Bring Weeks back!

[Thurston Fluff]

I don't think Weeks numbers in AAA matter nearly as much as his approach does. The determining factor isn't going to be statistical since so many things happen with small samples. Even srikeouts can be caused by a AAA umpire's imperfect strike zone ect. What really matters is what those who are evaluating his swing/approach see. If he's back to taking good swings and not chasing bad pitches then he's probably ready. This won't be a numbers thing it'll be a sight thing.

[HebrewHammer]

Really, he doesn't chase many bad pitches at all. Everyone should stop for a second and look at the evidence. He doesn't swing at much outside of the zone, compared to almost everyone else on the team.

 

His problem has been making terrible contact with the ball when it is in the strike zone. He doesn't get hits very often at all when the pitch is a strike. Here's the chart for pitches over the plate:

<- Outside Inside ->

.244 .298 .250

.269 .373 .238

.205 .282 .135

 

As you can see the only place he's hitting the ball well at all is when it's dead center over the plate. And .373 at this location is pretty bad for a MLB player. They usually hit these .450+.

 

His worst chase zones are high and over the middle, outside and over the middle and low and over the middle. He chases those pitches 30% of the time. He swings at only 14% of pitches anywhere inside and 20% of pitches outside not including the middle outside where I said he was 30%. That's actually not bad at all and in fact it's really good. So his eye is dead on it would appear.

 

Another stat: ~50% of his balls in play are to the infield. That means he's making poor contact and hitting the ball poorly. It's Craig Counsell-esque.

 

So the debate should be why isn't Ricky hitting with any power? Bad mechanics with his swing leading to little power? Can't hit the curve ball so he ends up topping those resulting in weakly hit ground balls? Sore wrists that don't give him the wrist speed he needs? Bad luck with his BaBIP? Whatever it is it would appear it has nothing to do with swinging at bad pitches. He's swinging at the right pitches, just not hitting them well.

[dlk9s]

Brian, you make a valid point, but let me tell you my biggest worry. My biggest worry is he rakes in the month August down in Nashville then in september he comes back and struggles in the majors.

I'd rather have him do well in AAA in August and poorly in the bigs in September than poorly in the bigs in both August and September. Part of sending him down is to figure out what is wrong. It is much less damaging to the team's playoff chances to get to the bottom of things in Nashville.

 

[Thurston Fluff]

So the debate should be why isn't Ricky hitting with any power? Bad mechanics with his swing leading to little power? Can't hit the curve ball so he ends up topping those resulting in weakly hit ground balls? Sore wrists that don't give him the wrist speed he needs? Bad luck with his BaBIP? Whatever it is it would appear it has nothing to do with swinging at bad pitches. He's swinging at the right pitches, just not hitting them well.

 

On the pregame show last night they had Skaalan on and he said Weeks shortend his swing because of the wrist. It caused him pain when he swung through so he shortened it and couldn't cover the plate. Which is why I think his AAA numbers are irrelevant in comparison to how he swings the bat.

[Oldcity]

Still a concern is that he's fanned 6 times in 18 AAA AB's. That won't translate well back in the bigs.

While 18 at-bats won't tell you much of anything, you look at Weeks' numbers in Nashville and note that he's struck out sick times. I note that he has nine hits and a 1.386 OPS.

 

I, for one, hate the way the Brewers have jerked Weeks around this year. First they don't want to send him to the minors to "save bullets," then they publicly bench him (but not really... ?). If they expected him not to struggle when he returned to Milwaukee, they should have sent him to the minors over a month ago when he returned from the DL. Now they've more or less wasted a month and we've had to watch Craig Counsell "hit" a lot more than I ever cared to.

 

I'd like to see Weeks back sooner rather than later. He's the best second baseman in the organization for the future, and also very likely, for the present. If Weeks is hitting at all his OBP will be far superior to Graffanino. I like what Tony's doing, but let him be a strength as a utility player rather than ok as a starter.

[HebrewHammer]

So the debate should be why isn't Ricky hitting with any power? Bad mechanics with his swing leading to little power? Can't hit the curve ball so he ends up topping those resulting in weakly hit ground balls? Sore wrists that don't give him the wrist speed he needs? Bad luck with his BaBIP? Whatever it is it would appear it has nothing to do with swinging at bad pitches. He's swinging at the right pitches, just not hitting them well.

 

On the pregame show last night they had Skaalan on and he said Weeks shortend his swing because of the wrist. It caused him pain when he swung through so he shortened it and couldn't cover the plate. Which is why I think his AAA numbers are irrelevant in comparison to how he swings the bat.

AAA numbers? I'm not sure what this means actually. The numbers I've presented are Weeks' MLB numbers this year.

Anyways, if he really shortened his swing then that would explain some power loss. And if it caused bad mechanics then it makes sense that he can't hit with any power. I hope he gets his swing back in AAA because he's taking a good approach it would appear in MLB, just not hitting with power at all.

 

[aracko]

Weeks has proven that he isnt a part of the problem cause we have sucked while he is in the minors. Maybe all he needed was a wakeup call. Lets bring him up - we need this team as close to full strength as we can.

[pitchleague]

looks like with the Graff injury, Weeks may be up sooner than we think.

 

All speculation, though, folks. No link.