Scooter Gennett gets called up to MLB

[reillymcshane]

I don't know Scooter's splits in the minors, but I'd be curious to see if he's struggled against lefties. Lefties with longer swings often times are vulnerable to left handed pitchers

I don't know when they added this, but Baseball-Reference picked up the gap in their market left behind by minorleaguesplits.com taking their content offline. BB-Ref offers MiLB spilts now; simply click on the "Minors" link on any player page. Batting splits links are right above the "Player News" section, just below the player name/height/weight/etc. info.

 

2013: .820 OPS v.RHP, .614 OPS v.LHP

2012: .759 OPS v.RHP, .607 OPS v.LHP

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gennet001rya

Scooter has shown some pretty significant splits numbers in the minors. Enough to make you wonder a little. Even if you do a quasi-platoon, as a lefty, he could still get 120-130 starts during a season. Nothing wrong with that.

 

He's only 1 for 15 against lefties in the big leagues. Very, very small sample, but it is something to watch.

[LouisEly]

Gennett down to .690 OPS, Weeks heating back up and (small sample alert) this season balanced so far vs. RHP and LHP in terms of OPS. With Herrera & Falu on the club and both switch hitters, is it time to send Gennett back down? I certainly want more LH balance in the lineup, but Weeks would need to play in all 110 remaining games and average 4.76 PA/game in order to hit 600 PAs and guarantee his 2015 contract, so I think we are past that point in the season. As for splits, Gennett is .740 OPS vs. RHP this year but Weeks 2011-2013 splits vs. RHP is .736 so that's pretty much a wash.

 

This could solve some of the roster issues. Swap Gennett for Gindl, tell Gennett that the job is his to lose next year and we'll see you in September if not sooner. Unless there is a reason to keep a 2B over an OF.

[FVBrewerFan]

Gennett needs MLB ABs, and he needs them against LHP. 20 PA means almost nothing, very definition of small sample size. It's the classic problem, the only way he can better vs LHP is to see more LHP at the MLB level. Numbers won't look too good for a while. And, yes, there's no guarantee he will improve.

 

Right now, I would continue the platoon as long as Weeks is hitting. If Weeks starts to look lost again, or if they can manage to trade him let Scooter play full time at 2B for a while. See what happens. I have never been a believer in Scooter, but now that he'sup I would like to see what he can do. Ditto for Davis for that matter.

[TooLiveBrew]

I wouldn't send Scooter down at this point. He is what he is, & will probably always be a guy with an AVG in the .280-.320 range in any given year, without much power or BB rate. He's an average defender, & an upgrade over Weeks in pretty much every aspect of the position save arm strength. If Rickie stays hot, keep playing him & spell him against RHP from time to time with Scooter. And you could do worse than having a LH contact bat like Gennett's coming in to pinch-hit for the pitcher's spot & on double-switches.

 

For me, the issue is having more than one of Bianchi (obviously WOAH SOLVD there), Falu, & Herrera up... they just don't belong over a Gindl & I agree with LouisEly completely that Caleb should be up. It shouldn't take too much creativity to find an option at UTIL/SS backup that isn't just a disaster with the bat.

[reillymcshane]

I think we are seeing EXACTLY what kind of player Scooter is. He'll hit for a solid average with little power and no walks. But I doubt he'll ever hit lefties very well. For the most part, he looks terrible against them. He struggled against them in the upper minors as well in the majors (although he hasn't exactly faced a lot of them in the big leagues).

 

I think he's a guy that can hit .270-.300 - but a platoon partner will be essential.

 

Scooter's a decent player - especially while he's cheap. The team just needs to play a guy like that within him limitations - which I think they are doing.

[brewcrewdue80]

Scooter hasn't started a game vs. a Lefty yet this season. You tell me what you expect a Lefty batter as young as Gennett is supposed to hit when the LOOGY RPs are who he's getting his PAs against? These guys are paid to get Lefties out almost exclusively. 20PAs in 18games 15 different LH pitchers he's seen.

Weeks has 12hits in 28 ground ball at bats. a .429 BA. 12 of his 21 hits are ground ball hits.

His Career avg actually is a surprising .297 on ground balls. But that means Rickie is almost 4hits above his avg. 4 extra seeing eye singles than normal. Take that away and his line is .243/.302/.371 on the season overall. Maybe these aren't seeing eye singles maybe the ball is hit harder through a hole, or maybe Rickie is just hustling down the line harder beating a few extra throws over the course of the season vs. previously since he's in a contract year and his PAs are reduced. So every single extra hit he gets just because of hustle.

Scooter on the year has a .259BA on groundballs. You go to Rickie's career avg that's 2more hits for Gennett. Go to Week's BA on Groundballs and its 9 more hits for Scooter.

 

So I think there's a bit of luck going on/ good for Rickie bad for Scooter. The best indicator to look at imo is Line drive pct. Scooter has a 25% line drive rate to Rickie's 20%. So eventually the numbers put up by these two will correct themselves. Scooter's avg up/Weeks avg down.

[nate82]

 

So I think there's a bit of luck going on/ good for Rickie bad for Scooter. The best indicator to look at imo is Line drive pct. Scooter has a 25% line drive rate to Rickie's 20%. So eventually the

numbers put up by these two will correct themselves. Scooter's avg up/Weeks avg down.

 

Except Rickie only has a 6.7% IFH% against lefties so the ground ball argument is not valid. Scooters LD% against lefties in very limited PA's so far this year is 15.4% and Weeks against LHP is 20.6%. Basically the stats show that the platoon needs to continue as I don't see Gennett improving all that much against lefties and Weeks is not going to improve all that much against righties. Also Gennett does not have a 25% line drive rate so far this year he is at a 22.7% and Weeks is at a 21.2%.

 

The stats really do show that Gennett needs to be platooned and the same is true for Weeks. Nothing should change in terms of Gennett's playing time against LHP and the same can be said about Weeks and his playing time against RHP.

[TooLiveBrew]

Scooter hasn't started a game vs. a Lefty yet this season. You tell me what you expect a Lefty batter as young as Gennett is supposed to hit when the LOOGY RPs are who he's getting his PAs against? These guys are paid to get Lefties out almost exclusively.

That's the name of the game in the bigs. He played everyday in the minors & never hit LHP. There's simply no indication that he should 1) get more PAs v. LHP or 2) be expected to start hitting LHPing when it's the best in the world.

 

It's not being overly negative or pessimistic about Gennett. He just isn't a viable option v. LHP, just like Rickie isn't a good defender.

[HiAndTight]

Scooter hasn't started a game vs. a Lefty yet this season. You tell me what you expect a Lefty batter as young as Gennett is supposed to hit when the LOOGY RPs are who he's getting his PAs against? These guys are paid to get Lefties out almost exclusively. 20PAs in 18games 15 different LH pitchers he's seen.

Weeks has 12hits in 28 ground ball at bats. a .429 BA. 12 of his 21 hits are ground ball hits.

His Career avg actually is a surprising .297 on ground balls. But that means Rickie is almost 4hits above his avg. 4 extra seeing eye singles than normal. Take that away and his line is .243/.302/.371 on the season overall. Maybe these aren't seeing eye singles maybe the ball is hit harder through a hole, or maybe Rickie is just hustling down the line harder beating a few extra throws over the course of the season vs. previously since he's in a contract year and his PAs are reduced. So every single extra hit he gets just because of hustle.

Scooter on the year has a .259BA on groundballs. You go to Rickie's career avg that's 2more hits for Gennett. Go to Week's BA on Groundballs and its 9 more hits for Scooter.

 

So I think there's a bit of luck going on/ good for Rickie bad for Scooter. The best indicator to look at imo is Line drive pct. Scooter has a 25% line drive rate to Rickie's 20%. So eventually the numbers put up by these two will correct themselves. Scooter's avg up/Weeks avg down.

 

 

If we're going to go off how many Ground Ball hits Weeks has in 28 at bats, then I'm going to point out how many bullets he's hit right at the CF'er, or to LF. Weeks has hit some bullets that have been hit right at guys the last two weeks.

 

Anyway, Gennett hasn't hit left handers in his entire minor league career, nor did he hit them last year when he did face them on a semi-regular basis(though still a small sample size). So it's not like the Brewers just decided since he was a lefty he was a platoon player and now that he's just struggled in 20 PA's this year. It's that he has always struggled vs left handers.

[SRB]

They should send him down a couple weeks before they trade Weeks. Gives Melvin a little more leverage at the bargaining table.

[endaround]

They should send him down a couple weeks before they trade Weeks. Gives Melvin a little more leverage at the bargaining table.

 

Because the Brewers have so much infield depth that giving more PAs to the likes of Falu, Bianchi and Herrera makes sense.

[DuWayne Steurer]

At this point, GM's know what Rickie Weeks is. Sending Gennett down for two weeks is not going to boost Weeks' value to any degree, real or imagined.

[nate82]

At this point, GM's know what Rickie Weeks is. Sending Gennett down for two weeks is not going to boost Weeks' value to any degree, real or imagined.

 

Right and it would only hurt the Brewers chance at winning games. Gennett is not an everyday 2B as he is just not that good at hitting LHP and Weeks is not good at hitting RHP at this time in his career.

[Bombers]

Gennett down to .690 OPS, Weeks heating back up and (small sample alert) this season balanced so far vs. RHP and LHP in terms of OPS. With Herrera & Falu on the club and both switch hitters, is it time to send Gennett back down? I certainly want more LH balance in the lineup, but Weeks would need to play in all 110 remaining games and average 4.76 PA/game in order to hit 600 PAs and guarantee his 2015 contract, so I think we are past that point in the season. As for splits, Gennett is .740 OPS vs. RHP this year but Weeks 2011-2013 splits vs. RHP is .736 so that's pretty much a wash.

 

This could solve some of the roster issues. Swap Gennett for Gindl, tell Gennett that the job is his to lose next year and we'll see you in September if not sooner. Unless there is a reason to keep a 2B over an OF.

I think Scooter is squashing all doubt that he belongs. Here are some updated stats:

 

@MikeVassallo13: Scooter Gennett leads the National League in batting average (.313), slugging percentage (.483) and OPS (.827) as a second baseman. #Brewers

[dlk9s]

Yet we have to write him in on the All-Star ballot.

[logan82]

How would his stats look if he actually had to face left handed pitching on a regular basis? Lots of guys can look good in a platoon.

[Funketown]

Gennett has faced LHP in about 15% of his PA's. Not sure what league average is, but Braun has faced LHP about 25% of the time for comparison. So even if Gennett truly is this bad (.350 OPS) against LHP, I don't think his numbers would look miserably worse if he didn't have this large of a platoon advantage. Perhaps we're looking at a .290/.320/.460 player if he'd faced LHP...still a very solid line from a 2B in this day and age.

 

It's probably not enough to get him into the ASG over the likes of Utley, Gordon, Murphy, or Altuve, but regardless of his platoon bias, he's had a very solid year.

[sveumrules]

Scooter is at a 126 wRC+ through almost 500 career plate appearances. Since the start of 2011 the leaders in wRC+ for second base are Cano (139), Zobrist (124), Utley (118), Pedroia (117) and Jason Kipnis (115). At the risk of being labelled a "hater" I don't think Scooter is a 126 wRC+ true talent player. Prove me wrong Ryan!

[Thurston Fluff]

How would his stats look if he actually had to face left handed pitching on a regular basis? Lots of guys can look good in a platoon.

 

Hopefully this criticism will go away when he gets a legitimate shot at facing them. While I think there is room for improvement I also think he can improve. Hard to get better at something you rarely get to work on.

[502 to Right]

How would his stats look if he actually had to face left handed pitching on a regular basis? Lots of guys can look good in a platoon.

 

I don't care. Doug Melvin can always find a right handed 2B who can take on the lefties in a platoon situation.

 

Platoons (properly used) are not a bad thing.

[DuWayne Steurer]

How would his stats look if he actually had to face left handed pitching on a regular basis? Lots of guys can look good in a platoon.

 

I don't care. Doug Melvin can always find a right handed 2B who can take on the lefties in a platoon situation.

 

Platoons (properly used) are not a bad thing.

 

I just wish it wasn't someone as abysmally bad at defense as Rickie Weeks.

[logan82]

Platoons are not a bad thing by any stretch. Platooning would make practically every player look better. You can only platoon so many positions without seriously hampering your roster flexibility. Hopefully when Scooter isn't platooned he will continue to hit well.

[3and2Fastball]

Platoons are fine, we just need to find a right hand hitting 2B who can play multiple positions

[jerichoholicninja]

Platoons are fine, we just need to find a right hand hitting 2B who can play multiple positions

 

Or just have the ability to play one position.

[topper09er]

 

@MikeVassallo13: Scooter Gennett leads the National League in batting average (.313), slugging percentage (.483) and OPS (.827) as a second baseman. #Brewers

 

First of all those are only his stats as a 2B, not total, which seems like fudging the numbers to get the result you want. His full line is .308/.344/.473/.817 while having the platoon advantage 87% of the time.

 

For comparison, Chase Utley has had the platoon advantage 70% of the time this year and has put up a line of .293/.354/.449/.804

 

If you weighed Scooter's splits 70/30 instead of 87/13 his line would be:

.273/.307/.411/.718