The Jonathan Lucroy Thread

[Invader3K]

I can't believe we aren't talking more about Lucroy right now. .342/.389/.550/.939 current line. The guy is having an insanely hot season so far, and just might be the NL starting catcher in the All-Star Game.

 

I know he probably won't keep up this torrid pace, but "Catching WOAH SOLVDD?" You bet.

[FVBrewerFan]

I've always been a Lucroy fan. While avg with RISP is a stat with limited credibility, Lucroy has always done well in that category. I don't think he's playing way over his head either. Will he keep up the .939 OPS pace? I doubt it. But he could stay in the .800-.850 range.

 

He has steadily improved his numbers each year in MLB. And, by the way, had .824 OPS in the playoffs last year. Hopefully Lucroy in the 8 hole will be a distant memory. Also, goes to show that while often times players under-perform what their minor league numbers suggest, a player can also out-perform those projections.

 

Randy Wolf may not appreciate him, but this sure is one of the bright spots this year. A young player at a key position (with a favorable contract by the way) who looks to be an All Star soon.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm not getting carried away because Lucroy looked like a sure fire All Star last year at this time too. To refresh everyone's memory on May 24th last year he was hitting .333/.381/.528.

 

He's got plenty of competition at the position too. Carlos Ruiz has even better numbers to this point. Then there's Molina, McCann and Posey, all top catchers and proven performers. It's a very deep position in the NL. It will be difficult for Lucroy to make the team, much less get more votes than those more familiar names.

[jjfanec]

I can't believe we aren't talking more about Lucroy right now. .342/.389/.550/.939 current line. The guy is having an insanely hot season so far, and just might be the NL starting catcher in the All-Star Game.

 

I know he probably won't keep up this torrid pace, but "Catching WOAH SOLVDD?" You bet.

 

Agreed! I am a huge Lucroy fan. I saw him as a guy who would bat .280 and have an OPS over .800. This year he is blowing that out of the water but like Briggs said he started this way last year (maybe not this hot though).

 

It is a tough year to make the All-Star game as a catcher. Molina or Ruiz seem tough to beat with their fanbases and team recognition. Lucroy and Braun are carrying this team

[owbc]

I know he's the hot bat, but Lucroy is playing quite a bit. He's started 7 of the last 8 days and pinch hit on the "off" day. Any chance he knows how to play 1B?

[rluzinski]

Love his production so far, for sure. It's been a lot of fun to watch. But with respect to expectations going forward, I just never get that excited or worried about players this early in the season. I simply don't expect dramatic shifts in expected performance based on 100-150 PA. Lucroy has 132 PA and his updated ROS ZiPS projection stands at .268/.327/.404. He's young enough that that we can still hope for him to establish a new, much higher level of performance but the evidence isn't strong that he will. If he becomes a .340/.440/.780 guy, I would be very happy with that.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I know he probably won't keep up this torrid pace, but "Catching WOAH SOLVDD?" You bet.

 

One has to wonder what Lou Palsmo thinks about this.

[Funketown]

Even if Luc's Zips projection is what we get going forward, that would make him slightly above a league-average hitter while starting ~120-130 games behind the plate per season. If he can do that, his signing will look pretty good, as they'll be paying 2, 3, 4, 5.25 million from Arb-1 through FA-1.

 

If he does become a .280/.350/.450 type of player, I'll be thrilled.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Lucroy is the man. Everyone needs to pitch in to get him to the all-star game.

[RobDeer 45]

Ya I would love to see him in the All Star Game! He's on fire right now, pretty sweet.

[hawing]

Lucroy is the man. Everyone needs to pitch in to get him to the all-star game.

I could easily see Luc being among the final-vote candidates, and a bunch of carpal tunnel syndrome cases (led by mine) arising as a result. I would not expect TLR to choose him otherwise.

 

At the very least, Luc has kind of been Mr. May these last two Mays, which is nice in and of itself. Yesterday was a blast and a half for me.

 

I decided during the 2011 NLCS to get a Lucroy jersey over the off-season. However, I was one of the very first to board the Lucroy bandwagon - to the extent that I had a custom shirsey made at Miller Park during the Twins series in June 2010 (when the terrace level store had a custom counter), mostly to protest the lack of premade shirseys in the team store, despite there being plenty of full-price Gregg Zaun shirseys.

That is a heck of a run-on sentence, but such is the depth of my fan crush on Luc.

[AZBrewCrew]

Lucroy is the man. Everyone needs to pitch in to get him to the all-star game.

I could easily see Luc being among the final-vote candidates, and a bunch of carpal tunnel syndrome cases (led by mine) arising as a result. I would not expect TLR to choose him otherwise.

 

At the very least, Luc has kind of been Mr. May these last two Mays, which is nice in and of itself. Yesterday was a blast and a half for me.

 

I decided during the 2011 NLCS to get a Lucroy jersey over the off-season. However, I was one of the very first to board the Lucroy bandwagon - to the extent that I had a custom shirsey made at Miller Park during the Twins series in June 2010 (when the terrace level store had a custom counter), mostly to protest the lack of premade shirseys in the team store, despite there being plenty of full-price Gregg Zaun shirseys.

That is a heck of a run-on sentence, but such is the depth of my fan crush on Luc.

 

I ordered a Lucroy BP jersey a few weeks before Opening Day. Well as luck would have it, it had an arrival date of April 5th,a day after I was leaving for Milwaukee. I went to the exhibition game at Chase Field on that Wednesday and had planned on just heading to the airport from there, I happened to check the status and it showed it was out for delivery that day. Ended up leaving the ballpark early, driving the 40 min back to my house to get the jersey so I would have it for Opening Day. I would love Luc to make the AS team but with Molina having a good season and TLR managing the NL team, I think it will be kind of a long shot.

[hawing]

I would love Luc to make the AS team but with Molina having a good season still active and TLR managing the NL team, I think it will be kind of a long shot.

Fixed that for you. I mean, I know Yadi is as fine a player as ever, but in general, why on earth would TLR pick a Cardinal over a Brewer? since we're the least classy people in the universe or whatever. It's about CHARACTER, man.

[TooLiveBrew]

I've been excited about Lucroy since his draft day, but the way he's rapidly matured into a solid big-league catcher is honestly better than I realistically was hoping for. Even in his rookie season, you could see he just turns in quality PAs as the norm.

 

It's too bad he doesn't have a stronger throwing arm, but aside from that I can't really find anything to complain about with him. Even with subpar arm strength, the rest of his defensive tools add up to equal a pretty damn good defender.

[chickinbrickin]

I'm not getting carried away because Lucroy looked like a sure fire All Star last year at this time too. To refresh everyone's memory on May 24th last year he was hitting .333/.381/.528.

 

He's got plenty of competition at the position too. Carlos Ruiz has even better numbers to this point. Then there's Molina, McCann and Posey, all top catchers and proven performers. It's a very deep position in the NL. It will be difficult for Lucroy to make the team, much less get more votes than those more familiar names.

 

I think he is going to keep it up this year. Not to the tune of .342/.389/.550/.939, but I don't think he will hit the wall like he did last year in the second half.

[gregmag]

I'm glad Invader started this, because I agree that Lucroy is a player to celebrate even knowing that his bat almost certainly will come down to Earth. His secondary average is right around .250, which is fine, but singles have driven his big numbers pretty hard, and that will slow down.

 

Even so, I think we're very lucky to have him. Funketown is right about his basic offensive value, and his relative youth and strong minor league numbers suggest he still has some room to grow. Beyond that, there's the Fangraphs (Hardball Times?) study from last year suggesting that his pitch-framing alone was preventing a whole bunch of runs, and the sense I've had for a while that he has strong leadership skills.

 

We're set at catcher for a while. I can't remember the last time we could say that.

 

P.S. -- I forgot TLR was managing the All-Star team. Lucroy called him out hard and well last year, I think for lying about throwing at Braun (it's so hard to remember which of TLR's lies and character lapses happened when; they tend to run together after a while). TLR, being a vindictive, vicious jerk, won't pick Lucroy if there's another biped available.

[adambr2]

This was probably Melvin's best move of the offseason IMO. The deal for Lucroy is looking like a bargain.

[Invader3K]

This was probably Melvin's best move of the offseason IMO. The deal for Lucroy is looking like a bargain.

 

Yeah, having a cost controlled starting catcher who is showing he can be this good with the bat is definitely something to be excited about.

 

His current line: .348/.389/.587 /.976

 

If that's not something to be excited about, I don't know what is.

[igor67]

Not to overly deflate things, but it is worth remembering the careers of guys like Russel Martin and a number of other catchers that explode with a big offensive year or two and then drop back down to more regular looking numbers. It's not a guarantee that will happen with Lucroy, but it is a reasonable possibility and many of those other guys got paid based on the big year more so than the numbers they put up the bulk of their careers.