What happened to Yuniesky Betancourt?

[Yeti73]

The numbers have been staggering when you look at the first half of the season and the second half. Something happened toward the end of June that has drastically changed his approach to the plate and results. I know he still can have at bats that resemble the 0-2 pop-up to 2nd, but his numbers have been really impressive lately. If you look at it by month, May was the only truly bad month and he had a BABIP of .182. His July was very good with a BABIP of .300. I know babip isn't the end-all-be-all, but you have to think that he wasn't as bad as we all expected/witnessed during the first half of the year. Do we have to give major props to Sveum? I know Rock has been praising the new approach and I can't disagree that something has changed.

 

Obviously, the guy still is horrendous in the field, but dare I say he has been a positive contributor? Would it stun anyone if we pick up his option?

 

Someone convince me that this guy is just a fraud...

[bigredrobbo]

He hates Logan and wants to show him a thing or two! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Schlitz001]

Obviously, the guy still is horrendous in the field, but dare I say he has been a positive contributor? Would it stun anyone if we pick up his option?

Yes, I'd be very surprised. Its nice that he's batting better lately, but it's a small sample in his overall season and career. His OBP is still only .283 and he's on pace to have a lower OPS and HR total compared to last year. He still doesn't have any patience at the plate and very little range. I love what he's doing lately, but I hope the Brewers don't put him in next years plan, especially with some good SS becoming FAs.

[RightFieldCoder]

Funketwon]Adam Dunn's 2011 batting line:

 

.163/.294/.302/.596

 

That's pretty incredible.

This is from the Random MLB News thread. Think about it for a bit.

Despite hitting only .163, Dunn gets on base more often than Betancourt. I know that is one of Dunn's specialties, but most major leagures should have a bad year and still OBP better than .300. Low OBP is one of the problems on this team. We need to find a SS has a history of getting on base. Getting one that also has a range larger than falling over will help the pitching staff.

[geddymd73]

He's only on that pace because of an ultra-horrible June. So far he's outhitting Fielder since the break. I would figure that if he somehow gets his OBP over .300, there a fair chance that his option may be picked up. The guy is a good contact hitter. To have the average that he does after digging such a huge hole and without ever walking is pretty good. I'm pretty sure Melvin believes that his defense is adequate, and that too much is made about it that can't be remedied in the offseason.

[logan82]

He hates Logan and wants to show him a thing or two! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I turned him to the dark side.

[Funketown]

If I thought that would help I would post every day about how bad he is.

Would you be willing to start a Ryan Braun bashing campaign? That would probably push him up to a 1.300 OPS.

 

Up to this point, Yuni's bat has not been that bad. He's had a nice little streak, and he seems like a likable fellow. His defense is just hard to stomach.

[rcon14]

If Yuni played 3B, he'd probably be okay. It'd hide his brutal range better than SS and with how pathetic 3B has played around MLB this year, he could be a solid 3B option if he continues his current approach.

[logan82]

Up to this point, Yuni's bat has not been that bad.

 

Yes it really has. He has had a good month which, as another poster put it, has made him one of the worst SS in the league instead of the worst SS in the league.

 

I don't dislike Yuni, I just don't want him playing for my team. I have tried to mostly stay clear of the Yuni threads. It is a pointless discussion because all there is to defend him is a ridiculously small sample that in no way should be used to predict future performance.

[gregmag]

First of all, he deserves credit. I had heard bad things about his work ethic when we got him, but he has hung in and found a way to contribute, to the point where his hitting since the break has really helped the team. The Brewers also deserve some credit; I've been one of the people ripping DM for not replacing him, and I stand by that, but the organization hasn't just sat there as if he wasn't a problem. Sveum appears to have worked with him to very good effect.

 

All of that said . . . pick up his option? I'm sorry, I don't want to rain on the guy's very helpful parade, but if someone asks that question -- Yuni has played major league baseball for a while, and he has played it quite badly in the aggregate. He killed the team in the first half (okay, he merely beat the team bloody in April and June and committed genocidal war crimes in May). He has no on-base skills and no defensive range, and for a shortstop that's pretty much the end of the story. No speed as a bonus. Does his power make him worth keeping around? Maybe it would -- maybe -- if he ISO'd above .200. But he's nowhere near that. To top it off, he isn't getting any younger or any cheaper.

 

If he hits this way for the rest of the year, it will be some achievement, and he'll deserve even more credit. But he'll still be a bad player, and the Brewers will still need a major upgrade at short if they want to contend in a post-Prince world.

[NYChez]

He's been on fire since Rickie Weeks got injured, which has been absolutely huge.

[Funketown]

Up to this point, Yuni's bat has not been that bad.

 

Yes it really has. He has had a good month which, as another poster put it, has made him one of the worst SS in the league instead of the worst SS in the league.

Well yeah, I should have put something in italics. His wRC+ is 79 right now and should be over 80 when it's updated tomorrow. He has certainly been bad, but not *terrible*.

[TheCrew]

Anyone else think Yuni has lost weight since the start of the season? Maybe it's just me, but it looks like he lost a good 15-20 lbs.

[logan82]

Funketown wrote:

Well yeah, I should have put something in italics. His wRC+ is 79 right now and should be over 80 when it's updated tomorrow. He has certainly been bad, but not *terrible*.

Terrible/bad is just semantics. He is still one of the worst hitting SS in the majors this year. He has had a few good weeks but as I have stated in the past, the only thing I am concerned with is how he should be expected to perform in the future and his performance this month isn't going to have much effect on that. Not when weighted against his career numbers.

[kramnoj]

It is a pointless discussion because all there is to defend him is a ridiculously small sample that in no way should be used to predict future performance.

 

I have seen a couple of posts like this. The point seems to be that with the current hot streak, Yun's now season numbers are out of line with his career. ZiPs projected him to hit .266/.292/.392 with an OPS+ of 83. Yuni is now hitting .268/.286/.391. His OPS+ from yesterday was 80, I'm guessing it will bump up a point or 2 tomorrow.

 

Nobody should expect him to hit as he has for the past month +, but there wasn't much reason to think that his batting struggles earlier in the season represented his true ability.

 

His defense of course, is bad, but it's been about what was expected.

[Yeti73]

I think that is the point, he's not as bad as we've seen, but he's not as good as the past month has shown. My only issue was that his improvement corressponded with a different approach to the plate as if he had "learned" something. All fangraph disciples are taught that everything will even out, but rarely account for 'learning' something as if nothing is ever learned after age 25.

[rluzinski]

I know babip isn't the end-all-be-all, but you have to think that he wasn't as bad as we all expected/witnessed during the first half of the year. Do we have to give major props to Sveum? I know Rock has been praising the new approach and I can't disagree that something has changed.

There's no question that Betancourt was under performing offensively in the first half. Now, there is no question is is over performing. I'm skeptical that he even HAS a new approach, much less that it is the cause of his offensive explosion as of late. I know he was working with Svuem but what exactly is he doing differently now, approach-wise? Line since all-star break: .373/.392/.560 (75 AB). He still isn't walking, although that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't being more patient early in the count.

I just see a guy who has a high had a really high BA over 75 AB. That's great in terms of the production the Brewers got from it but I don't think it represents some huge shift in expected performance going forward. He has a ZiPS rest-of-season production of .267/.290/.391

[danzig6767]

I know babip isn't the end-all-be-all, but you have to think that he wasn't as bad as we all expected/witnessed during the first half of the year. Do we have to give major props to Sveum? I know Rock has been praising the new approach and I can't disagree that something has changed.

There's no question that Betancourt was under performing offensively in the first half. Now, there is no question is is over performing. I'm skeptical that he even HAS a new approach, much less that it is the cause of his offensive explosion as of late. I know he was working with Svuem but what exactly is he doing differently now, approach-wise? Line since all-star break: .373/.392/.560 (75 AB). He still isn't walking, although that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't being more patient early in the count.

He isn't taking walks and maybe the stats would prove me wrong, but Yuni does seem to be hacking a little less often on those instances where a pitcher on the 1st/2nd pitch purposely throws a pitch just outside of the zone in hopes Betancourt will hack and almost assuredly get himself out. He's always been a guy who made a lot of contact and it's so frustrating because he has a solid swing, but he was consistently getting himself out by swinging at pitchers pitches early in the count. Over those last 75 at bats, he's making so much better contact instead of the countless shallow fly balls to right field.

 

That said, i agree with you that it's way to early to make any assumption that Yuni has turned some corner which should last the rest of the year. We'll see. He was so bad that every game in this hot streak of his, it almost feels like gravy to me and the old Yuni could come back. It is so great to see him contributing at the plate though because with him finally hitting, McGehee showing signs of life, and Hart consistently hitting well, the lineup is so much more balanced and deadly compared to when if the first four guys in the order didn't have a good game, we were lucky to score two or three runs at most. In fact, it had been so bad for so long after Prince in the order, i almost forgot what it felt like to have some confidence that guys batters 5-8 can actually be productive more than once a week.

 

As for picking up Betancourt's option, there isn't be a single scenario i can envision where that would make sense.

[SoCalBrewfan]

He's finally about where we should have expected, season line just a little worse than last year and his career numbers. He's just finally undoing the colossal damage he did to the team in May with an equally improbable hot streak. (Seriously, the May numbers are truly unbelievable: .178/.200/.289 ??! A paid saboteur would not have done so poorly for fear of raising suspicion.) With the roster as it sits, and Counsell's diminished skills, Betancourt's probably the best choice at short for now, though I'd get Hairston some at bats and get a look at his defense at short when Yuni cools back down.

 

And heavens to Betsy, please say no on the option. Melvin doesn't have that many parts of the team to work on this offseason, but shortstop has to be among the very top priorities, possibly even the very highest. We're losing Prince and several relievers, and need to do some thinking about third, but in each case we have some options both internally and on the market. Shortstop is the place where we can put some defense behind our excellent starting pitching and protect those investments. Sadly it is also the one place where I can see no hope of an internal solution, and where the free agent pool is very possibly weakest. I do have this nagging fear that a continued resurgence and some postseason heroics plus lack of better options could lead back to Yuni...$6M for a slugging run-producer like Betancourt seems so beguilingly cheap when the alternatives are the John McDonalds and Alex Gonzalezes of the world.

[FVBrewerFan]

Exactly. Of course he won't stay as hot as he has been over the past month. But he won't be as horrible as he was earlier this year either. If he can just maintain where he is now, and finish with an OPS around .680-.700, I can live with that. Not bad for the guy who should be the 8th best hitter in this lineup. A pennant race also tends to bring out the best in a lot of players. More focus, more energy, etc.

 

I know DM doesn't value defense as much as we would like, but I can't believe he would exercise the option for next year. At least that's what helps ME sleep at night.

[pitchleague]

As for picking up Betancourt's option, there isn't be a single scenario i can envision where that would make sense.

I realize that I'm being ludicrous with this statement, but what if Betancourt and his agent somehow tore up the option and told the Brewers that he'd re-sign with the club for $1. Would that scenario work for anybody? How about the league minimum? Just wondering.

[kramnoj]

I do think it's possible that Betancourt has changed his approach. He is playing for a contract for the first time in years. Maybe he realized that a SS with bad defensive skills isn't going to get a good job next year if he has an OPS around .600 and decided to listen to the advice Sveum was giving him.

[geddymd73]

I could see them buying out the option at $2 million and renegotiating at a lower price, $1-2 million. Final price being about $4 million

[RockCoCougars]

Come on, Yuni is clearly the worst regular position player in baseball right now and the worst in Brewers history... ask Seattle and Kansas City fans. This hot streak is just a small sample...

 

In all seriousness, it cannot be said that Betancourt hasn't been a major upgrade over Escobar. I don't care what WAR says. I have no clue how Escobar has a higher offensive WAR this season than Betancourt. He is worse in pretty much every statistical category. I'd rather give up a little in defense to replace a guy who was pretty much an automatic out last season. As for Betancourt's defense, I will give you that Yuni has substandard range. That said, he is pretty sure-handed on balls that he does get to. After years of watching guys like Jose Valentin, Jose K and the 'future Ozzie Smith' last season booting balls at the worst time, I can only think of a few of these that Yuni has made this year that have turned into runs for the opponents. The worst one was the botched DP against Coloado in which he had previously tied the game with a dinger, and then Prince bailed him out with the walk off. Betancourt has also impressed me with his strong, accurate arm and the way that he can turn a DP.

[cwolf2012]

"I'd rather give up a little in defense to replace a guy who was pretty much an automatic out last season. "

 

Escobar:

 

2010: .233/.288/.326 *age 23

2011: .247/.283/.327 *age 24

 

Betancourt:

 

2010: .259/.288/.405 *Career year! Age 28, power prime for baseball hitters

2011: .268/.286/.391 Age 29

 

And the defense thing? If you honestly can look at a player like Betancourt, and a player like Escobar and say that the difference between them is "a little," I don't even know what to say.

 

EDIT: Honest question: If you had to choose between Escobar and Betancourt for 2012, which would you choose? How about for 2012 + 2013?