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Gorman is due for a huge year. His pattern of hitting after initially struggling at new levels is a Burleson trait, too.
I am quite confident all three will show significant improvement over last season’s numbers.
I predict Gorman will make everyone who called for him to be traded begin to squirm and question their ability to understand assets.
Carlson will be interesting. I think his problem may have been being a coach’s son caused him to silently play through a debilitating injury that robbed him of his power all season long.Could be right about Dylan Carlson, Nigel, and his being a sonofacoach. Guys who are hurt but not injured (to borrow a distinction from the late great James Caan) will definitely sometimes push themselves to their own detriment.
And I love Nolan Gorman, I really do, ever since I saw him just wrist-flick the baseball 350 feet to the opposite field twice in one game for Peoria. Best wrists I’ve seen since Hank Aaron, no kidding. But I was definitely in favor of trading him (or Donovan) if it was very specifically going to bring back a star catcher — namely Sean Murphy or Tijuana Santa, aka Alejandro Kirk. The at-bats just cannot be there in 2023 for all three of Gorman, Burley, and Yepez, each of whom deserves a full 550-600 plate appearances based on present and future production. I just don’t see those opportunities as realistic.
If Goldy, Edman, and Arenado play the same number of games as last year (452 total), that leaves 844 starts for non-catcher position players. Noot and Carlson have good health histories, so they can be penciled in for 145 games each. Tyler O’Neill played 138 in 2021, so let’s call it 135 for him. And Donovan should start at the keystone and fill in sometimes at other spots, so 145 for him as well.
Assuming my math is right, that leaves a grand total of 274 starts for Burley plus Yepez plus Gorman, combined. And that’s if Willson Contreras never plays DH (which we know he will), and Jordan Walker never plays a single game in the majors this year — which he likely will, at least in September. Okay, O’Neill will probably get an ouchie or three. But there’s still Contreras and Walker to account for. Just too many pieces for the puzzle.
All Gorman needs to do is to keep from striking out. But this organization has shown in the past it isn’t very good at teaching young players how to keep from striking out. So, in other words, I am not expecting alot from Gorman in 2023.
r/Esteemed Rat
Carlson is the one of the three that needs to elevate his game, which I think he will. Gorman and especially Burleson have barely scratched the surface of their big league careers. Sure you want to see improvement, but Carlson has been around the block a couple of times. He needs to establish himself as an everyday starter.
And again, I think he will, especially over the second half of the 2023 season. This assumes he is not injured of course.
No question that the ’23 season will define the direction in which Carlson’s career is headed. He received a first rate endorsement by all of the Redbird bosses after the Bader trade and the genuine reality is that his performance faded in ’22. It’s my guess he’ll be feeling a bit of pressure to keep that endorsement intact. Gorman’s the guy that I think has a better than decent chance to excel next season. As someone else mentioned, his bat generates a lot of power. I can recall several of his rips last season in which the baseball seemed to effortlessly launch into the seats from the barrel of his bat. If he can make more contact he should be a serious threat in batter’s box.
The game I saw in Denver last August, Gorman hit one ball where you could see the raw talent and rare ability to generate incredible exit velocity. But he struck out a couple of times as well. He reminds me a bit of Ty O’Neill, without the bulk Ty has.
I’m certain I saw that one BikeMike. I recall one HR that he hit with an easy and effortless swing that reminded me a little bit of Will Clark.
I’m not sure Carlson is ever going to be that great. He’s been touted a lot but all I e seen is an ok player. The other two still have time.
As has been discussed here on the forums and elsewhere, there were funny looking lineup construction decisions and pitcher utilization during the WC series. Then both Maddux and Albert unexpectedly leave and quickly take jobs with other teams. I think what we saw from first year manager Marmol was exactly what Mo has said he wants from his field staff. Utilize the output of the analytics team to guide player preparation for games and in game decisions by the field staff. I think Maddux and Albert saw enough and headed for the exit. That is not a realistic option for us fans.
I do not know exactly what to expect this year in terms of player usage, lineup construction and pitcher deployment. I do hope it works better than it did in Philly, but I also don’t think the results in the WC will alter the thinking or the approach. Remember, the decision making philosophy does not seem to receive input from an effective results based feedback loop.
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