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If I thought Ozuna was one of our three best OF’s I would say be patient and ride it out but I honestly don’t think he is. I think O”Neill and JMart both are as good or better so let’s go ahead and play them and get on with it. If Ozuna comes back healthy later in the season and can win his spot back then good for him but until then let’s put the best players on the field.
If you want to put the best players on the field there is room for both O’Neill and JoMartinez and they should be playing.
Clearly washed up. Note that is “beginning” of the 2017 season, which later became his best year.
Marcell Ozuna's game-tying single comes off 99.3 mph heat from SD's Robert Stock.
That's the fastest pitch Ozuna has gotten a hit against since the beginning of the 2017 season.
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) April 5, 2019
I will move the Ozuna discussion from the Dodgers 4-8-19 game thread to here.
To summarize I posed the idea of removing Ozuna and Fowler from the everyday lineup (actually from the roster) and replacing them with O’Neill and JMart.
Marcell Ozuna owns the top of the leaderboard for STL's hardest HR since @statcast began tracking.
1. Ozuna: 117.1 mph
2. Ozuna: 115.3 mph <–tonight
3. Ozuna: 113.8 mph
3. Ozuna: 113.8 mph
5. J. Martinez: 113.6 mph pic.twitter.com/OaQOkUJSTa— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) April 9, 2019
If Ozuna wants to prove me wrong by hitting a HR every other day I am all for it but I remain skeptical. He has never shown the consistency here that he had in Miami. Again, I would be glad to be proven wrong but I suspect O’Neill or JMart could put up the exact same name numbers as Ozuna or better if they played everyday, and at a fraction of the cost.
Hard hit HR, nobody on = 1 run. I’d rather see a ball squeaking over the fence with two on =3 runs. Hard hit…. what does even mean? Is there a point to posting it? It might excite some fans. I guess it makes for good highlight shots.
A single off a 99.3 mph pitch… yeah, so? A double on a Texas-leaguer is better. Starcast = meaningless.
Please don’t tell me about some meaning that the hitter is somehow better with high starcast #s if he is batting sub .200. This is like the Dave Kingman Syndrome.
Put the most productive players on the field and not the ones starcast would have you believe are better.
Starcast = meaningless
i disagree. There is a strong relationship (correlation) between the speed off the bat (exit velocity) and the likelihood of a batted ball becoming a base hit. If you want to see a graph and become a believer, I will find you one.
Secondly, hitting fast fastballs is a rare skill, a good one for a batter to have, associated with higher batting average.
When you have already made up your mind, data can be a meaningless irritation.
Ozuna has a long way to go still, but is not the lost cause some are asserting. For those who live and die by small sample sizes, please take a look at Jose Martinez’ current stats and get back to me with why you believe he should be starting. .150/.150/.200/.350 while often swinging wildly. It is the “backup quarterback syndrome” in spades.
I get that so cal. I can tell from my naked eye if a ball is hit hard. I was referring to hard hit home runs. Hitting a over the fence still suffices.
I am convinced Ozuna’s shoulder is not affecting his hitting much (unless there are good days and bad days with the shoulder). His throwing ability is another issue.
Despite his slow start I would make the argument that JMart has been the best hitter on the team for the last two years (2017 & 18) so there is that. And as a friend of mine likes to say JMart has a lot of “give a da**”, which is more than I can say for Ozuna or at least that is the impression he gives.
I entirely agree with the idea that exit velocity is a good indicator. But cherry-picking a tiny sample of exit velo is a red flag.
This team needs Ozuna to be the guy he was in his career year, or something close to it. I’m fine with patience with him. But he needs to really hit well to make up for his defense.
If O’Neill gets healthy and starts hitting, though, he needs to go to RF and put Fowler on the bench (or waiver wire) – not LF. Ozuna’s defense is far less of an impediment when he is competing with Martinez. And I really like what Martinez can do off of the bench.
So Ozuna embarrases himself with his mouth this morning saying his arm is 55% after saying earlier it was 80%. No matter what if it is 55% why would you let other teams know that?
The he goes out and embarrasses himself with his body at night.
I have no idea how this guy won a gold glove in Miami. I was complaining the other day about his offense being so inconsistent but at least his defense is consistently bad. We can always count on that.
Everything Ozuna does is becoming must-watch baseball. Sometimes it's glorious, sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes it's frustrating… It's always entertaining. #STLCards
— Brenden Schaeffer🎳 (@bschaeffer12) April 11, 2019
On that terribly awkward catch attempt, I wondered if he was trying to make a spectacular play instead of just catching the ball, maybe trying to do too much because of all the criticism. He isn’t a rookie and has proven in the past he can play a credible left field at least. This seemed mental, not physical. It was curious to me.
Ozuna was not the only one who thought that ball was going out. Dave Roberts said he also thought it was going the distance. No doubt he overplayed the distance but nobody is perfect and had he not done the wall climbing show it would have just been scored as a fielding error (was it anyway?). I admit that when Marcel comes up to bat I don’t get a lot of confidence but he does have his surprises. One of the more interesting observations this season will be to see if he gets an extension. Based on his play to date (so early in the season) I will say that any extension will depend on the showing of the muscle man or maybe JMart. But there could also be enough talent in the minors (read Dylan Carlson) to hold off on an extension until the season is over. It will be interesting to see what Ozuna could bring as a free agent.
Unless he reincarnates his 2017 self I would be shocked if he got an extension. In my mind the real question is will he get a QO?
Brian, I too had that thought of Ozuna wanting to make a highlight reel play. Whether that is because he has been feeling fan pressure in STL or just the Sportscenter mindset zI am unclear.
In the last six-plus games, Ozuna has four home runs and nine RBI. Had the manager been as impatient as some fans, Ozuna would have been riding the bench instead…
I’m glad to see Ozuna hit some bombs but I still maintain that O’Neill and JMart could put up the same numbers as Ozuna if they got to play everyday, except for $11M cheaper.
The Cardinals pride themselves on being financially prudent and frugal. I am trying to save them some money here.
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