impression

When a guy starts talking about stopping doing all this and starting to do that, it sounds like rock bottom to me. He's also implying stopping listening to other people about hitting, like coaches.
 
"It doesn't matter if it's high speed or not, 95, it doesn't matter the speed of the pitch, honestly,'' he said. "I'm going to get back to being me, my athletic swing. I'm getting all the other clutter out of the way. I'm no longer tinkering with, 'Try this, try that.'
"There's a point to where you listen and you try. Well, when I was doing it the way I was accustomed to doing, it wasn't 'trying,' it was just doing. It's all I've ever done in this game. I never gave any thought about doing it, I just did it. That's what I'm going to get back to doing.''
Bradley's uncommon maturity is one reason the Sox have stuck with him throughout his struggles.
"I'm still the same person,'' he said. "I'm definitely not going to let these struggles affect me. One day I'm going to look back on this and say I'm glad I went through that. Anybody who struggles even a little bit can come to me. 'Let me help you.' I struggled more than a little bit, and I'm going to get through it.''

 

[E5 Yaz]

When a guy starts talking about stopping doing all this and starting to do that, it sounds like rock bottom to me. He's also implying stopping listening to other people about hitting, like coaches.
 
"It doesn't matter if it's high speed or not, 95, it doesn't matter the speed of the pitch, honestly,'' he said. "I'm going to get back to being me, my athletic swing. I'm getting all the other clutter out of the way. I'm no longer tinkering with, 'Try this, try that.'
"There's a point to where you listen and you try. Well, when I was doing it the way I was accustomed to doing, it wasn't 'trying,' it was just doing. It's all I've ever done in this game. I never gave any thought about doing it, I just did it. That's what I'm going to get back to doing.''
Bradley's uncommon maturity is one reason the Sox have stuck with him throughout his struggles.
"I'm still the same person,'' he said. "I'm definitely not going to let these struggles affect me. One day I'm going to look back on this and say I'm glad I went through that. Anybody who struggles even a little bit can come to me. 'Let me help you.' I struggled more than a little bit, and I'm going to get through it.''

 
And that reads like "rock bottom" to you? When Edes presented the article as it being a sign of the slump not getting to him and a mature approach. 
 
That's a huge swing between how it reads to you and how the reporter who heard the quotes came away from the interview thinking.
 
Truth is probably somewhere in the middle

 

[Reverend]

Sounds to me like a guy who got a talk from Pedroia.

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
And that reads like "rock bottom" to you? When Edes presented the article as it being a sign of the slump not getting to him and a mature approach. 
 
That's a huge swing between how it reads to you and how the reporter who heard the quotes came away from the interview thinking.
 
Truth is probably somewhere in the middle

Well, they say you have to hit bottom before things begin to around. I'd rather hear him go through a cleansing, saying a lot of different things, than just say "I'll get over this". Whatever you call it, to continue the analogy, the alcoholic has to stop drinking, and Bradley has to start hitting, or the whole thing means diddly.

 

[Reverend]

Well, they say you have to hit bottom before things begin to around. I'd rather hear him go through a cleansing, saying a lot of different things, than just say "I'll get over this". Whatever you call it, to continue the analogy, the alcoholic has to stop drinking, and Bradley has to start hitting, or the whole thing means diddly.

 
Well, yeah, but it's not true. Not that it matters, but I'm not sure how useful it is to impose the AA narrative on JBJ's leg kick.

 

[Reverend]

The leg kick is whack again. I'm not even sure it's whack in the same way it was before.

 

[URI]

I just watched Billy Butler double to right using a toe-tap before raising his lead leg and swinging. Butler is hot right now too.

It works with some players and not with others as a timing mechanism. Dwight Evans toe-tapped too.

And stood like a weirdo at the plate.

 

[ScubaSteveAvery]

I grabbed a handful of gifs from his time in Pawtucket last year (all from this video).  The toe tap/pivot thing is prevalent in all of them.  The tapping we saw this year is more exaggerated, but this is something he has seemingly always done. It doesn't excuse how its probably bad for hitting MLB pitching, but its not something that he just made up this year during his struggles:
 

 

 

 

 

 

[nattysez]

Now 0 for his last 35.

 

[Pumpsie]

This is reaching absurd proportions by this point (and X is now 3 for 35 since he got moved back to short...so much for THAT theory).  Gotta think about shutting or sending him down or having him work extensively with a batting coach.  Right now, he's just forming bad habits that will be harder to break with each passing day.  Give Mookie his spot for the next three weeks and then bring him back up in September and try to build some confidence in him then.  There's no reason why he should be hitting this badly.  He hit fine in the minors.  He has to change up something in his thinking and getting away from the grind of the season right now might be the best thing for him.
 
EDIT:  Oh, and by the way, we need two new hitting coaches next year. 

 

[Plympton91]

Lots of guys hit fine in the minors but can't do it in the majors Pumpsie. Otherwise Rick Lancelotti would be a Hall of Famer.

 

[Super Nomario]

He could go (hyperbole alert) 0-for-200 down the stretch and I'd still write '2015 April and May' in stone.  Boegarts too. 

This is no longer funny

 

[snowmanny]

Now 0 for his last 35.

To my best recollection the last Red Sox player to be in a slump like this was Luis Aparicio. I remember President Nixon sending him a message of sympathy and encouragement. He
ended up 0-41.

Edit: he also ended up in the HOF. I know, SSS and all.

Edit2: I misremembered. Nixon sent a congratulatory letter after Aparicio broke the streak with a grand slam. Also I guess Luis went 0-44.

"In my own career I have experienced long periods when I couldn't seem to get a hit, regardless of how hard I tried, but in the end I was able to hit a home run," Nixon wrote.

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-07/sports/sp-1658_1_nixon-s-yorba-linda

 

[soxhop411]

This is reaching absurd proportions by this point (and X is now 3 for 35 since he got moved back to short...so much for THAT theory).  Gotta think about shutting or sending him down or having him work extensively with a batting coach.  Right now, he's just forming bad habits that will be harder to break with each passing day.  Give Mookie his spot for the next three weeks and then bring him back up in September and try to build some confidence in him then.  There's no reason why he should be hitting this badly.  He hit fine in the minors.  He has to change up something in his thinking and getting away from the grind of the season right now might be the best thing for him.
 
EDIT:  Oh, and by the way, we need two new hitting coaches next year. 

I don't think the sox will fire Greg Colbrunn given what happened to him this year. He was also the same batting coach in 2013 where we were in the top 5 of almost every batting stat

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Lots of guys hit fine in the minors but can't do it in the majors Pumpsie. Otherwise Rick Lancelotti would be a Hall of Famer.

 
Rick Lancelotti got 68 PAs over his entire major league career. Talk about SSS.

 

[Pumpsie]

I don't think the sox will fire Greg Colbrunn given what happened to him this year. He was also the same batting coach in 2013 where we were in the top 5 of almost every batting stat

Well, the 2013 team had all experienced position players.  The youngsters this year are all regressing.  They may not can Colbrunn but part of that decision would certainly be PR-related and not solely baseball-related.

 

[MuzzyField]

I don't think the sox will fire Greg Colbrunn given what happened to him this year. He was also the same batting coach in 2013 where we were in the top 5 of almost every batting stat

With a roster of MLB established bats to hide the kids.  Times have changed, health aside, he and the rest of the staff need to be better than this.
 
JBJ had a pretty good pre-ASB stretch and came out of it with a further modified approach, and down the toilet he went.  Did he do that on his own or was he being coached?

 

[soxhop411]

Mike Cameron talks about JBJ's issues at the plate
 

Mike Cameron was in San Diego, visiting with a couple of other former big leaguers, Charlie Hayes and Terry Shumpert, when a replay of Jackie Bradley Jr.'s wall-crashing catch Friday night against the Angels popped up on a TV screen.
Cameron turned to his friends and said, "Wow, he reminds me of my dang self.''
But it wasn't just Bradley's highlight-reel catch that made Cameron, a three-time Gold Glover in center field and All-Star during his 17-year career, see a reflection of himself. Cameron also knows how badly Bradley is struggling at the plate: a .213 average and an 0-for-31 slump that had him on the bench for the fourth time in five games Saturday night.
That brought back memories, too. After finishing sixth in AL Rookie of the Year balloting in his first full season with the Chicago White Sox in 1997, Cameron endured a horrendous second season, batting .210 with 101 strikeouts in 396 at-bats.
"Here I was supposed to be the guy who was going to be the White Sox center fielder for the next 10 years, I was struggling and I didn't know why,'' he said. "I had to get extremely hot just to get to .210. That was crazy. It became a mental grind more than anything.''
But Cameron came out of it. The White Sox traded him to Cincinnati for Paul Konerko, but the next season he hit 21 home runs, stole 38 bases and hit .256. Two years after that, after the Reds traded him to the Mariners for Ken Griffey Jr., Cameron was an outfielder, and went on to have a long and productive career.
Cameron believes Bradley will, too.
"I've talked to him a couple of times,'' said Cameron, who dropped by the Boston clubhouse when the Red Sox were in his hometown of Atlanta in May. "I like him. I really like him. I like the way he plays, and the way he can impact the game on both sides of the ball.
"He's going to be a good player, a center fielder for a long time. He's in a real tough market where the tolerance of failure is less, but if anything else, for him to be able to go through the pressure of struggling in Boston that much and come out of it will be something to watch.''
Cameron is watching from afar, but he has a simple explanation for Bradley's struggles at the plate, the worst by any major league center fielder with 300 or more at-bats since Cameron in '98.
"His brain is twisted and screwed up,'' Cameron said. "The speed of the game hasn't slowed up for him, no matter who talks to him. My problem was with the breaking ball. He's missing fastballs. I wasn't missing fastballs.
"That just tells me his mind is wound up and in a tough place right now. But I like what John [Farrell] is doing for the kid, staying with him and instilling confidence and trust in Jackie. And it has had no impact on his defense.''
Jerry Manuel, when he was managing the White Sox, did the same for Cameron, he said Friday, though just like Farrell with Bradley, there were times he had to sit him. But as often as he could, Manuel tried to place Cameron in a position where he could succeed, even if it was as a defensive replacement.
How does Bradley come out of it?
"It means going all the way back to the basics and remembering what he was doing best,'' Cameron said. "That's what I did after that season. I knew what I had to do to be successful, I worked hard every day, and kept taking batting practice 'til I found it.
"He needs to think about putting one good swing on the ball, one good swing per at-bat. He's got to simplify the whole game, because it's not going to stop. Hunt the fastball. Because it's eventually going to come back and click for him.''
Cameron was in San Diego to watch his son, Dazmon Cameron, play in a national high school showcase tournament. Dazmon, who plays for Eagle Landing Christian Academy in Georgia, will be a senior and is considered one of the best prep players in the country. And oh, yes, he plays center field.
Dazmon's dad, who played parts of two injury-filled seasons with the Sox in 2010 and 2011, said he was thinking of driving up the freeway to see his old team. But he had a message for Bradley in case he didn't make it.
"Tell him I'm pulling for him,'' he said. "And hunt the fastball.''
 

http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=11333490&type=story

 

[mt8thsw9th]

 
Rick Lancelotti got 68 PAs over his entire major league career. Talk about SSS.

 
Clearly he was mentioned just so the site could still say Rick Lancelotti's name is still thrown around.
 
The reason why JBJr has gotten more than that is he was a high draft pick, was highly regarding by scouts, and he was strong at the plate and in the field. Lancelotti is about as similar to Bradley as Izzy Alcantara was to Jacoby Ellsbury.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

Mike Cameron talks about JBJ's issues at the plate
 
http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=11333490&type=story

 
I'm a fan of Edes, but this is kind of a clusterfuck:
 

But Cameron came out of it. The White Sox traded him to Cincinnati for Paul Konerko, but the next season he hit 21 home runs, stole 38 bases and hit .256. Two years after that, after the Reds traded him to the Mariners for Ken Griffey Jr., Cameron was an outfielder, and went on to have a long and productive career.
Cameron believes Bradley will, too.
 

 
 
The second 'but' rather than 'and' was initially confusing, but I had to look up whether the Mariners were the team that finally switched him to the outfield.

 

[Eddie Jurak]

Lots of guys hit fine in the minors but can't do it in the majors Pumpsie. Otherwise Rick Lancelotti would be a Hall of Famer.

Too soon to draw that conclusion about Bradley. Most guys who struggle as badly as he has early in their career get sent down. That Bradley wasn't sent down was partly because of the lack of alternatives and partly because his excellent defense bought him some extra rope.

So it could still be that he just isn't ready.

 

[Frisbetarian]

 
Rick Lancelotti got 68 PAs over his entire major league career. Talk about SSS.

 
And he really wasn't that good in the minors either...10 seasons in AAA, ~4600 at bats, .246, .327. .451. Hardly Hall of Fame numbers.  

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Listened to the game in the car today and I can't that I remember so many people openly pulling for a guy who's just been absolutely horrible. After the fourth strikeout, both Costig and Pete Abe sounded genuinely depressed, just watching a guy completely and totally fail over and over again and hating to see it. 
 
I don't think so many smart baseball people would stick by him so long if he just didn't have it. He can't be getting by on nothing but charisma. They've seen something in him they think will make him a decent major leaguer at some point. Or maybe they're just dazzled by his defense and are depressed at the thought of not getting to see it on a regular basis going forward. I can certainly sympathize with that. 

 

[soxhop411]

Listened to the game in the car today and I can't that I remember so many people openly pulling for a guy who's just been absolutely horrible. After the fourth strikeout, both Costig and Pete Abe sounded genuinely depressed, just watching a guy completely and totally fail over and over again and hating to see it. 
 
I don't think so many smart baseball people would stick by him so long if he just didn't have it. He can't be getting by on nothing but charisma. They've seen something in him they think will make him a decent major leaguer at some point. Or maybe they're just dazzled by his defense and are depressed at the thought of not getting to see it on a regular basis going forward. I can certainly sympathize with that. 

He has shown some flashes of success at the plate this year though....

 

[MakMan44]

That's still a sub .700 OPS, with a BABIP closing on .400. 

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

And even when he was "hot," he was still striking out just under 25 percent of the time. 
 
When your "best" is a strikeout every four at-bats, and you don't hit bombs, it's not good. 

 

[OttoC]

And even when he was "hot," he was still striking out just under 25 percent of the time. 
 
When your "best" is a strikeout every four at-bats, and you don't hit bombs, it's not good. 

 
In the AL through Saturday's games, there were 13025 strikeouts in 59752 at bats, which is about 21.8% of the time. While he hasn't been doing much otherwise at bat, his strikeout rate is not especially notable. He is about a single every three games short of hitting for league-average SLG.

 

[radsoxfan]

Out of 150 players in baseball with enough PA to qualify, Bradley has the 7th highest strikeout rate. Plus, he has the lowest SLG of anyone near him on the list. 
 
If you want to look at Bradley's K rate of 28.4%, you have to realize thats per plate appearance, not per AB (It would be higher per AB).  The average K% in the AL this year is 19.6% (via fan graphs).  
 
Strikeout rate is certainly not the most important thing in the world, but any attempt to claim Bradley doesn't strike out a lot is simply incorrect. 

 

[mauidano]

JBJ is very uncomfortable at the plate.  It's so awkward even at home to watch him flail away.  I think even he is hoping/settling for a walk just so he can feel what it's like to on base.  He ain't going anywhere folks.  There is absolutely nothing to lose by him playing everyday in CF.  He'll either get it together or he won't this season. As mentioned above, he will get a lot of PT working on his approach and mechanics during the offseason. No Winter Ball just some one on one stuff.  I'm pulling for him.  Good kid, GREAT glove.  He'll get every opportunity to make it work.