Positives and minuses from ChiSox series

[Jason]

13 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I think Adell needs to spend the entire year in AAA to really work on his game.  He is extremely talented and the sky's the limit, but he's still really raw and needs a lot of reps to hone his craft.  I think Marsh looks a lot closer to being ready.  Defensively speaking, Marsh can also back-up CF too, so perhaps next year, Marsh takes over RF and also serves as the backup CF for Trout.  Maybe he even takes over sometime this year, who knows.

That said, this team is so well built at most positions on the field that we can take our time trying to find a decent RF in the interim.  Fowler and Lagares should hopefully combine to at least be "replacement level," which with the rest of our offensive firepower, should be enough.  The problem with Adell last year is that hew as so bad, he was statistically close to being the worst player in baseball, and that is something we need to avoid having, lol.

When you talk about Adell's talent it just feels like he's so far away that he may not have enough of it to improve as much as he needs to. Especially seeing that both his offense and defense need a lot of work. I'm guessing Marsh will be Fowler's replacement by season's end 

[Warfarin]

3 minutes ago, Jason said:

When you talk about Adell's talent it just feels like he's so far away that he may not have enough of it to improve as much as he needs to. Especially seeing that both his offense and defense need a lot of work. I'm guessing Marsh will be Fowler's replacement by season's end 

I think he was unfortunately rushed last year.  He's still incredibly young and has a lot of talent.  With the right player development team in place (which hopefully we have now, with Minasian's team), he could really significantly improve and be a stud.  But it takes time and reps to get there.  We can afford to be very patient with him, IMO, because we have good OF depth and we have another prospect (Marsh) who is likely closer in his overall development to taking over.

Adell should probably moreso be seen as Upton's future replacement in LF.  Upton is signed through next year, so we can gradually work Adell into the picture sometime next year, so that our future OF of Trout, Marsh, and Adell can play together for parts of 2022 and fully take over by 2023.

[Inside Pitch]

53 minutes ago, Jason said:

When you talk about Adell's talent it just feels like he's so far away that he may not have enough of it to improve as much as he needs to. Especially seeing that both his offense and defense need a lot of work. I'm guessing Marsh will be Fowler's replacement by season's end 

Adell's biggest weakness offensively was looking much improved during ST.  He needs to consistently do it at AAA, but he was showing plate discipline he had never shown before.  He's never going to be a great batting average guy, he's just got a lot of swing in miss in him, but if he can milk enough walks to compensate he will be fine -- if nothing else he will put himself into better position to "tools" his way to success like he has in the minors.  But that's not going to happen if he's always in 1-2, 0-2 counts.   Defensively....just play Benny Hill theme and enjoy the funny.

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Adell's biggest weakness offensively was looking much improved during ST.  He needs to consistent do it at AAA, but he was showing plate discipline he had never shown before.  He's never going to be a great batting average guy, he's just got a lot of swing in miss in him, but if he can milk enough walks to compensate he will be fine -- if nothing else he will put himself into better position to "tools" his way to success like he has in the minors.  But that's not going to happen if he's always in 1-2, 0-2 counts.   Defensively....just play Benny Hill theme and enjoy the funny.

Do you honestly believe that he has enough offensive ability to make up for the poor defense? If he stays below average as a defensive player then I think he will ultimately just be an average ball player. Hopefully he turns it around defensively and this won't be an issue  

[DMVol]

39 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

Walsh played a lot last year.  In fact, Maddon hit him second once he started crushing the ball regularly.  I wouldn't worry about Walsh's playing time, as Maddon has already established a precedent that he'll play him if he's playing well.

I think the key is how many AB's Walsh gets against LHP....we'll see....

[Inside Pitch]

Adell is a uber confident dude, its kinda fueled him through his minor league career.  That confidence has hurt him at times as a MLB player.  He tends to chase after the spectacular when he should pull up and do the smart thing.  At some point someone is going to take him aside and give him the style vs substance speech.  I think for now the Angels have not wanted to stunt who he is as a person, or his faith in himself.   The tools are there, its just got to click in his head now.

[Inside Pitch]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

Do you honestly believe that he has enough offensive ability to make up for the poor defense? If he stays below average as a defensive player then I think he will ultimately just be an average ball player. Hopefully he turns it around defensively and this won't be an issue  

See my previous comment.  I think his defense is a byproduct of poor decisions.  I think he's had a focus issue, but I don't for a second think he physically lacks the ability to be a good fielder.  I genuinely think he's too caught up in looking good while defending to actually defend well.

[Jason]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

See my previous comment.  I think his defense is a byproduct of poor decisions.  I think he's had a focus issue, but I don't for a second think he physically lacks the ability to be a good fielder.  I genuinely think he's too caught up in looking good while defending to actually defend well.

Sounds like he has a little Johnny Manziel in him 

[Lou]

Team chemistry!

[Warfarin]

9 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Adell is a uber confident dude, its kinda fueled him through his minor league career.  That confidence has hurt him at times as a MLB player.  He tends to chase after the spectacular when he should pull up and do the smart thing.  At some point someone is going to take him aside and give him the style vs substance speech.  I think for now the Angels have not wanted to stunt who he is as a person, or his faith in himself.   The tools are there, its just got to click in his head now.

My hope is our player development can work with him to help hone that confidence a bit and help prevent it from hindering him.  Defensively, he should be a good fielder given the burst and athleticism he has, it just hasn't translated well.  I'd like to think some of that will come with maturity, time, and reps.

Again though, we've got pretty good OF depth now, so we can afford to wait on his potential and have him become more of a "finished product," so to speak, before we promote him.  I think Marsh will be promoted before Adell, barring injury.

[Inside Pitch]

31 minutes ago, Jason said:

Sounds like he has a little Johnny Manziel in him 

Manziel had too many bad personality traits for me to use as an example... Maybe the Angels version of Chad Curtis... Remember how he was trying to be a power hitter when he wasn't and how he would leave his feet to throw?  Dude was always trying to look good but where they are different is Adell actually has the physical skills .... and yes not a rock head.

[Angelsjunky]

I think you covered it well, AO, so anything I would say is just addition.

I do think we should highlight Ohtani's performance last night. Nothing new at the plate (and so far he's been all or nothing, with 2 HR and not much else), but the fact that he pitched an overall good to very good 90 pitches is very encouraging. He needs to work on the command - he was a bit wild early on and then seemed to tire in that last inning, but it was very promising for what is to come.

A couple minor nitpicks:

Walsh's defense is mediocre at best. I think he'll improve, but he missed some catches that Pujols probably wouldn't have. Not concerned, though.

Lagares is not a good hitter and I think if the Angels have to rely upon him for regular starts, even in a platoon role, then the offense will really suffer. He's a useful 4th outfielder if you have three healthy starters, but the Lagares/Fowler platoon could get old, fast. The upside is that this will mean there's no one blocking Marsh but himself. I hope we see him some time in June or so.

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, Warfarin said:

My hope is our player development can work with him to help hone that confidence a bit and help prevent it from hindering him.  Defensively, he should be a good fielder given the burst and athleticism he has, it just hasn't translated well.  I'd like to think some of that will come with maturity, time, and reps.

Again though, we've got pretty good OF depth now, so we can afford to wait on his potential and have him become more of a "finished product," so to speak, before we promote him.  I think Marsh will be promoted before Adell, barring injury.

You keep pointing towards player development, I don't believe that's been lacking.  The plate discipline thing, sure but that's A veteran skill and he's not dumb, he showed he can make strides there in ST alone.

Defensively IMO Adell just needs to chill out and restrain the desire to do more.  Its a discipline issue.  I trust he can because he's shown the discipline to put in all the work, he just needs to stop trying to do the awesome and work on doing the little things.  I've watched this kid a lot, he's exactly the same way he was in the minors.  

The other reason have to have faith is that he's incredibly smart.  Jo Adell isn't a rock head, it will come together.  FWIW, he seemed to be much more at ease and restrained when playing alongside Marsh.  So much so I've wondered if he hasn't been trying to prove to his MLB teammates that he belongs, or that he's worthy of the hype.  

[jsnpritchett]

10 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Manziel had too many bad personality traits for me to use as an example... Maybe the Angels version of Chad Curtis... Remember how he was trying to be a power hitter when he wasn't and how he would leave his feet to throw?  Dude was always trying to look good but where they are different is Adell actually has the physical skills. 

I really hope that's the only thing he shares in common with Curtis...

[Angelsjunky]

I would also add: resilience. They didn't collapse after that "Knoblauchian" inning (funny, AO) and rallied with focus and swagger. That is a very good sign.

[tdawg87]

10 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Maybe the Angels version of Chad Curtis...

[Inside Pitch]

Just now, jsnpritchett said:

I really hope that's the only thing he shares in common with Curtis...

Lol, I knew I was inviting these sorts of thoughts.  Its actually hard to find a similar guy...  Adell is just incredibly confident and the humble pie he was served last year may be all he needed.

[Angel Oracle]

46 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I think he was unfortunately rushed last year.  He's still incredibly young and has a lot of talent.  With the right player development team in place (which hopefully we have now, with Minasian's team), he could really significantly improve and be a stud.  But it takes time and reps to get there.  We can afford to be very patient with him, IMO, because we have good OF depth and we have another prospect (Marsh) who is likely closer in his overall development to taking over.

Adell should probably moreso be seen as Upton's future replacement in LF.  Upton is signed through next year, so we can gradually work Adell into the picture sometime next year, so that our future OF of Trout, Marsh, and Adell can play together for parts of 2022 and fully take over by 2023.

JUp’s re-emergence would make Adell’s progression in AAA be a lot more patient.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Angel Oracle

[Chuck]

3 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

I really hope that's the only thing he shares in common with Curtis...

I'll take a few of Chad Curtis' early seasons with the Angels from Adell any day! 

[tdawg87]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

Its actually hard to find a similar guy...

Yeah that's what he said.

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

I'll take a few of Chad Curtis' early seasons with the Angels from Adell any day! 

Yeah, I was referring more to this than his stats:

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/midwest/former-mlb-outfielder-chad-curtis-out-of-prison-after-serving-7-years-for-sex-assaults/

[Inside Pitch]

11 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I'll take a few of Chad Curtis' early seasons with the Angels from Adell any day! 

Curtis was fine right up until he told Rod Carew to shut up because he was going to be a power hitter and started taking dating tips from Luis Polonia.

[tdawg87]

Just like Adell, Curtis was great in the minors.

[Erstad Grit]

3 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Just like Adell, Curtis was great in the minors.

Only 100000 time that joke has been used here. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

4 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Just like Adell, Curtis was great in the minors.

Well done