How do we get the most from Rickie Weeks?

[owbc]

It would have been nice to see him hit a HR for a 5-5 day. But still, he just got under that one, it was hit hard. If Weeks goes up there and keeps getting hits to the opposite field, it's going to force opposing pitchers to start giving him pitches on the inside half to hit. With Rickie's bat speed, he should be able to catch up to them, even if he is looking to go the other way.

 

Still, I'm not a believer that things have 'clicked'. He's hitting better, but he doesn't magically become a .300 hitter overnight. However, we don't really need that, if he can hit .250 with a .350 OBP, it will create many more scoring opportunities, especially since he scores 1/2 of the time that he reaches (at least according to Brian and Bill).

[holybannana]

Tom Haudricourt doesn't even mention Weeks in his game column. He made him player of the game but all he could talk about in that single paragraph is how Ricky had a bad road trip, going 3/13 prior to the last game.

 

Shouldn't he say something like "Maybe Yost sticking with Weeks will pay off.". Or maybe "Ricky closed off a great road trip batting .411 over the last 6 games.".

 

Talk about a guy with an agenda...

[Invader3K]

Haudricourt used to be called an unequivocal Brewers apologist. Now I guess he's a Yost basher and Weeks hater. I don't think the guy can win, being the most prominent journalist covering the team on a regular basis.

[yount19.u]

I hope yesterday's game was the start of Rickie Weeks forcing all of his haters, including myself, to eat crow.

[lcbj68c]

I hope yesterday's game was the start of Rickie Weeks forcing all of his haters, including myself, to eat crow.

Really, eat crow over one game? And trust me, when you spend 50+ hours a week at Miller Park, I'm not a hater of any player, especially not a Rickie Weeks hater. When you see the effect of getting sent down or traded or released has on these players, I dont wish that upon anybody, regardless of income. But I'm also a believer that for the most part, zebra's don't change their stripes. While Rickie Weeks may not be a career .225 hitter, I don't think he is a .457 hitter either, so I prefer to stop going back to this fallacy argument about his "potential" as a reason to have him as our 2nd baseman for the next 10 years. Should Rickie Weeks rot on the bench, no, but I'm of the opinion that an upgrade should be pursued over the winter months. I hope Rickie Weeks goes somewhere and pulls a Brandon Phillips, I really do. I want to see him succeed and therefore am not a Rickie Weeks hater. But let's be a realistic. Fast bat or not, he makes horrible decisions when to swing at a pitch and is very often "behind" on pitches, fouling them to the right side. Kudos to Rickie Weeks for his wonderful day. I'm glad he was the game MVP, but I'm not going to sit here and drink the kool-aid that "he's found it" over 4 singles in a three hour stretch. His season is what it is, .239 with 9 home runs, none at home. For all the power potential, where is it? And I dont buy the argument that he has to temper his thinking because he bats leadoff. Soriano hits them (20), Sizemore hits them (27), so leadoff hitter or not, why is he not showing this potential 1500 atbats into his major league career? But I truly hope he finds it, I want to see him succeed, just somewhere else. Coupled w/ his defensive issues, I'm ready for a change at 2b in 2009.

[zelouswheeler4prez]

i hope to god this is rickie weeks repeating his last 2 months of last year, because those were some of the best months by a hitter i've ever seen.

[jason21nl]

Rickie might have potential but I'm sick of waiting 4 or 5 months into the season for him to start hitting up to his potential. We are going to really need him if the Brewers are going to make the playoffs

[Brian the Automator]

Rickie might have potential but I'm sick of waiting 4 or 5 months into the season for him to start hitting up to his potential. We are going to really need him if the Brewers are going to make the playoffs

I guess to the observer, it would seem that there's a pattern here with Rickie not getting hot until the final months of the season, but honestly, I think it's coincidence. I could see like a couple week lag for him to get adjusted, but I wouldn't be shocked if he had a scorching hot couple of months in the front-end of a season over the next couple.

[Gobias Industries]

I pretty much echo BTA's thoughts on this.

 

Last year Weeks had an 850 OPS April, with May and July being terrible, June being below average, and followed with the scorching final 2 months.

 

Hardy on the otherhand had a similar year but was very hot the first 2 months instead of the last 2, and very good again in September, but wound up with a lower OPS than Weeks. I'd be willing to bet almost every casual fan would tell you Hardy had a better year though, when in actuality Weeks slightly out-hit him.

 

If you get off to a fast start people will overlook a couple of terrible ones in the middle, when it really doesn't matter at all if a player hits well in the beginning or end of the year.

[joepepsi]

Rickie's rates since April 30: .247/.339/.405 .744 OPS Oustanding? no. Pretty average OPS for a 2B? Yup.

[lcbj68c]

I pretty much echo BTA's thoughts on this.

 

Last year Weeks had an 850 OPS April, with May and July being terrible, June being below average, and followed with the scorching final 2 months.

 

Hardy on the otherhand had a similar year but was very hot the first 2 months instead of the last 2, and very good again in September, but wound up with a lower OPS than Weeks. I'd be willing to bet almost every casual fan would tell you Hardy had a better year though, when in actuality Weeks slightly out-hit him.

 

If you get off to a fast start people will overlook a couple of terrible ones in the middle, when it really doesn't matter at all if a player hits well in the beginning or end of the year.

Thanks for the research. Given Hardy's home run total, making the All-Star team, I would've not guessed that. That said, a lot of these posts are ignoring defense and intangibles, something that Hardy clearly has the edge on. Not to make a comparisson of Hardy/Weeks, but if that is one of the strategies involved in replacing Weeks with Hardy in 2009 and promoting a SS from AAA or a free agent SS, then I would do it. Weeks has flashes, has potential, but I'm ready to explore other options. I can't ignore the defense and 1/2, 3/8, 5/16, however you want to label it, of offensive indecency.

[TooLiveBrew]

That said, a lot of these posts are ignoring defense and intangibles, something that Hardy clearly has the edge on.

 

Defense, yes. Intangibles, no. Weeks is a far superior athlete &, in terms of success rate, is an elite basestealer

[Oldcity]

What could intangibles mean for Hardy to have the edge over Weeks? Certainly not speed or baserunning. Tallness? Cuteness?

[Fear The Chorizo]

Defense, yes. Intangibles, no. Weeks is a far superior athlete &, in terms of success rate, is an elite basestealer

 

Being a superior athlete doesn't qualify Weeks as being a great basestealer/baserunner. How many times has he been doubled or picked off? How many times has a middle infielder duped him from taking an extra base by simply acting like they had the ball? Is Weeks a great athlete? Definitely yes. He can steal bases with the best of them, too - but he is severely lacking in baseball instincts. He's still very raw and may very well develop into a solid baseball player, but right now he's not even close...I'd call him a toolsy guy that hasn't learned how to play the game yet. It's tough to consider giving up on him, but it's also tough watching him repeatedly make the same rookie mistakes that he's made before.

 

Two things I wish Weeks would do more often offensively/on the basepaths - bunt for basehits and slide feet first. Sliding in feet first doesn't slow runners down as much as you'd think if done properly, and the runner can get a much better view of where the ball is in case it gets away from an infielder on an errant throw. Weeks pulls the ball so much that you almost never see the 3B playing him in - why not drop a bunt down from time to time to take advantage of that? with his speed, if Weeks gets an average bunt down that the pitcher/catcher can't field easily he has a hit, and can probably turn that into a double with a stolen base. You never see him try to bunt for a hit, though.

[Postseason2006]

i hope to god this is rickie weeks repeating his last 2 months of last year, because those were some of the best months by a hitter i've ever seen.

You not alive when Paul Molitor was here?

[TooLiveBrew]

Being a superior athlete doesn't qualify Weeks as being a great basestealer/baserunner. How many times has he been doubled or picked off?

 

No, it doesn't. But he still is vastly superior to Hardy.

 

 

How many times has a middle infielder duped him from taking an extra base by simply acting like they had the ball?

 

Once. This is a classic case of, 'Man, [event X] would never happen to another team/player!'

[joepepsi]

What exactly is an intangible anyway?

[Fear The Chorizo]

"Once. This is a classic case of, 'Man, [event X] would never happen to another team/player!' "

wrong - it happened twice in the span of a couple of games. That infamous game in the Cardinal series, and game 1 of the Cub sweep, when Theriot faked like he had the ball on a stolen base, when it was actually rolling away into center field.

I wasn't trying to indicate I thought Hardy was a better baserunner than Weeks - I was simply saying that just because a guy's fast it doesn't mean he's good at baserunning

[TooLiveBrew]

Sorry, twice. Does that somehow prove he's a bad baserunner? I think Weeks is a good one, just my own perspective, and that has little to do with his speed.

[lcbj68c]

What exactly is an intangible anyway?

Webster's defines it as.....not tangible; incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch, as incorporeal or immaterial things; impalpable.

When I say intangibles, I mean things like leadership in the clubhouse, leadership in the community, charity events...being able to conduct interviews with fans and the press without 20 "you know's" in a paragraph. I didn't mean basestealing and being an athlete.

[TooLiveBrew]

When I say intangibles, I mean things like leadership in the clubhouse, leadership in the community, charity events...

 

Then Rickie meets all but one of your criteria that we can verify, and the last bit is your personal preference that he was more well-spoken... hard to hold that against someone. There are many posters on this board that don't use proper grammar or spelling, but I don't use that as a way to judge them.

[Fear The Chorizo]

If you ask me, being duped twice by a shortstop without the ball over the span of a week tells me all I need to know about his baserunning instincts. I didn't feel like I had to go back and dissect his career on the basepaths to come to a different conclusion. That doesn't include being doubled off several times recently, or being picked off by the catcher against STL or by Wandy Rodriguez against Houston.

 

Weeks isn't Billy Hall bad on the bases, but he's not great, either. Don't get me wrong, he runs hard and is definitely aggressive with whatever he tries to do on the bases, but he makes too many mistakes to be classified as a great baserunner.

[lcbj68c]

Then Rickie meets all but one of your criteria that we can verify, and the last bit is your personal preference that he was more well-spoken... hard to hold that against someone. There are many posters on this board that don't use proper grammar or spelling, but I don't use that as a way to judge them.

Yep, he meets them all right. My original statement was that I felt Hardy was superior in defense and intangibles than Weeks. It's a subjective statement based upon many working hours as an observant co-worker and many hours as an observant fan. Again, I think there are better options in the free agency market and maybe internally for 2009.

[yount19.u]

Corey hard is a great baserunner. Rickie Weeks is simply a burner out there on the base paths. If he had Corey Hart's instincts, like when to steal and when to take the extra base, Weeks would be flat out awesome. I'm not sure you can teach instincts, so Weeks just needs to learn to play within himself and pay a little more attention when out there on the base paths so he can avoid those rookie mistakes.

[TooLiveBrew]

If you ask me, being duped twice by a shortstop without the ball over the span of a week tells me all I need to know about his baserunning instincts. I didn't feel like I had to go back and dissect his career on the basepaths to come to a different conclusion.

 

Why not? If Craig Counsell homered in three straight games, do you know enough about his HR power?

 

 

That doesn't include being doubled off several times recently, or being picked off by the catcher against STL or by Wandy Rodriguez against Houston.

 

Baserunners get picked off, even good ones. Not to mention that 'the catcher for StL' that night, Yadier Molina is regarded as the best-throwing C in the league, and is probably the best in the game at the snap-throw.

 

 

Don't get me wrong, he runs hard and is definitely aggressive with whatever he tries to do on the bases, but he makes too many mistakes to be classified as a great baserunner.

 

I can respect that stance. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

Corey Hart's instincts, like when to steal

 

Hart's career SB success rate: 49/68 (72%)

Weeks's: 74/87 (85%)

 

 

Weeks just needs to learn to play within himself and pay a little more attention when out there on the base paths so he can avoid those rookie mistakes

 

In general, that sentiment may be true, but Weeks clearly limits his SB attempts & utilizes his base-stealing instincts far better than Hart has to this point in their careers.