- This topic has 18 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Where did it go? He is starting by to hit a little bit but he still looks really vulnerable at the plate to the outside sweeper. He IS a little more selective though.
When he ‘crushes’ a ball it gets to or near the base of the wall – roped over the of heads.
Do we think it’ll come back and he has 30+ HR potential or is this just who he is at the ML level?
I believe that once he gets his confidence back with a successful swing and approach, he will hit around the 30 HR mark.
He’s certainly got the frame to do it. He still looks so lost at the plate a lot of the time.
Hopefully he can continue to improve AND stay healthy…
He’s still so young that you don’t want to give up hope. He’s improved in other areas and seems like a hard worker and smart guy, so hopefully he will figure it out. Still, 30 HR may not happen but he could hit 20 and still be an impact bat if he’s hitting liners all over.
It’s time to sh~t or got off the pot for Walker.
Period.
This is his 3rd year in the big leagues.
He will probably get a 4th with St. Louis but 2026 will tell the tale.
It think it would be nice to see about 8-10 line drive homers the last 2 months of the season. I don’t think this is a lot to ask. Get that OPS beck in the 700 club would be a nice spring board into 26.
I still see Walker tentative at the plate. He does not go out and attack pitches, but rather swings at them with a lot of his body weight being back, rather than being “thrown” into the barrel of the bat. Thus when he does square up a ball, he is only getting maybe 60% of the power into it that he could.
He certainly has the physical tools, and by all accounts the work ethic and intelligence. Seems a matter of better mechanics, and confidence. It looks like he is coming along some, but still has aways to go.
If Herrera is going to be converted to an OFer Walker may be getting some bench time when Noot comes back.
How long is it reasonable to suffer through lengthy periods of mediocrity, with occasional brief spurts of power, before we decide to cut bait? At what point must a team make up its mind that it has looked long enough at young players like Gorman and Walker, who appear to have the tools to develop into at least slightly above average regulars but haven’t, three years, four years?
Walker showed his best power in AA, and then a .445 slg% his debut season. His slg% is trending down since, with a .397 career SLG to date.
Maybe Walker and the organization have given up on teaching him the uppercut swing and let him revert to his natural line drive profile. Less homers and more grounders but a lot more hard hit balls. As his team control wanes, this is the correct decision. Why sink another couple years trying to teach him a new way to hit just in time for him to master it when he hits free agency? He is what he is and is a useful tool when he is hitting line drives.
If Herrera is going to be converted to an OFer Walker may be getting some bench time when Noot comes back.
Assuming Noot is still here. If he is my guess is Herrera will be in the DH a good portion.
At what point must a team make up its mind that it has looked long enough at young players like Gorman and Walker
With the new regime, who knows. Mo would keep them until the middle of their arb years, give or take, when they started to get expensive vis-a-vis a min wage replacement and were running out of controllable years.
Walker’s a big kid, but he’s yet to demonstrate that he’s capable of consistently generating any substantial power. Just 24 HR’s in a little more than 875 PA’s isn’t even what I’d term nominal power.
How long is it reasonable to suffer through lengthy periods of mediocrity, with occasional brief spurts of power, before we decide to cut bait?
Good question. For a club that is not quite ready to contend, and with few alternatives you give them a lot of runway. If we were a really good team, we would probably be looking to upgrade and let someone else give guys like them time to mature, whether that means mature into good players, or replacement players.
Good question. For a club that is not quite ready to contend, and with few alternatives you give them a lot of runway. If we were a really good team, we would probably be looking to upgrade and let someone else give guys like them time to mature, whether that means mature into good players, or replacement players.
Agreed with Bike Mike? What harm does it to run Walker out there every day as the RFer for the rest of the year? He either starts adjusting and improves helping the team long term, or the team finds out he isn’t cut for it and loses games. But it doesn’t matter if they lose since they aren’t making the playoffs.
Walker still is very young and has potential. He is definitely very frustrating though and at times when he is swinging at whatever is thrown out of the zone and not at what is in the zone, he can be unwatchable.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.