Well, I'll offer an opinion just as others do, but I would be surprised if Pache doesn't become more than a role player. Somewhere along the way which is probably a philosophy in the many organizations, the hitting emphasis for Pache has been to hit line drives and get on base, utilize his speed and learn the nuisances of hitting at his advantage in the count. That has served him well at this point and at his age.
Watching him is better than stat scouting because you hear and see the instruction he has been given. NOW, I will say that he had very little drive (13 doubles and 8 triples in 460+ abs) the many times I saw him and he was content with line drives. That is at least better than the let it rip philosophy but I expect more gap power going forward. The most HR'S Ender hit on the minors was 2 until the year before his debut when he got 6 I think.
So if the hitting plane changes just slightly to give him lift you measure his defense. I'm not admittedly a great metrics guy but if Pache approaches what Ender did defensively, one or the other becomes a great trade chip. I am high on Pache's defense as he would give you a gem almost every other game. There hasn't been a scout or analyst not rave about his defense right now as is.
Ok. Long story short, I don't see him as a bit player. I think if I'm the Marlins, he's a must in a deal for Yelich if we aren't including Acuña. He may never hit for double digit power but I suspect he will get close as he gets stronger.
You understand how big that word is, right???
Acuna has HOF "potential" - I'm relatively sure that if he turns into 80% of what Andruw was, everyone else will be beyond thrilled for years (and apparently Andruw isn't close to being a HOFer in the voters' eyes).
Potential is a bigger word than supercalifragilisticexpialidocius.
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
Pace has a much better frame than ender. He should project to more power.
How easily you forget. Andruw got dogged by the fanbase for not being Willie Mays. Even Chipper got it in his early to mid 30's when he first started to break down and people thought he we was overpaid. Luckily he found another level towards the end. And let's not even bring up Heyward and peoples expectations for him. Braves fans have a problem with #1 overall prospects and their perception of what they should be compared to what they are actually doing for the team.
I honestly believe that some people will be calling Acuna a disappointment even if he is a consistent 5 win player. Its crazy to think that our fanbase would be disappointed with 30 WAR over his first 6 seasons, but I bet they would be. If he doesn't hit some approximation of Mike Trout, many fans will call him a disappointment
"Well, you’ll learn soon enough that this was a massive red wave landslide." - thethe on the 2020 election that trump lost bigly
“I can’t fix my life, but I can fix the world.” - sturg
Pache floor is dishwasher and his ceiling is mighty Casey. That should satisfy everyone.
Coppy
When Acuna comes up and struggles with MLB sequencing (meaning swinging at breaking balls away) while posting an OPS that might not crack the .800s...there will be complaints.
It is absolutely imperative the Braves give up a few weeks/months of .750 OPS Acuna in 2018 for a full year of .900 OPS Acuna in 2024.
It sure seems like that's the direction they are going, based on all you read. Or more specifically, "there is reason to believe" that this is the track AA is planning to take. Some casual fans may not understand the wisdom, but that shouldn't be much of a problem, especially given how little time you really have to leave someone down to gain that year (like the Cubbies did with Bryant).