Baseball Prospectus Braves Top 10

Enscheff said:
Mark

12:35 Austin Riley: above average regular?

Eric A Longenhagen

12:37 More a chance to be average. Jake Lamb is an above avg regular. Has many of the same issues Riley does, but more raw power, better handedness and he's a 55.

What exactly is Jake Lamb with less power? Jake Lamb is an .800-.850 OPS guy with below average defense at 3B who produces about 2.5 wins. Lamb also walked more in the minors than Riley does.

How excited are we for a .750-.800 OPS guy with below average 3B defense that produces 1-2 wins? Still think the Braves should be making 3B plans around him?
Click to expand...

I actually don't like the Jake Lamb comparison at all. First off, Lamb reached AA at age 23, compared to Riley at age 20.

Lamb also has absolutely horrendous platoon splits, to the point where he should never even face a lefty. Last year he hit .164 against them, and this year .144. He was getting benched against tough lefties by the end of this year.

This is not a statement to say Riley is going to be great, I'm actually in the sell high boat, just think it's a lazy comp.
 
NYCBrave said:
I understand what he's saying. But the fact that Acuna is over a full year younger, and already has had success at higher levels, doesn't count for anything? Honestly, it's pretty hard to choose between these two either way.
Click to expand...

My guess is he took the question to be, "who do you prefer offensively at the MLB level in 2018?".

I think we will see Acuna struggle fairly mightily in 2018 with MLB caliber pitch execution.
 
NYCBrave said:
I actually don't like the Jake Lamb comparison at all. First off, Lamb reached AA at age 23, compared to Riley at age 20.

Lamb also has absolutely horrendous platoon splits, to the point where he should never even face a lefty. Last year he hit .164 against them, and this year .144. He was getting benched against tough lefties by the end of this year.

This is not a statement to say Riley is going to be great, I'm actually in the sell high boat, just think it's a lazy comp.
Click to expand...

Lazy comp, I agree. It was a live chat and he answered in 20 seconds, so I can forgive him.

I still think a 1-2 win player is Riley's most likely upside though. Definitely useful while he is cheap if the Braves are lacking a higher caliber solution, but not someone to plan the future of the 3B position around.
 
Enscheff said:
My guess is he took the question to be, "who do you prefer offensively at the MLB level in 2018?".

I think we will see Acuna struggle fairly mightily in 2018 with MLB caliber pitch execution.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, that makes more sense. I can see Acuna struggling as well, since he'll be 20 years old the whole season, facing major leaguers.

If anyone was curious, these were Andruw Jones stats in 1997 in MLB, his age 20 season: 231/329/416 with 18 HR, 12% BB rate and 23% K rate.
 
NYCBrave said:
Ah ok, that makes more sense. I can see Acuna struggling as well, since he'll be 20 years old the whole season, facing major leaguers.

If anyone was curious, these were Andruw Jones stats in 1997 in MLB, his age 20 season: 231/329/416 with 18 HR, 12% BB rate and 23% K rate.
Click to expand...

That seems very likely for Acuna.

He will be considered a bust by 90% of Braves fans if that's what he produces in 2018.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top