All Things Yuni

[H4P]

I don't like that RRR just calls him Yuni. I think his play has earned him one of his cute nicknames. Bety?

 

I've never been a fan of the guy and done my share of bashing (not on here--with friends and family). My sister was all pumped when they signed him and my head about exploded. After almost nightly texts from my sister pointing out key hits he's gotten, I've officially had to soften my stance.

 

Given this run of hitting with the injuries and his key hit in game 5 of the DS, he really has come up big for the Brewers when they needed him. I'm sorry, Bety. I was mean to you. I won't be a bully anymore.

[hawing]

I don't like that RRR just calls him Yuni. I think his play has earned him one of his cute nicknames. Bety?

Maybe YuB? (yubie)

[two_three_the_count]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/yuniesky-betancourt-hasnt-changed-a-bit/

Fangraphs take on Yuni's season so far.The second screen cap on that page is great :grin:

[craigharmann]

I don't like that RRR just calls him Yuni. I think his play has earned him one of his cute nicknames. Bety?

Maybe YuB? (yubie)

 

I think RR's cred on this site would go up a little if he dropped the YuniBomber label on him.

[jjkoestler]

Does anyone outside of BF call him the YuniBomber?

[Outlander]

See YuniBomber on twitter quite often.

[RightFieldCoder]

I heard a college student behind me last night shout "YuniBomber" while the ball was still going up. Given his lack of knowledge about some Brewers or baseball in general, I doubt he frequents this site.

[owbc]

The fangraphs article confirms what we are seeing visually. His pitch selection hasn't changed, but he's been very effective (lucky) at hitting for power when he does make contact. We all know he isn't going to sustain his current pace.

 

The article also fails to mention that he has less negative defensive value in 2013 because of the position change. He wasn't even that bad at the plate in 2011 (for a SS), but we often failed to notice because of his terrible defense.

[TheCrew07]

I gotta give it up, I never thought both Yuni and Gomez would sustain their output for a week, their offensive contributions have been tremendous. Both have proved me wrong and deserve their props.

[brewcrewdue80]

After tonight's game, Yuni's BA and OB are just about exact to Career Averages. .271/.290

 

He's been pretty clutch and the Power is a bonus. I'm not going to change my stance towards him though and take this as him getting 2months' worth of Power/RBI in 1month. Hitters get streaky especially with power and for all we know he may not hit a HR for 2-4weeks which also reduces RBI. If that happens then the numbers he has now moving on to 4weeks later and its suddenly just a normal stat line for Yuni. Only being if he reverts to a career norm, we are in for a lengthy stretch of disappointment.

This run has been great and I hope he steals some time from Weeks when Hart returns, since no one else does. It's clearly been a successful signing for the team on the season no matter what he does here on out. Yuni at my count won 4.5 games with his bat subbing in to this point. The team has 15wins so that's impressive.

 

Enjoying it while it continues, not expecting it to continue though so I wont be disappointed when it ends.

[Ennder]

I would gladly trade Yuni B for $1M and a roster spot at this point if I were the Brewers. I'm not buying this at all.

[Outlander]

I can't believe I am posting this but the Brewers can't afford to trade Yuni right now. With the way Weeks and Gonzalez are playing there are just not any good options. I like Bianchi but only as an utility guy that rarely plays.

[3and2Fastball]

The biggest problem, to me, with Yuni B always was (and always will be) Yuni B at SS. He has no range and in my opinion was a horrible shortstop. Yuni B as a utility guy who can fill in at other defensive positions, sure I can deal with that OK

[trwi7]

The problem with Yuni is that he's pretty much terrible one way or another wherever you put him. His offense is really only tolerable at shortstop but you don't want him playing there because he's an awful defender. His defense gets better if you put him at 3rd or 2nd but his bat is awful there (especially at 3rd).

[rwa12]

As long as he's not at SS, I don't think he's that bad of a player. He's the best option we have at the moment for 1B, on the current roster. When Corey comes back, I'm fine with him being the super sub for the infield. He had a prolonged hot streak when the team needed it most. I would argue that his success should not be entirely attributed to luck. His approach may not have changed, but it is possible he learned something (besides English), or refined his skills that led to improvement. I think Yuni is fairly good proof that stats don't tell you everything. He seems to be well liked, pretty even keeled, and willing to play every position. So his OBP sucks, call me an old school thinker that doesn't worry about having a hacker or two on the team.

[danzig6767]

As long as he's not at SS, I don't think he's that bad of a player. He's the best option we have at the moment for 1B, on the current roster. When Corey comes back, I'm fine with him being the super sub for the infield.

 

Once Hart gets back, i don't want Yuni being a socalled super sub that gets regular starts all over the infield, but with as bad as Gonzalez looks, i would rather see Betancourt in the lineup over Gonzalez if a starter needs a day off or suffers an injury which requires some games to be missed.

[rluzinski]

Betancourt is still that same guy who can't play defense in the middle infield anywhere near acceptably and can't get on base enough to be a good option at the corners. I am glad that he's been decent stopgap while filling in but he has little value going forward.

 

Even with him playing way over his head offensively, his OBP is still only .293! His SLG is currently .523 but everyone has to know that he's not going to continue hitting a HR every 15 PA. His career average is 1 every 53 PA! He's a .260/.290/.450 guy going forward. That's roughly equal to a .260/.325/.380 hitter. As a backup 2B or 3B, maybe he's worth keeping around. That's about it, in my opinion.

[Brewnittle]

Is Yuniesky Betancourt trying to follow a similar path as slugger Jose Bautista? well if you look at the numbers the similarity is striking

 

Both made their debut at 23 years of age both were terrible at the plate and bounced from team to team minors to the majors before both came out of nowhere and started hitting like stars

 

Now lets look at their numbers before they breakout seasons

 

Before Bautista had his breakout season with Toronto he spent 6 season in the Majors and during that time he averaged .259 hit 59 Homeruns before his 2010 breakout season in which he hit 54 HR and had 124 RBI

 

Yuni on the other hand leading into this season had a career avg of .269 with 67 HR over 9 seasons (very similar to Bautista)

 

Now lets compare Jose Bautista's breakout 2010 season to Yuni's current season and the first 31 games numbers

 

Yuni

AVG .266

HR 8

RBI 24

 

Bautista

AVG .216

HR 6

RBI 20

 

As you see very close correlation with the numbers throughout their careers and I'm not saying Yuni is the next Bautista but what I am trying to say that it is possible for a player to be terrible and then suddenly find it and turn out to be a star and as a Brew Crew fan I really hope this is the case for Yuniesky Betancourt

[logan82]

What about OBP?

[Nottso]

What about OBP?

 

I'm down with OBP. Yeah, you know me.

[logan82]

There is no correlation outside of the HR spike. Bautista had a decent OBP before his HR spike and an even better OBP after the spike. Yuni's spike in HR looks like a fluke.

[gregmag]

Yuni's OBP now stands at .274. He's doing more than his part to help the team lose. If he keeps hitting HR at the rate he has so far this season, and keeps getting on base at the same rate, he'll be merely a liability and not a disaster. I would put his chances of keeping up the HR pace at somewhere near zero and his chances of continuing to be an out machine at somewhere near a lock. I'm sorry to be harsh, but some people have made some bold claims about Yuni's usefulness based on too little evidence, and now we're seeing why those claims didn't hold water.

 

Also, Brewnittle, I like the thought you put into your Bautista comparison, but IMHO logan is clearly right. You didn't talk about the single biggest glaring weakness of Yuni's game, which also happens to be the single most important part of every hitter's offensive game. Beyond that, Bautista is, in historical terms, a freak. His emergence as a superstar hitter at an advanced age is very, very rare. He's the classic exception that proves the rule. Even if Yuni's career looked much more like Bautista's than it actually does, the odds that Yuni -- or anybody -- could follow Bautista's path would be very low.

[AZBrewCrew]

Couldnt figure out how else to upload this, but thought it was funny.

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/aoq3yo.jpg

[rluzinski]

Couldnt figure out how else to upload this, but thought it was funny.

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/aoq3yo.jpg

 

There's something wrong with batting someone with a career OBP of .290 cleanup?

[trwi7]

There's something wrong with batting someone with a career OBP of .290 cleanup?

 

His job is to bring runners in, not get on base.

 

Page 14 of the manager's handbook.