101halo

Link, please. 
I mean, I'm totally rooting for the guy. It's a great story. But that's a pretty strong statement, at least from the way I think you meant it to be interpreted. If you meant the "top of every GM's list" to be defined as "most likely to be the next Derek Zoolander" and not as a baseball phenom, my apologies. 

Tonight's walk off had me curious - how often does a player fall apart in the first half of the season and truly excel in the back half?  To FanGraphs I went, hoping that their split leaderboard would make the exercise easy.  It didn't.  Can't query first and second half splits over multiple seasons.  Long story short, I'd wanted to do this going back at least 30 years, but had to do first and second half splits by year one at a time, so this only goes back 10 years.  Still interesting.  Methodology:
Had to have 200 PA in first half at a 650 or worse OPS, back half at 800 or better OPS with 200 PA or more (25 for 2018 - we have a long way to go this year) Only 14 full seasons qualify in last 10 years. Interestingly, Kinsler actually leads the pace over last 10 years.  Why is this about Calhoun, then?  Because for him, it started before the All Star Break, the FG splits just don't make looking at it that easy. Calhoun has 79 July PA with a 1.083 OPS.  Kinsler's full 72 July PA are at just an 816 OPS.  Much better!  Big news?  Not yet. If either comes even close to keeping this up, they'll destroy Dan Uggla's 2011 rebound that was a 326 point swing, as both are north of 500 point swings currently.   So, on to the leaderboard, sorted by 2nd half OPS minus 1st half OPS, for last 10 seasons.   By no means do I expect either Calhoun or Kinsler to keep this up.  I do, however, want to give credit where credit is due and root them on in the pursuit of the greatest 2nd half turnarounds in the last decade.  
1st = 1st half of season, 2nd = 2nd half of season.  Keep in mind that Kole has kept this up for 79 PA now, not just the 27 shown here.  
Name Year 1st PA 1st OPS 2nd PA 2nd OPS OPS Var Ian Kinsler 2018 354 0.647 25 1.429 0.782 Kole Calhoun 2018 279 0.556 27 1.103 0.547 Dan Uggla 2011 374 0.622 298 0.948 0.326 Byron Buxton 2017 283 0.594 228 0.893 0.299 Asdrubal Cabrera 2015 325 0.627 226 0.916 0.289 Dustin Ackley 2013 219 0.522 208 0.809 0.287 Carlos Gonzalez 2017 298 0.637 236 0.921 0.284 Jorge Polanco 2017 287 0.596 257 0.870 0.274 Coco Crisp 2012 247 0.617 261 0.860 0.243 Omar Infante 2011 386 0.602 254 0.841 0.239 Ender Inciarte 2016 254 0.600 324 0.836 0.236 Cliff Pennington 2011 324 0.591 246 0.814 0.223 Gregor Blanco 2014 223 0.600 221 0.814 0.214 Aramis Ramirez 2010 261 0.648 246 0.847 0.199 Jonathan Lucroy 2015 212 0.632 203 0.808 0.176 Adam Lind 2010 351 0.641 262 0.807 0.166

Can we petition MLB for a last second schedule change? I'm willing to allow the Padres to face the Angels for all remaining games this season. Would really cut down on travel expenses for the league, at least until October. 

Wingenter looks like one of my friend’s mom
 

updated OPS:
Upton -  .835
Calhoun -  .691
Machado (w/LAD) -  .724

Calhoun has 1

Can we petition MLB for a last second schedule change? I'm willing to allow the Padres to face the Angels for all remaining games this season. Would really cut down on travel expenses for the league, at least until October. 

I just asked my good friend Erick Aybar about this. Here was his response:
"I agree"

Dig the article, but will be suing them for stealing my AW thread and, you know, putting real effort into doing it better. Blatant improved ripoff. 
Kidding. Maybe. 

Any word on his defense? I almost hope it sucks because 'Shawn Knowles is fun with the leading apostrophe. 

Any word on his defense? I almost hope it sucks because 'Shawn Knowles is fun with the leading apostrophe. 

I heard he fired them because they dont have any good prospects in their system

Shame

1) I generally avoiding touching anything @tdawg87 posts due to my fear of disgusting things, especially when the word colon is being used.
2) You forgot a question mark in there somewhere in the first sentence.

It sounds bad because of the starting point for sure. I think of it as he has +1.3 over basically a month, which would translate to a 7-8 WAR season if done all year. Sucks the first part had to happen, but the rebound has been crazy. 

RE: Maitan.  
I'm gonna try to forget what was said of him as being the best Latin prospect in his class and the next Miggy.  
He's a talented intl project with potential make up issues.  I saw him play earlier this year and he looked quite good at the plate.  Handling at bats well.  Making some nice plays at SS even.  
I would be surprised if he got back to 190 though.  Certainly looks bigger than that to me.  maybe 200-205.  
Maybe it's just his way, but he does give off sort of an 'I'm bored' vibe.  
Didn't see that weird front knee bend and hand loop with the arm bar from the left side.  
Some guys move well and look athletic even when they're carrying a little extra.  He didn't.  His feet look heavy.  I guess it's what most scouts would call 'quick twitch'.  He didn't seem to have it.  Kind of like Grant Green.  Some of that could be a guy going from 16yo to 18yo and gaining 45+lbs with most of it being baby fat.  Maybe he's just trying to find his fighting weight.  

With, or In?

Sorry to join so late, just catching up. Any word on if Tropeano will be ready for the start of the 2020 season? 

Sorry to join so late, just catching up. Any word on if Tropeano will be ready for the start of the 2020 season? 

He was always on the DL.

I'm waiting to hear Jim Bowden's opinion on the topic.

Another crawl to the finish with almost regular playing time for Kaleb.
He is versatile. He can strike out from both sides of the plate.