Is Jared Walsh the answer for 1B?

[Angelsjunky]

It would seem so.

[Angelsjunky]

Through his third hit tonight, he's hitting .327/.339/.789 with a 190 wRC+. Dude is locked in.

[Chuck]

On 9/10/2020 at 2:26 PM, Angels 1961 said:

Could Walsh be the answer for 1B for now and the future? Another reason to sit Albert Pujols and give Walsh regular ABs.

[Angel Oracle]

12 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Through his third hit tonight, he's hitting .327/.339/.789 with a 190 wRC+. Dude is locked in.

TEN XBHs and 16 rbis in just 56 PAs

 

[Taylor]

He is good.

[UndertheHalo]

I’m pretty skeptical, but there’s no doubt he looks good right now.  Hoping for the best obviously.  Really too bad we don’t get to see him over the course of a regular season.  Next year I guess. 

[Docwaukee]

Walsh is killing it.  I never thought he would make enough contact for the type of run he's having at any point in his career.  

[Warfarin]

Really stoked to see this.  Obviously just a small sample size, but given it's accompanied with mechanical adjustments, we can be cautiously optimistic that he'll be our 1B moving forward.  He won't continue to hit like this, but if he can be an 800-850 OPS type 1B, with an acceptable level of Ks, then we should have a solid lineup piece for years.

Now, if we can somehow get Ohtani back on track, then we should have a really solid top 5 next year - Fletcher, Walsh, Trout, Rendon, Ohtani.

 

[totdprods]

Cautionary Tale of Shane Spencer inserted here. 

Also raked in minors at age 26, had a ridiculous end of September, 7 HR, 20 RBI in 9 games, similar slash and BB:K ratios as Walsh has in that time...was a relatively average to sub-average role player following. 

Walsh looks great and I’m a believer, but tempering expectations still. He’s made an adjustment that’s given him a legit advantage. It’s now time for the pitchers to adjust. How Walsh adapts to that correction will help determine if this sticks, and we won’t really know until a month or so into ‘21. If anything, the fact that our coaching staff helped him make those corrections is the most promising aspect. We’re seeing signs of life in Ward, Thaiss has a whole new stance...

Edited September 16, 2020 by totdprods

[Lou]

43 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Cautionary Tale of Shane Spencer inserted here

Spencer had the benefit of playing in Yankee Stadium. During his first call up in '98, he hit 8 of 10 HRs at home. At Yankee Stadium, his OPS was almost 750 points higher and his BA 170 points higher. 

[totdprods]

Just now, Lou said:

Spencer had the benefit of playing in Yankee Stadium. During his first call up in '98, he hit 8 of 10 HRs at home. At Yankee Stadium, his OPS was almost 750 points higher and his BA 170 points higher. 

Jefry Marte then.

11 G, 2 2B, 4 HR, one BB, 7 K, a slash around .300/.300/.800 in 30 PA in ‘16. 

Many here, including myself, thought he’d be good for a .750-.850 OPS the following year and 20-30 HR at 3B.

Spencer was just one example that came to mind, but I’m sure there are several false late-bloomers that have come up and raked in September for a couple weeks.

I remember when Walsh first was sent to AA, and he was awful for a long stretch. He went back to A+, and hit like a monster. Better than he had the first time. The next season, he hit well in AA, struggled in AAA, then raked back at AA. Promoted again to SLC, he crushed it and hasn’t looked back - until his first stint in Anaheim. And now here we are. The optimist in me says this is an example of a hitter who has the humility to understand he has to adapt and change and the awareness to make real adjustments on a consistent basis. This bodes very well for him. That is the reason I’m actually optimistic he can be an everyday player in 2021, not because of a ridiculous power display over 10 games or whatever. 

 

[totdprods]

Noticed this too...not meant as a comparison between the two, just an observation. Ward has been able to turn in a better BA and OBP (in very limited PAs) while offering decent defense all around the field.

Walsh in September: .415/.422/1.000/1.422 in 45 PA, with 1 BB, 6 K, and 11 XBH. 

Ward in September: .417/.481/.583/1.065 in 27 PA, with 3 BB, 5 K and 3 XBH.

BAbip for Ward is insane - over .500, while Walsh is at .355, and Walsh has nearly twice the plate appearances, but I don’t think Ward has ever been this useful at the plate. His versatility on the field has helped too. He seems to have started going with more of a contact approach, strikeouts are down, the ball is in play more. Better discipline than he’s shown. 

Thaiss’ playing time has gone down with Walsh hitting so well, but his stance is quite different so there must be something legitimately exciting to the coaches to justify their quick deployment of him. Real interesting to see how these guys progress next year. I wonder if they’ve tweaked Thaiss into more of a walks and power guy, almost a Kole 2.0 type, and worked the opposite with Ward, getting him more into a contact hitter ala Fletcher. It’d be ironic because it’d be sort of the opposite of what each were expected to be. Thaiss was more contact less power, and Ward was more power and all-or-nothing in his approach outside SLC. In fact, if I recall, it seems like halfway through last year I remember Thaiss got on a bit of a power surge and his BA and walks went down, strikeouts and power went up, and Ward seemed to start making regular contact with a really clean BB:K ratio. Maybe we’re seeing some of the work that started then pay off for the two.

Edited September 16, 2020 by totdprods

[Warfarin]

59 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Noticed this too...not meant as a comparison between the two, just an observation. Ward has been able to turn in a better BA and OBP (in very limited PAs) while offering decent defense all around the field.

Walsh in September: .415/.422/1.000/1.422 in 45 PA, with 1 BB, 6 K, and 11 XBH. 

Ward in September: .417/.481/.583/1.065 in 27 PA, with 3 BB, 5 K and 3 XBH.

BAbip for Ward is insane - over .500, while Walsh is at .355, and Walsh has nearly twice the plate appearances, but I don’t think Ward has ever been this useful at the plate. His versatility on the field has helped too. He seems to have started going with more of a contact approach, strikeouts are down, the ball is in play more. Better discipline than he’s shown. 

Thaiss’ playing time has gone down with Walsh hitting so well, but his stance is quite different so there must be something legitimately exciting to the coaches to justify their quick deployment of him. Real interesting to see how these guys progress next year. I wonder if they’ve tweaked Thaiss into more of a walks and power guy, almost a Kole 2.0 type, and worked the opposite with Ward, getting him more into a contact hitter ala Fletcher. It’d be ironic because it’d be sort of the opposite of what each were expected to be. Thaiss was more contact less power, and Ward was more power and all-or-nothing in his approach outside SLC. In fact, if I recall, it seems like halfway through last year I remember Thaiss got on a bit of a power surge and his BA and walks went down, strikeouts and power went up, and Ward seemed to start making regular contact with a really clean BB:K ratio. Maybe we’re seeing some of the work that started then pay off for the two.

FWIW, here are the splits for September in terms of position players:

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=10&type=8&season=2020&month=9&season1=2020&ind=0&team=1&rost=&age=0&filter=&players=&startdate=&enddate=

All we can really do at this point is look for reasons to be optimistic and hope it pans out, haha.

Rengifo and Ward were, allegedly, the two players the Dodgers wanted from us in the failed Joc trade.  A forward-thinking team like the Dodgers is usually pretty good at identifying players who have potential and maximizing that potential, so I actually do have some hope that both Rengifo and Ward can turn out to be useful players.

Ward has a good eye, and I think he can potentially be a useful bench player for us - someone who can cover 1B/3B/LF/RF, even possibly emergency catcher.

Walsh .. it's unrealistic to assume he'll continue to hit like this, but if he becomes a 800-850 OPS type player who can draw walks and play solid defense at first, that's a win for us and a useful complementary player on a team with two stars (Trout, Rendon).

[Angels 1961]

2 hours ago, Warfarin said:

Really stoked to see this.  Obviously just a small sample size, but given it's accompanied with mechanical adjustments, we can be cautiously optimistic that he'll be our 1B moving forward.  He won't continue to hit like this, but if he can be an 800-850 OPS type 1B, with an acceptable level of Ks, then we should have a solid lineup piece for years.

Now, if we can somehow get Ohtani back on track, then we should have a really solid top 5 next year - Fletcher, Walsh, Trout, Rendon, Ohtani.

 

Ohtani a big factor for 2021 need him to get on track. Do not forget Justin Upton turn around could give us 6 solid in lineup.

[Chuck]

 

[Inside Pitch]

He's gonna come down from this hot streak and the league will attack him differently.... But, as good as he's been he's not come close to matching his minor league walk rate..   Dude will get better there and it may all balance itself out to a degree.

That before and after video is great to see.  Its good when your team is taking the development part of player development and showing successes. 

[Lou]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

He's gonna come down from this hot streak

Failo 

[Warfarin]

We found our first baseman of the future!

Now, let's fix Ohtani, and then we suddenly have a very solid 1-5 again.

[DMVol]

23 hours ago, totdprods said:

Walsh in September: .415/.422/1.000/1.422 in 45 PA, with 1 BB, 6 K, and 11 XBH. 

Ward in September: .417/.481/.583/1.065 in 27 PA, with 3 BB, 5 K and 3 XBH

 

Adell hasn't shown enough to be penciled in for next year.....Ward is very much in play for RF...If/when the light comes on for Adell, he's in the lineup for good....but it hasn't happened yet and Ward has a chance to be the RF'er next year...so does Marsh, if he impresses in spring training....

[totdprods]

52 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Adell hasn't shown enough to be penciled in for next year.....Ward is very much in play for RF...If/when the light comes on for Adell, he's in the lineup for good....but it hasn't happened yet and Ward has a chance to be the RF'er next year...so does Marsh, if he impresses in spring training....

I would sign a 4th OF platoon type for next year. Someone defense-first. 

I’m assuming Marsh or Adell will wind up being traded for pitching if we get a new GM. And even if they aren’t, or Eppler stays, it makes sense to hold them in AAA for regular reps. Whoever is signed can be relegated to 4th OF if the prospects push them out. 

[DMVol]

19 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I would sign a 4th OF platoon type for next year. Someone defense-first. 

I’m assuming Marsh or Adell will wind up being traded for pitching if we get a new GM. And even if they aren’t, or Eppler stays, it makes sense to hold them in AAA for regular reps. Whoever is signed can be relegated to 4th OF if the prospects push them out. 

What if Ward, like Walsh, finishes strong in this last few games and follows it up in spring training....if you have traded either Marsh or Adell for pitching, the other one gets more seasoning in AAA if Ward keeps it up....under that scenario, whoever the GM is, let's hope they trade wisely....I'm still a little gunshy of trading either of those guys...

[Angelsjunky]

I like Fangraphs' take:

Finally given regular playing time, Walsh has been on fire for the last two weeks. I think there’s a chance that like Allen Craig, Lucas Duda, Christian Walker, Jesús Aguilar, or Luke Voit before him, Walsh is another late-breaking power bat who has a narrow window during which he performs like a good everyday first baseman.

He seems to fit into that sort of category. These types of hitters tend to be good in their late 20s and early 30s, then drop off, so we could have a nice stretch during his controlled years.

[Angels in 2030]

Sorry IP, but i'm going to take this and dream big for the time being.  We deserve this....a guy from the farm who comes up and way out-performs expectations to become an impact player.  When was the last time this happened for the Angels?  How about Wally Joyner 2.0 (i'll take it!).  Fletcher wasn't highly touted and has turned into a great player for us.  But not a truly impact bat/arm.  Everybody else seems to have these guys (Dodgers WAY too many lately) except for us.  So why not us!?!  I refuse to hear otherwise....hands-over-ears nahnahnahnahnahnah (i'm not listening).

BTW: Just imagine how we'd be reacting if this was Adell's production line.  It would be crazy.  Oh, well.....2022 for Adell after he gets things straighten out in 2021 and fixes some things.   

[kevinb]

Walsh is raking keep it up. We may have the future 1b. This would help the offense a whole heck of a lot. 

[T.G.]

One of, if not the best story to come out of this season (Bundy too). I feel like he's a "sigh of relief..." instead of a "here we.go again." It's nice to see someone from the system having an impact.

I have no idea if he will sustain this, but I will enjoy it while it lasts - unlike those who want to predict his failure by comparing him to other "flash in the pan" type players. I never understood why people do that. What Shane Spencer did or didn't do has absolutely no impact on what Walsh may or may not do.

Edited September 17, 2020 by True Grich