AlNipper49 said:Devers just hit a grand slam to put the Drive up 9-2 over Charleston
AlNipper49 said:No, they were playing in Charleston tonight. It's funny how things work out, but a few of our close friends all decided to move to South Carolina independent of one another, within the span of a few months.
The reason it's kind of funny how things work out is one of my best buddies ended up deciding on Charleston. He's also my biggest Yankee foil in the group of buddies. So he ended up in Yankee farm territory and I ended up in Sox territory. Once we get settled we'll make trips to follow our favorite teams. His son and mine are good buddies too.
So that's the long answer. The short answer is he texted me from the game
It's awesome down here man. Greenville is a really cool place. Google some pics of the town around the stadium, it's pretty amazing. I'm up for catching games with anyone who wants to make the pilgrimage !
Detts said:Devers hitting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh7OdMthttw
Agreed. People also don't take into account the weight of the barrel and the strength required to move it into a position to get it to the ball. Once the barrel gets low in relation to your hands, you've got timing issues IMO. The classic hitters that have a hitch (Bonds, Teddy, etc.) always kept the barrel vertical to their hands while they dropped a bit. Still very easy to move the bat and drop the barrel into the zone. When you've got to pick the barrel up to get it above the hands you run into problems.Chuck Z said:Yup that's the same thing I had issue with above as well. It just makes the swing get a little loopy sometimes, and can cause other timing problems. It shouldn't be too hard to clean up, as it isn't a major issue, but he's not taking the most direct path to the ball right now because of it.
PaulinMyrBch said:Check out this video of Sheffield. Explains some of what we're touching on here. Gary waved the bat into that position, but usually got it in a good spot once his foot landed.
I think Devers is a bit extreme with his position when it lands, but I think its something they can fix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPvVgc1QdLY
he also plays in a bad park for LH power and has a 100 point home/away OPS split, so .800 would be even better than it looks.After a super slow start that had some people freaked out, he has his season line up to .271/.331/.419/.749 and in the last 28 days it is .365/.408/.625/1.033 despite having only 1 HR during that time period (because he has 14 doubles and 4 triples in the same time period). If he ends up with an OPS of around .800 as a 19 year old in high A, given the start he had, I have to imagine that we will all be pretty happy, no?
The amount of information available to the Sox vs what is available to the average SoSH member is a bit...skewedSurprised he hasn't been promoted to get a handful of at bats in Portland already.
Back to 1B? He's never played there, at least not in America.Wonder what sort of track he's on at this point. Obviously depends on how he handles AA, but it feels like we could see him in Boston any time from August next year to spring 2019 (waiting for Hanley's contract to finish). Does he move back to first by default once Moncada's installed?
You're right, I was thinking of his projection as an eventual 1B when he was signed.Back to 1B? He's never played there, at least not in America.
Here he is 3 weeks ago at Sox rookie camp, so we can be the judge. Weight is definitely up, but its hard to tell if he's out of shape or just in a process where he's trying to add good weight. The gut isn't busting the seams, but he's heavier.Was listening to Bradford today and he said Devers showed up out of shape. If true, pretty disappointing
Aaron (Houston): Klaw, I think it’s amazing the amount of content (baseball, cooking, board games, music, politics, etc.) you supply, plus reading so much and providing good family time. How do you do it? Also, what kind of power potential can we see from Rafael Devers. Will the defense ever come around, or is he destined for 1st base? Thanks!!!
Klaw: I think there’s 30 HR power in there given time. He got big this winter, so I wonder if he’s just going to grow off third base – his defense there right now is actually pretty good, but man he is huge.