Eric Thames

[Chuck]

Both off a good young lefty. 

Some of the prognosticators said since he couldn't hit lefties pre-Korea, that he'd platoon at 1B. 

He was slashing .500/.571/1.167 with 2 HR's against lefties coming into this game, before going 2-2 with 2 HR's off a southpaw (with a walk)

[Docwaukee]

So his first hr was a change up in the upper inner part of the zone where he kept his hands back after recognizing the pitch.  I would say most hitter would pull that ball foul.  The next hr he took an off speed pitch in the upper part of the zone the other way and probably got some help from the yard to get that one out.  Otherwise, it's a deep fly ball or maybe a double.  

Regardless of whether he's on PED's, he's hammering off speed mistakes in a way that many hitters would have a problem recognizing.  

Also, in his 2 yrs at the major league level prior to going to korea,  he hit 21hrs , 8 triples and 36 doubles in 684 PA.  He had an .896 ops as a 23yo in AA.  He owned an .892 ops in the minors.  He had 167bb in 1710 pa during that stretch.  

It's not like he was a bad hitter that suddenly went berserk in a foreign country.  He was actually pretty decent but was a horrible defender.

He's obviously playing out of his mind right now because he's a guy who had always hit well and then got some additional skills/maturity.  

The guy learned how to hit an off speed pitch.  The league will adjust and he'll go through a span of hitting poorly for awhile.  The big question is whether he will make the proper adjustments to that.  The guy had some baseline skill.  I think people need to remember he's 30 years old and has been playing professional baseball for 8 years.  

[gurn67]

Number 11 left the yard tonight to go with 25 runs and 19 RBI's in 20 games.

[Troll Daddy]

That's looks like a good signing 

[totdprods]

34 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

That's looks like a good signing 

Will be interesting to see if MLB teams start looking at these producing former players in Japan and Korea more often now in FA.

[Richard]

Can we just pin this thread to the top since this dude is hitting home runs daily?

What a run.

[Sam Sanchez]

For the sake of my fantasy team, I hope he continues this. Doesn't hurt that I also have Trout on my team.

 

I remember reading about his insane stats after his second season in Korea, but I was doubtful whether he'd carry it over here. No one drafted him during my fantasy league draft, but a week into the season, when he had I believe 2 HRs on the season, I snatched him up as a free agent, been on fire since. He's impressive to watch.

 

His plate discipline now indicates this might just be more than just a hot streak, though I know he won't continue at this high a level. I believe the stat was that in his first stint here, he was swinging at about 40% of the pitches outside the zone, so he was incredibly inpatient and had no plate discipline, and he's cut that percentage down in half to 20%, so he's a far smarter hitter than he used to be and works the count to get his pitch to hit and isn't afraid to take the walk. Has 14 walks on the season and pretty close to a .500 obp currently.

 

Fun fact: He's homered 8 times vs. the Reds this season already in 6 games. Those 8 HRs alone would still have him leading the MLB in HRs.

[totdprods]

He's appeared in 20 games and has 11 HRs. He's only one away from tying his career high. 
He's already halfway to exceeding his career total of 21, which he achieved in 181 games.

He's done this in 20 games. 

[tdawg87]

So when does he get suspended for PED's?

[fan_since79]

1 minute ago, tdawg87 said:

So when does he get suspended for PED's?

When they can catch him, which according to some here is not always easy.

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

So when does he get suspended for PED's?

He's apparently been tested three times already this season alone. He's been saying basically he understands the suspicions and even said he's got plenty of blood and urine if they want to keep testing him. He didn't seem too concerned. Hope he is clean. Would be a great story. It'd be funny if he actually maintained this pace - currently on track for 89 HRs - and somehow managed to club out enough to beat Bonds' record out of nowhere.

I'm tempering expectations a little bit though - a disproportionate amount of his damage has been done against one team. And a lot of the league is likely relying on old, incomplete, or flimsy scouting reports at best at this point. No one expected this. They'll make adjustments, and it will be his turn to make adjustments, and that will be the determining point.

Former Halo Luis Jimenez's line last year in the KBO: .308/.363/.526 with 26 HR and 102 RBI.