Neto

[Lou]

Best line is still from American Me:

 

Before, you know, before if somebody
wanted something from you like, uh,
cigarettes or your manhood, and they were stronger than you,
they just took it.

[Taylor]

19 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. 

Are you sure it was a shotgun and not a nail gun?

[ten ocho recon scout]

18 hours ago, Justin said:

I just assumed you watch it every Sunday. 

(Unless Deep Cover is on, obviously.) 

Deep Cover! Great flick!

[ten ocho recon scout]

18 hours ago, Lou said:

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

"We make it. We don't fake it, we just take it."

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Are you sure it was a shotgun and not a nail gun?

Snoop was a beast.

 

"He said Cadillac, but he meant Lexus"

[Lou]

4 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Snoop was a beast.

 

"He said Cadillac, but he meant Lexus"

fuck a charge, this here's a gun powder activated

[ten ocho recon scout]

9 minutes ago, Lou said:

Best line is still from American Me:

 

Before, you know, before if somebody
wanted something from you like, uh,
cigarettes or your manhood, and they were stronger than you,
they just took it.

"You're so cool I'll call you culo" is up there too

[Lou]

4 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

"You're so cool I'll call you culo" is up there too

Ha. That's my brother's favorite. 

[Taylor]

I need to watch The Wire again.

[Justin]

49 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Deep Cover! Great flick!

As a kid, I was 100% certain I was going to be a cop. I thought it was all fun and games, like movie stars ride along with you (The Hard Way) or you go undercover and deal drugs (Deep Cover). I mean, sure, every once in a while you have to go barefoot and shoot a bunch of East Germans who take hostages in Nakatomi on Christmas Eve (Jingle All The Way - I think) but overall it looked like the most fun job in the world. 

Then when I was about 10 my grandfather, who served 30 years in the LASD and retired as a captain, took me to breakfast and laid it out for me: "The first half of my career, all I did was write reports. The second half, all I did was go to meetings. I never went undercover. I only fired my weapon once; it was a warning shot and I got in trouble for doing it. You should become a lawyer like your dad."

I did not become a cop. (Or a lawyer.)  

[Deek]

21 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. 

Soo... you're saying you're not from Orange County....

[Inside Pitch]

Since started his career going for 1-16 he's put up a .296/.364/.463 line.  That doesn't suck.

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

Since started his career going for 1-16 he's put up a .296/.364/.463 line.  That doesn't suck.

 

When you do your deep dive into his numbers only you and @Docwaukee understand, what are you seeing with him? Should we temper our expectations a lot or a little?Littman we expect this is about who he is?

[ten ocho recon scout]

And like I mentioned in another thread about him, one way or another, he's absolutely holding his own for a kid barely drafted, with not even a full year in a major league organization. 

Between him, Thaiss' possible arrival, and Ohoppe before he got hurt, there's some good things happening to make this team interesting going forward.

[REDneck]

30 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

When you do your deep dive into his numbers only you and @Docwaukee understand, what are you seeing with him? Should we temper our expectations a lot or a little?Littman we expect this is about who he is?

Yeah, I'm interested in what the pundits have to say going forward.

Moniak as well.

[Dtwncbad]

The numbers (yes small sample) say Neto is here to stay and is absolutely legit.

The naked eye says he is a pure baseball player that has an exciting ceiling.

Minasian really, really deserves a massive amount of credit here.  Four big time SS free agents last year with SS an immediate need for 2023, and here we are with a productive Neto starting every day. . . without a massive financial obligation on an aging player. 

I tip my cap to Minasian on this one. 

[Inside Pitch]

12 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

When you do your deep dive into his numbers only you and @Docwaukee understand, what are you seeing with him? Should we temper our expectations a lot or a little?Littman we expect this is about who he is?

No deep numbers to dive into yet -- everyone is best off watching the kid play and having fun making up what they think they see and what he will grow into - it's all eye test for now. 

Anyone that tries to tell you anything based on what he's done by looking at the numbers is pulling crap out of his ass -- he just doesn't have a track record as a professional to have any idea what's real and what isn't.  But what we do know is that in his limited time as a MLB player, he can hit any FB.  He tends to handle curves really well, and sweeper/sliders have killed him early on -- but we need at least 2-3 more full months of at bats before we can start making any sort of predictions based on numbers.  Teams will likely continue to feed him FBs the first time they see him so, it may be a bit before we see them adjust and wait for him to do the same.  

He's not walked much as a MLB player but he was a walk machine in college and his OSwing% is right around 24% -- Trout is usually around 23% Shohei around 34% and Juan Soto who is famous for never swinging at balls is normally around 19-20%.  So, it's likely the walks will come because he doesn't really know the league and he's still not swinging at bad pitches.  I don't see him having issues getting himself out but again, let's see what happens when the league adjusts and forces him to do the same..  But if you're looking for an encouraging sign his second time seeing the Bosox pitching staff he absolutely wrecked it.

The eye test says he's a contact machine that tends to hit the ball hard, the small sample numbers tend to back that up -- his soft hit rate is below 10% -- his medium hit rate is 60%, you have to think he will only continue to get stronger and that may rise some but regardless his contact rate overall is 81% and 88% in the zone -- those are incredibly good numbers.

Right now it's all noise, the samples are just really small but there are a lot of positives early on and no glaring negatives unless someone wants to obsess over his numbers .vs sliders.

The guy looks like a building block and it's fun to be witnessing it.

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, REDneck said:

Yeah, I'm interested in what the pundits have to say going forward.

Moniak as well.

I've never been very high on Moniak but I had not seen him play all that much. I know what the numbers showed and my views where based on those numbers but sometimes you have to watch a guy play to fully understand why the numbers ended up where they were.  Anyway, if you base it on his career trajectory this is all smoke and mirrors -- that .564 BaBip he's sporting surely isn't going to last and he's still striking out more than 30% of the time but who knows -- he's fast enough and and his batted ball data would argue he's a good bet to have above average luck with balls in play.  Sometimes a change of scenery does do wonders, he certainly looks relaxed out there, even when compared to last season.

They obviously recalled him for a reason, they must think something has clicked for him so, we should all wait it out and see.  If he ends up being a Randal Grichuk type, someone that can hit .250, show some pop and play defense he will have a MLB job for a long time.

 

[Docwaukee]

10 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

No deep numbers to dive into yet -- everyone is best off watching the kid play and having fun making up what they think they see and what he will grow into - it's all eye test for now. 

Anyone that tries to tell you anything based on what he's done by looking at the numbers is pulling crap out of his ass -- he just doesn't have a track record as a professional to have any idea what's real and what isn't.  But what we do know is that in his limited time as a MLB player, he can hit any FB.  He tends to handle curves really well, and sweeper/sliders have killed him early on -- but we need at least 2-3 more full months of at bats before we can start making any sort of predictions based on numbers.  Teams will likely continue to feed him FBs the first time they see him so, it may be a bit before we see them adjust and wait for him to do the same.  

He's not walked much as a MLB player but he was a walk machine in college and his OSwing% is right around 24% -- Trout is usually around 23% Shohei around 34% and Juan Soto who is famous for never swinging at balls is normally around 19-20%.  So, it's likely the walks will come because he doesn't really know the league and he's still not swinging at bad pitches.  I don't see him having issues getting himself out but again, let's see what happens when the league adjusts and forces him to do the same..  But if you're looking for an encouraging sign his second time seeing the Bosox pitching staff he absolutely wrecked it.

The eye test says he's a contact machine that tends to hit the ball hard, the small sample numbers tend to back that up -- his soft hit rate is below 10% -- his medium hit rate is 60%, you have to think he will only continue to get stronger and that may rise some but regardless his contact rate overall is 81% and 88% in the zone -- those are incredibly good numbers.

Right now it's all noise, the samples are just really small but there are a lot of positives early on and no glaring negatives unless someone wants to obsess over his numbers .vs sliders.

The guy looks like a building block and it's fun to be witnessing it.

That's what I was gonna say!

But right on that it's just way too early.  All it takes is one smart guy on one team to recognize something that will get him out more often.  

It's kind of POE.  They are accumulating a database of things to try every time he makes an out.  Ok, he adjusted to that one or we missed by a tiny bit and he crushed it so too small of a margin for error.  Or he adjusted to one thing which makes him more susceptible to something else.  

While no conclusions are to be drawn, his low chase rate is very nice.  But here comes the cold water.  So was Taylor Ward's last year.  But they figured out a way to get him to chase more and when he does, it's ugly.  Zach will get the same treatment at some point.  But his swing is short with less emphasis on power so his adjustments might be easier.  

One thing I am ready to conclude is that he's an excellent defender.  His natural instincts for the position are excellent in my opinion.  

[Chuck]

 

[Angel Oracle]

Has to be a finalist for AL ROTM for May.

[Inside Pitch]

6 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

One thing I am ready to conclude is that he's an excellent defender.  His natural instincts for the position are excellent in my opinion.  

Yeah, I didn't even think to respond to that bit because the eye test pretty much covers it.  He's rock solid defensively -- much better than he had been advertised IMO and like you pointed out -- the instincts are there and we can't put a measure on that.

BTW -- I know you've mentioned it before but Matt Thaiss' framing really has been surprisingly adequate to good.

[Blarg]

Before the year started we were hoping to get a catcher who could frame and hit in O'Hoppe. There were people saying that Thaiss was without a position and the Angels should trade or just cut him since he had no options. That would have been a disaster now we are on to 3rd and 4th string catchers. 

Thaiss is no O'Hoppe with the bat, then again he is hitting a very respectable 119 OPS+ from a position that over the past several years has been a black hole in the offense. Stassi had one good season but last year he and Suzuki both were grossly below league average, in fact DFA value along with Wallach. The Chad is now Thaiss' backup.

Stassi may not return, which given his previous years performance may not be so bad. O'Hoppe is a long shot for returning this year but if he could then the Chad won't be hanging on. A tandem of right handed O'Hoppe and left handed bat Thaiss could end up being the best tandem the Angels have ever had. 

Stassi's job is entirely hinged on returning this year and taking the job away from Thaiss next season. At this point the only one he can take the job from is Wallach. That is a pretty low bar. Next season he will have both Thaiss and a healthy O'Hoppe and the trade or cut in that scenario is Stassi.

 

[totdprods]

At this rate he may be getting himself awarded a year of service time and I believe potentially an extra pick for the Angels if he manages to win ROY.

[Hubs]

Zach Neto in his last 7/14/28 days: 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=netoza01&year=2023&t=b#total

Anthony Volpe in his last 7/14/28 days:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=netoza01&year=2023&t=b#total

The last 7 is a huge difference, but obviously a small sample size: .250 OPS for Volpe, 1.278 OPS for Neto.

14 day is .704 OPS for Volpe, .934 OPS for Neto

28 day is .597 OPS for Volpe, .808 for Neto.