Neto

[Erstad Grit]

I'm really liking this guy.

Disarcina was my SS as a kid. Eckstein and Aybar were good, probably better than Disar,  but for some reason I still viewed Disar as MY SS. Cabrera was very good but had a shorter tenure. Simmons was extremely underrated. We definitely landed him on the 2nd half of his career, but he was unbelievable.

I think Neto might become my favorite Angel SS going forward. 

[steveuk]

20 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

I'm really liking this guy.

Disarcina was my SS as a kid. Eckstein and Aybar were good, probably better than Disar,  but for some reason I still viewed Disar as MY SS. Cabrera was very good but had a shorter tenure. Simmons was extremely underrated. We definitely landed him on the 2nd half of his career, but he was unbelievable.

I think Neto might become my favorite Angel SS going forward. 

Standard answer on here is 'sample size', but I like this kid. He just looks like he belongs already.

[Erstad Grit]

3 minutes ago, steveuk said:

Standard answer on here is 'sample size', but I like this kid. He just looks like he belongs already.

That's definitely a fair answer. He just seems to have a moxy of awareness and confidence. 

[totdprods]

Guys a dude

[Roy Hobbs]

56 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

I'm really liking this guy.

Disarcina was my SS as a kid. Eckstein and Aybar were good, probably better than Disar,  but for some reason I still viewed Disar as MY SS. Cabrera was very good but had a shorter tenure. Simmons was extremely underrated. We definitely landed him on the 2nd half of his career, but he was unbelievable.

I think Neto might become my favorite Angel SS going forward. 

I like that you mention Simmons, he seemed to have the best situational awareness that I have seen. It looks like Neto has the same thing, always around the ball. I think he is , and I hate to use this term a "Natural".

[ScruffytheJanitor]

3 minutes ago, Roy Hobbs said:

I like that you mention Simmons, he seemed to have the best situational awareness that I have seen. It looks like Neto has the same thing, always around the ball. I think he is , and I hate to use this term a "Natural".

You'd think Roy Hobbs would be more comfortable with that phrase....

[Angelsfan1984]

He's definitely a gamer. Hard not to like the kid. 

[Justin]

4 hours ago, Roy Hobbs said:

I like that you mention Simmons, he seemed to have the best situational awareness that I have seen. It looks like Neto has the same thing, always around the ball. I think he is , and I hate to use this term a "Natural".

Two or three times per season, Simba would do something that I had literally never seen before. It was such a thrill. I don't know if I'll ever have that with Neto, but I sure do like him so far. 

[Duren, Duren]

Simmons was under rated. Very smooth fielder who was always positioned correctly. And gave good value at the plate. 

Neto still has faced a small number of teams. Eventually opponents will get a 'book' on him. So it will be an ongoing adjustment period. But so far he just has a tangible self confidence you don't see from many rookies. Hopefully he remains upbeat even through inevitable slumps. 

At the plate he seems able to handle major league pitching. And has a good eye. Opposing pitchers may try to exploit his unorthodox stance, but he has handled things so far, and readjusts with two strikes. If he can hit somewhere in the .240 range this season, move runners, steal a few bases and keep getting on base with walks and HBPs then it will give the top of the order more RBI chances. The second half of the batting  order was a dead zone last year. So far, much improved. 

In the field you'd never know that Neto has hardly any pro experience. He pivots well, has a great release and good enough range. Seems like he has quick reflexes and anticipates well. 

Hopefully he continues to progress and becomes a long term fixture. Mind you, many thought that about Fletcher too. But Neto seems to have the right skill set and attitude.  Barring injury, watching him day to day should be fun. 

[Angelsjunky]

He's just a bit below league as a hitter (91 wRC+) in his first exposure to major league pitching, with only 201 PA in the minors. While I don't see him becoming an elite hitter, if he can get to the 110-120 wRC+ level and continue and/or polish up further his defense, he's going to be a 5 WAR player (he's already on pace for 2-3).

[ten ocho recon scout]

3 hours ago, totdprods said:

Guys a dude

Read this in Cholo.

When I was younger some gangsters from my school jumped another gangster from a rival gang on like the 2cd day of school (who was new to the school)

When they were rat packing the rival gangster (in front of everyone... no point doing it unless everyone sees it) they found out the rival wasn't actually a guy, but a chick, who was just super hard core and looked like a cholo (complete with shaved head)

One of the guys figured it out and was like "ay Foo, she's a hyna!"

(Which is why this line popped into my head)

 

Fun fact.

 

Later that day the female came back with a shotgun and blasted one of them. Lucky is was bird shot or something similar. 

Never saw her again, but I remember his gnarly scars, from all the pellets that got removed.

 

But yeah, I like Neto too. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

9 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

He's just a bit below league as a hitter (91 wRC+) in his first exposure to major league pitching, with only 201 PA in the minors. While I don't see him becoming an elite hitter, if he can get to the 110-120 wRC+ level and continue and/or polish up further his defense, he's going to be a 5 WAR player (he's already on pace for 2-3).

Was thinking about this last night during the game. They showed a stat that he's just behind Mike Trout on chase rate. And I was thinking that's a good sign for such a young guy. He isn't lighting it up with his bat but he's holding his own. At least as much as an average MLB player. Which again, for a guy barely drafted less than a year ago is impressive.

 

Then he made a pretty great play like an inning later.

He likely never turns into a "1st round draft pick and you can see why!" star, but he is very likely to be a fixture for this team for the next several years. Which is great news if it happens.

[Justin]

27 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Read this in Cholo.

When I was younger some gangsters from my school jumped another gangster from a rival gang on like the 2cd day of school (who was new to the school)

When they were rat packing the rival gangster (in front of everyone... no point doing it unless everyone sees it) they found out the rival wasn't actually a guy, but a chick, who was just super hard core and looked like a cholo (complete with shaved head)

One of the guys figured it out and was like "ay Foo, she's a hyna!"

(Which is why this line popped into my head)

 

Fun fact.

 

Later that day the female came back with a shotgun and blasted one of them. Lucky is was bird shot or something similar. 

Never saw her again, but I remember his gnarly scars, from all the pellets that got removed.

 

But yeah, I like Neto too. 

That reminds me of the time my buddies and I broke into a cafe to hide from a rival gang and my buddy JD took a shotgun blast to the leg. 

Wait... sorry, that was American Me. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Just now, Justin said:

That reminds me of the time my buddies and I broke into a cafe to hide from a rival gang and my buddy JD took a shotgun blast to the leg. 

Wait... sorry, that was American Me. 

Funny enough, and I'm not bullshitting, I literally watched that on Sunday night.

 

And the important part of that is....

 

 

.... the point of this thread....

 

..... and the fact that the chick Edward James Olmos tried to romance in that movie but screwed it up when he tried to rape her... had a brother named Neto... that she called his name like 3 times when he OD'd...

 

... and I honestly meant to record it and tag @Lou in it so we could have more Neto movie quotes than just training day.

[ten ocho recon scout]

You're welcome, AW.com... TORS doing all the heavy lifting for you

[Justin]

1 minute ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Funny enough, and I'm not bullshitting, I literally watched that on Sunday night.

I just assumed you watch it every Sunday. 

(Unless Deep Cover is on, obviously.) 

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Funny enough, and I'm not bullshitting, I literally watched that on Sunday night.

 

And the important part of that is....

 

 

.... the point of this thread....

 

..... and the fact that the chick Edward James Olmos tried to romance in that movie but screwed it up when he tried to rape her... had a brother named Neto... that she called his name like 3 times when he OD'd...

 

... and I honestly meant to record it and tag @Lou in it so we could have more Neto movie quotes than just training day.

When we were kids, belonging felt good. But having respect, that feels even better.

[Don]

Watching the guy play, he certainly passes the eye test. He just looks like he belongs here. Seems very comfortable at this level for a guy that was playing games against the Radford Highlanders and Presbyterian Blue Hose a year ago. He seems super hard to project though. Like is this dude gonna be a .240/.290/.350 guy two years from now? Or maybe a .300/.350/.480 sort of dude? Absolutely no clue. I could see it going either way, though I'd definitely like to think the latter. My personal guess (ok, maybe hope) is that he turns into an Edgar Renteria sort of hitter. So maybe not entirely in line with that second slash line, but fairly close to it. I really don't know. But I definitely like the way he's starting off.  

[Angelsjunky]

54 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Was thinking about this last night during the game. They showed a stat that he's just behind Mike Trout on chase rate. And I was thinking that's a good sign for such a young guy. He isn't lighting it up with his bat but he's holding his own. At least as much as an average MLB player. Which again, for a guy barely drafted less than a year ago is impressive.

 

Then he made a pretty great play like an inning later.

He likely never turns into a "1st round draft pick and you can see why!" star, but he is very likely to be a fixture for this team for the next several years. Which is great news if it happens.

I know what you mean, but it is good to remind ourselves that most first rounders don't become stars. I think only about two-thirds (plus or minus, per year) even each the majors, and of those only about half a dozen end up with double-digit WAR careers (10+). Only one or two end up with 40+ WAR careers, sometimes none at all.

It would be interesting, though, to see how first-rounders with as few minor league PA (201) as Neto (or, say, <300) turn out. Maybe worth a study...

[Second Base]

11 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

I know what you mean, but it is good to remind ourselves that most first rounders don't become stars. I think only about two-thirds (plus or minus, per year) even each the majors, and of those only about half a dozen end up with double-digit WAR careers (10+). Only one or two end up with 40+ WAR careers, sometimes none at all.

It would be interesting, though, to see how first-rounders with as few minor league PA (201) as Neto (or, say, <300) turn out. Maybe worth a study...

There aren't many that fall into that criteria. Neto is not only special in terms of his high ability leaving college, but also the circumstance of the ball club needing him immediately. 

[Angelsjunky]

5 minutes ago, Second Base said:

There aren't many that fall into that criteria. Neto is not only special in terms of his high ability leaving college, but also the circumstance of the ball club needing him immediately. 

Here's a list of players who went straight to the majors:

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats9.shtml

I knew Winfield, and the list jostled my memory about some of the other guys - Pete Incaviglia, Jim Abbott, John Olerud, Darren Dreifort, and Xavier Nady. Obviously Neto played a bit in the minors, but I'm guessing the list of players with <50 games in the minors is only a few times that long. And then of those, I'm guessing only a dozen or so were 1st rounders.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Angelsjunky

[HeavenlyHalos]

OPS up to .726 now. Last season, Angels SS combined for a .602 OPS.

[TroutBaseball]

[Chuck]

Zach Neto’s first four games:
1-16 (.063/.118/.063) w 1 R, 1 HBP

Zach Neto’s next 33 games:
32-108 (.296/.363/.463) w 12 XBH, 13 R, 17 RBI, 5 BB/7 HBP, 2 SB

He’s also been worth 2 OAA at shortstop since debuting on April 15.

[cals]

18 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Read this in Cholo.

When I was younger some gangsters from my school jumped another gangster from a rival gang on like the 2cd day of school (who was new to the school)

When they were rat packing the rival gangster (in front of everyone... no point doing it unless everyone sees it) they found out the rival wasn't actually a guy, but a chick, who was just super hard core and looked like a cholo (complete with shaved head)

One of the guys figured it out and was like "ay Foo, she's a hyna!"

(Which is why this line popped into my head)

 

Fun fact.

 

Later that day the female came back with a shotgun and blasted one of them. Lucky is was bird shot or something similar. 

Never saw her again, but I remember his gnarly scars, from all the pellets that got removed.

 

But yeah, I like Neto too.