Report: Red Sox and X close on contract extension

Savin Hillbilly

loves the secret sauce
SoSH Member
Jul 10, 2007
18,783
The wrong side of the bridge....
Yount's actually an interesting Xander comp in the sense that he too took several years to establish his offensive game -- longer than Xander, but then he started even younger than Xander, at a ridiculous age 18. His OPS+ through his age 23 year -- six seasons, 3000+ PA -- was just 89. Then he figured it out big-time, and over the next six seasons, through age 29, put up a .299/.353/.490 line, good for a 136 OPS+. Pretty similar to the transformation we've seen from Xander, except Xander's baseline was better: he only had one full season as a really bad hitter.
 

Pitt the Elder

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 7, 2013
4,419
In a non Trout world he could win mvp this year. This is the player we dreamed about in 2013. So thankful he’s locked up.
What's somewhat surprising is that he's having almost the exact same season he had last year, except with a higher walk rate (13.4% vs 9.5%) and better base running ratings. He has a slight uptick in some of his other stats (slightly lower K%, slightly higher exit velo and launch angle, etc) but, if not for his early season injury, last year, we might have been having this conversation last year.

Some stats!

YearExit VelocityLaunch AngleBarrel %Hard Hit %XBAXSLGXWOBA
201587.66.62.5%34.2%0.2910.3770.311
201688.811.35.3%32.7%0.2640.4060.324
201787.38.21.3%30.2%0.2600.3490.305
201890.512.79.8%41.6%0.2830.4980.367
201991.313.310.0%46.3%0.2790.4710.368

YearBB%KK%ISOOPBSLGOPSwRC
20154.9%15.4%0.1010.3550.4210.776111
20168.1%17.1%0.1520.3560.4460.802114
20178.8%18.3%0.1300.3430.4030.74695
20189.5%17.6%0.2340.3600.5220.882133
201913.4%17.0%0.2400.3890.5370.926139
 

Al Zarilla

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 8, 2005
58,909
San Andreas Fault
This morning's Fangraphs leaderboard shows Xander with the #2 WAR in the American League, behind only Trout. #5 in MLB.
X replaces Mookie, who was, however, #1 in both leagues most of last year, neck and neck with Trout but finished ahead of him. It's a fragile thing, baseball, mostly the hitting part. Unless you're Mike Trout this decade.