Inside Pitch

The first response is LOL.... http://sonsofsamhorn.net/topic/90774-red-sox-have-hired-former-angels-gm-jerry-dipoto/

Nick Cafardo‏@nickcafardo Confirmed Peter Gammons report that the Red Sox have hired former Angels GM Jerry DiPoto on an interim basis to help with offseason moves..

Down the road, sure... But not while he's still trying to figure out the parks/league. If after 10 or so games he's still sporting a Michael Roth like K/9 or he's struggling to miss bats then it's worth taking another look. The announcers last night said the wind was blowing left to right, I checked the box score after the game to check the wind velocity and they had it at 16 MPH. He worked inside to RHBs, outside to LHBs and uncharacteristically he didn't throw many change-ups. So, it seems he was doing Nate Smith things and trying to think his way through as he learns the new league and parks. There was a lot of weak contact, a blooper down the line and ball Grant Green played into a double in LF. The one really well hit ball I think was by Danny Dorn, I believe (I may have him mixed up with Drury)... Dorn BTW was a former Fullerton Titan, so Angel fans with ties to CSF may remember him. Anyway, too early to have any opinions. I still expect the park in SLC to be a real challenge for him as I expect the environment there to take some of the bite off his curve.

Start number two... 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER... Only threw 85 pitches and allowed weak contact all night long. A much better showing than his first game despite the wind blowing to RF.

In a launching pad...

And you keep ignoring that he's hitting the ball harder. Look, what he is doing isn't sustainable, but it's a real indication of his skill set. The progression is obvious. You are free to write him off, many if not most people here did when he was in AA. But zeroing in on one stat and ignoring others that are helping the picture come into focus is the wrong way to use stats.

And his power/swing was still developing.. Dude used to hit moonshot type balls -- now he's ripping line drives.. The evolution was there to see.. Look at his LD drive rate through the minors -- it's been on a steady uptick while his FB and GB rates have been dropping/evening out. http://www.statcorner.com/bat/545341/Randal-Grichuk Make sure the minor league stats are listed, click at the top. And scroll down to his rates -- you'll see a very steady progression.

Getting on base and hitting the ball hard are considered the two biggest components to scoring runs. So, a stat that combines OBP and SLG is attempting to zero in on those two things. OPS+ is better because its weighted. OPS is probably as popular as it is because it's pretty easy to calculate.

Or his ISO is fueling his BABIP. He is torching balls. Grichuk won't keep his batting average where it is but it's a bit too soon to write off his success as BABIP driven. He has a sky high ISO and the second best generated exit velocity in MLB after Stanton. When you are producing that sort of pop and tend to elevate everything you hit, good things can happen. The dude has always looked like an outlier, the only real surprise here is that he's doing as well as he is as quickly as he is.

Don't forget the Lindbergh baby kidnapping...

Im sure he was pissed off when they signed Colon, Escobar, Vlad.... Bet he had a huge fit when they signed Pujols. He would have been happier signing a bench player no doubt.

Or, its just familiarity breeding contempt. When you see it over and over and over, the times it blows up stand out. But when compared to other he's very very good. His average on bunts is typically among the AL leaders - he's got multiple flat bat awards under his belt.

Managers/coaches and Angel fans seem at odds regarding Eric Aybar's bunting ...

Adam Jones may go yard twice by himself. Trout may as well just stand at the fence -- B-more seems to always get good hacks off of Weaver.

Anyone know where I can pick up a tin foil cap with a Halos logo.. Would come in handy when I read threads like this one.

Captain predictable...

Chicken or egg?

Drama!!!!! /popcrorn

Then you should really talk to more people because I can't imagine you run into many people under the employ of MLB teams while watching MiLB.tv games on your computer at home, and there is only so much insight that can be gained from reading twitter. Don't get me wrong.... I don't think amateur prospect hounds and cute little "bloggers" are incapable of astute observations, but let's be real here... they aren't anymore qualified than any other other "fan", despite your attempts to paint yourself as being better than them. Also, can you please stop acting as if having been high on Calhoun and Richards somehow validates your "scouting". You didn't "call" shit.... half the people who post in the minor league forum were very high on those guys. To that end, Dochalo, Ettin, myself -- we all posted at length about Richards and why there was reason to believe he had massive upside -- there were a large number of people who were certain Matt Shoemaker was a good bet to be a quality SP too. Kaleb Cowart is another guy MANY people here have stuck with. Grats on being a fan, Bro! Look, I think this back and forth has pretty much reached the end.. I explained to you what I see in Smith, you ignored all of it, then tell me I think he's "special" and pop off with the same self aggrandizing BS you always do..... Its boring.

Special? You or anyone else eh? LOL.. Oh boy.... You really are quite humorous.

It's easy to ignore sub .800 OPS AAA hitters who can't play defense. Particularly when they play in SLC.

People need to look beyond the triple slash numbers and to the predictive stats... His performance was masked by the hitting environments he was in. And while nobody was predicting this sort of a breakout, we were in fact talking about his showing some really good characteristics that made his hackiness less of a kiss of death. http://www.angelswin-forum.com/forums/topic/6944-randal-grichuk/?hl=%2Brandal+%2Bgrichuk

.289 ISO..... 4rth best in MLB, right behind Trout.

That was before he hurt his wrist.. Now he's just the guy taken after Randal Grichuk....

Randal Grichuk is second only to Stanton in generated exit velocity and 4th in exit velocity... The power is real and only now manifesting itself. His .922 OPS is better than all the brand name NL ROY candidates... Duffy, Pederson, Byrant -- none of them are within 100 points of Grichuk. Guy's got the glove and arm to match -- 3 WAR in 254 at bats... If the Angels 2010 draft is in the conversation for one of MLBs worst all time, then the 2009 Draft has to be in the conversation for one of the best ever... Trout, Grichuk, Skaggs, Richards, Corbin and just for shits and giggles -- Jake Locker.