Jhonkensy Noel's fun power, Boyd enters playoff confidence territory? Guards take series vs. Rangers

The Power and Excitement of Jhonkensy Noel today we answer who has it more difficult pitchers keeping big Christmas in the Park or is it national TV and podcasters trying to pronounce John Kenzie just sound it out you're listening to the selfie is with Zack not not Ken I heard of [Music] juny subscribe to Selby is godcast on Apple podcasts Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts unbelievable but to be honest Zach it really doesn't matter because the sound that is the sweetest is the ball leaving his Lumber and I will settle for that no matter what you call the guy stick with big Christmas and let this guy continue to hit bombs we're good with that what are the best sounds in sports like is it the swish of the net when someone splashes a three-pointer from deep is it is there anything in football like the crunch of like a perfect yeah tackle like when a defensive when a safety or linebacker had to Sprint 15 yards and then just lay someone out I think a good quarterback good quarterback whether it's an audible or just a false snap you you're just trying to trick the the trying to get the off sides if the quarterback is real good at it that's a real good sound yeah that's a good sound yelling Omaha is a kin to only only if they have like metal vocal style audibles otherwise no it's kind of silly but if he's got a good set of pipes I kind of dig it I mean there are few sounds just sweeter than a no doubt home run when you hear that crack at the bat and you know instantly you don't even need to you don't need to look up you don't need to check oh is that going to go halfway up the bleachers is it is it going to go into the trees in center field is it going to go onto the plaza doesn't matter you know it's gone and you know it's there's no question and I feel like with Noel 95% of his home runs produce that sound and it's it's pretty cool and you'll take the power The Sweet Sound of a Home Run especially when the the rest of the offense is struggling to put things together all the time but there was something about this series in particular I don't know if they had a different camera person behind it this just in this series but they had a fascination with following the trajectory of the ball and you know when you get those absolute moonshots and they zoom in in the air and it looks magnificent there were a couple times where that happened in the series and then there was one that landed in the front row but when I watched it I thought for sure that that was going to end like if I'm looking behind you now as courtesy of YouTube I I thought for sure that was going to end up in the third deck just watching it travel and then Jose had one in the finale where he it looked like he hit it to the absolute Moon look out Mark Maguire Budweiser sign that's how hard it looked like he hit it and Matt Underwood was like then he pops it up to left field and I'm watching like what am I missing the ball's in the air it looks like it's no doubt about it goner and Underwood's like and he cruises back and just sh of the warning track he makes the play what happened here look I don't know what the future of of Bal is but can somebody late in the season when you know maybe they won't be back next year so let's do a a last day of school prank can someone find some footage just create just find me Mars and drop a baseball onto there and then if Jun Kenzie Noel hits one out I want that shot of following the trajectory of the baseball but then instead of showing the fans where the baseball actually lands cut to the Mars there just see how many people are confused like when they would do the first pitch from the space station yes remember in the 95 World Series I believe they did it and then the ball they got to the field and the ball falls down and hits the as if he threw it from the space station and it fell down at then Jacob's field so that's what you're asking for yeah I mean I I I tweeted this a few weeks ago but it's cool I want to see make me cry thinking about it I want to see the the league stars in the Home Run Derby every year but I also want to see somebody like that I mean I I don't know like would he be the betting favorite do enough people know about him or would he be a long shot but everybody in Cleveland would bet on him because we've seen it is this you just trying to manifest FR Mill Reyes home run totals into a new person is this what this is yeah maybe I mean but he is a fun player because the the spectacle that he creates with the home runs it's must SE it is a ball there are times where Jose hits a ball and it does just scrape the back of the wall and it's it's exciting because you created offense but the actual replay itself isn't what is magnificent it's just the the outcome of the play John Kenzie Noel fortunately a lot of his home runs have also been key home runs and you're excited about that but I could just Noel's Power Sparks the Guardians' Offense watch this over and over I could not get tired I don't think ever just watching the ball leave his Bat seeing how much joy he gets in releasing the bat and circling the bases he just looks like a fun player the smile is infectious he's got an outstanding nickname I mean he's got it all together God do I hope this is something I really hope that they have found something with him because he just seems like such a fun individual a guy you'd want to root for and and his and his bombs are just awesome David fry called him Navidad after the game on Sunday that's great na'vi is what he did we were all kids in the neighborhood at one time playing Home Run Derby or playing a pickup game and you'd hit a no doubter and you know that feeling and I I can't I can't describe it I mean it's it's Nirvana it's it's when you make contact and you know it's going off of the the window of that neighbor's house down the street and yeah you're probably going to get yelled at but who cares it was worth it um I just imagine him imagine him with that power that bat speed being a kid playing Home Run Derby in the neighborhood I mean that's like he was probably launching them into a three streets over I mean it it's so now he's getting to do that on a Major League D did it again and I don't know if I don't know how sustainable it is I don't think it frankly matters right now that's a concern for future Zack and TJ to talk Series Win and Gaining Ground in the Division about yeah but well I would be concerned I would be concerned because I I want I don't want pitchers to adjust fast enough that it's going to be a thing for the rest of this year and we know everyone will adjust guy could have Elite bat speed you could have everything that he brings but he's got a lot of swing and miss and pitchers at this level coaches at this level they're going to find it they're going to expose it the question is is Noel and we said this when he got promoted we knew the swing and Miss is going to be in there we know he's going to go through stretches where he's going to be almost automatic out that's going to happen with a hitter like this the question is does he get into it enough that it changes the game enough that you live with the the really poor at bats the three days where he doesn't really do much of anything but two to three times a week as we just kind of witnessed here in this series he completely flips the game on its head just courtesy of that one swing and it's also someone that yes maybe there's a lot of holes for a pitcher to attack but it's also a guy you got to be really careful with and if you make you making a mistake that's when he is going to crush you and and yes if you execute perfectly there are going to be times where you can get this guy out but just like a hitter isn't perfect with their swing like we're seeing with Steven Quan right now a pitcher is not always going to be pinpoint accurate with where they yeah I need to I need to throw it here but I missed and he crushed it out of the park and you just have to hope that it happens enough with him that it justifies him being in that lineup right now it absolutely is he's the quickest Cleveland hitter ever to 12 career home runs did it in his 110th at bat do you know who's number two do you know whose record he broke I'll just say Russell bran because I've seen Russell Bran's name but yeah who is it it's Russell Bron okay 118 at BS for him and honestly I mean I I don't know what Russell Bran's Chase rate was in 1997 um I can imagine but that that's not bad company in terms of like Bron was I mean he h 40 home runs in A Minor League season which should be impossible because if you're hitting that many you should get called up but uh that's not bad company branon played in the majors for a long time um other names on the list were like Corey Snider Rocky calavo Tyler naquin in 2016 um so I don't know where this goes I don't think it matters I I think the big thing too is as long as he's on a heater let him keep playing because you don't want him sitting and then feeling like oh finally that bat I got to make the most of this and that's when he's defin he's always going to have Chase right that's when he's definitely going to chase so yeah I I they don't have enough hitters functioning on all cylinders to not be playing Noel regularly and when that inevitably happens where the the chase the swing and Miss lead to an extended slump you deal with it then and you figure out the best way to adjust back the best way to deploy him at that point but that point isn't now and you need to win every game you can and you need as much offense as you can The Potential Playoff Rotation find I keep looking at the the Savant page he's such an interesting bat because overall in coming into today well above average of course in expected weighted on base average which was 349 his expected slugging percentage is five basically 500 497 and that only increased today with another bomb his Barrel percentage 18.9% is among the best in baseball you're talking about an absolute Elite Barrel rate and his bat speed is among the best in baseball too I don't we don't have enough bats speed data to know how this translates long term this is all new to us but it is something where there are guys that go on a heater with their home runs and you say I don't know if this is a sustainable thing for him his power is absolutely real you hit the ball basically one 116 mph you know what was the double I think down the line he had a double down the line which did not get that high off the ground and it was a barrel you really don't see many balls that are scaled like that turned into barrels you're thinking you know they're in the Gap and high up in the air it's a a really good launch angle right but his was just hit so damn hard that there was like yeah I guess it's got to be a barrel and in terms of barrels I had tweeted it out and he had another one today he tied David fry momentarily until fry hit the home run to give Cleveland the insurance and take two out of three in the series I promise we'll talk about more than just John keny Noel maybe it's kind of fun just talking by the way welcome to the podcast of course welcome subus godcast thank you for finding us at YouTube go down there click like subscribe we appreciate it if you just like the audio only version we love you Too Apple podcast Spotify wherever you catch the podcast his power nobody has to question it's just does he do it enough to justify being in there I laughed we had on a on the patreon show patreon.com elbus godcast is where you get more episodes per week I laughed because I had said something like well of course he's going to stay in the lineup right now we're I'm in favor of that like it was even a question like I was going back and editing it and I laughed at myself like you idiot yes of course he's going to who who would you argue to be in the lineup instead of this guy but we just don't know we're waiting to see how does the league adjust to him but in terms of I've seen him compared to Oscar Gonzalez and with got Oscar Gonzalez we said with him he always looked like a guy caught in between what sort of hitter he wanted to be do you want to be more of a power bat do you want to be a guy that can handle the ball all over the strike zone and you you can take a ball off the plate and serve it into right field and hit for a 300 average do you want to do that and oscarin it always felt like he wanted to do all of that and just his skill set it wasn't he wasn't going to be capable of doing that for John keny noell does anybody question what this guy's up here to do uh I I I think he's trying to find the seats somewhere in the left field or the Home Run porch can we can we now instead of preville in right field can we have jonville in left field hey stop you're stealing my thunder oh no I'm sorry no I've been saying all day cuz someone asked me should they call him instead of big Christmas should they call him jonk like pron and my response was but then you'd have to put jonville in the gateway plaza and nobody wants to sit there because you might get sprayed with baseballs you might went upside the head cuz bronville was the right field mezzanine because it's where most of Travis hafner's home runs were headed and with Noel I I don't you're not safe if you're driving along on hon I would be careful if he's that bat the other thing that makes him different than Gonzalez is he actually he'll swing and miss a little bit more than Oscar did which might be a good thing uhhuh yeah cuz the worst thing I think you can be is a guy who I mean Gonzalez was like built like a praying mantis like he was huge the the arms were long and um like it looked like he was too big for the Batters box and then he'd hit weak grounders to Short Stop and you're like what what this doesn't compute but it's because he made too much contact too much contact high contact and high chase rate is the worst combination we've seen that with Andre sez at times this year too where you'd rather swing and Miss at a pitch outside of the Zone if you're going to chase it than make contact and hit it weekly at somebody that's that was the whole premise of their offseason philosophy shift where they wanted like Steven Quan was like Hey if I swing and Miss more it's okay because the swing and Miss is supposed to replace we contact and with I almost called him Fran mil Rees with JN keny Noel it's like well if you're GNA chase that slider three feet outside the zone at least miss it unless you know if there's two strikes you'd rather make contact but if you're going to chase a 20 slider out of the Zone if you miss it you're still alive the the the line saying they'd rather it be 0 and one than one out o and better to have it be 0 And1 than 041 and yeah like you you want Noel to make more contact just generally but if it's good contact if it's productive contact you know you don't you don't want someone sacrificing power or what their bread and butter is to have more like softly hit grounders that's not going to help anybody two out of three in the series play the music not only two out of three Zach misel but also a loss by the Twins and an impending loss by the Kansas City Roy you know what there might not be many opportunities for the rest of this year to hit that club music so I think it's not for us TJ play it play the party music it's for the fans they've had to sit through some really grueling zombie baseball as Paul HS would call it for the last few weeks they deserve it celebrate the wins when they happen Life's Too Short party on getting getting this late in the calendar I mean we are focused still on this offense the second game in the series felt like okay you're throwing something together the power's coming back a little bit in the finale you're right back to not really providing a ton got enough four okay you take it couple of bombs I like it that's fine does it look like this offense is is heading in the right direction I don't know that yet but when you're this late in the calendar and you have a day where the two people chasing or two teams chasing you in this division looks like they're going to lose and you pick up a game on both of them and you take two out of three in the series would have loved to sweep the offense looked like it was waking up a little bit early in that first game but just not quite enough All Things Considered I feel pretty good coming out two out of three and end up gaining ground in this division yeah I I think you're at a point where if you split with Kansas City I think that's okay I think you should set your sights higher of course you want to win every series that you play but for the Royals there are limited opportunities to claw back in it you know they're three games back a lot can happen over the course of a month but if you're Kansas City if you're Minnesota those games against the team you're chasing those are the ones you got to win so if Kansas City comes here for four games in 3 days and leaves having made up no ground that's a win for the Guardians and we're so used to them being the team that's chasing late in the year or just trying to make up for the shortcomings earlier in the year the good thing is you did play well early in the year and now everyone's chasing you thank God you build up that cushion cuz it hasn't been great here lately hey two out of three I'll certainly take it and of course I feel better about it because yes the offense didn't didn't quite give me enough to completely erase everything we've seen here recently it was fun to see them break out it's fun to see Steven Quan have a hit that kind of broke the offense through but then that was it for him pretty much in the entire series but all that feels good in tandem with having two guys here in this series that pitch their asses off and we keep asking who's going to start the playoff game whether it's Lively whether it's what oh oh oh okay if you're hearing this Sounder it means Zach has ridiculously asked for TJ to give him his three starters if the playoffs started today kind of getting sick of you just getting out in front and asking me and never having to answer the question yourself I'm going to challenge you here why don't you be bold for once what do you got and and what be bold for once some might argue that I me saying Lively was still the second starter and past shows was bold by the way if you want more proof that Chris antonetti listens to the podcast or that he's not real one of us is Chris anetti um he even referenced this morning you know it's been a rough stretch lately but if you would have told me on March 1st that we'd be 74 and 55 or whatever he literally said that so you know imagine telling yourself ah I knew it who do you think Chris antonetti is in the patreon Discord do you think he's chip chipperson do you think he's Max the sports expert I try to throw everybody off my scent I might be the sports expert I'd really trick everybody with that one it would make sense if he was tra trainiac yeah yeah that that one I could buy Zach s yeah with it spelled c h s incorrectly you mean by the way if you come join the patreon you get access to the Discord and you can fight the sports expert in there with everybody else now it's fun we promise boy looks like I I look I think I might trust this guy with the playoff start he's making me eat my words I know that I was very but you recent before he made his debut but but you talked to him you got some more information and after that you came away eager to see him throw he's a great guy see is really smart really personable um yeah I don't know I I feel like he's grateful for the opportunity I mean we talked about this a little bit before but where this is it's a great marriage because the Guardians desperately need starting pitching help and he desperately needed a situation where he could Thrive for the final two months of the season to set up free agency and lo and behold these two entities found each other and he's doing exactly what he wants to do and what the team wants him to do so yeah I I I I don't know like you're you're trying to evaluate this rotation and I don't think you can do it on stuff because like Lively has always been about can he out pitch his stuff Boyd I think it's it's the same thing you know this guy's coming back from freaking Tommy John surgery it's not like he's easing into this here uh and he's looked great so I I I don't know and even with uh with Alex Cobb like the goal was this is a an elite ground ball pitcher so just get guys to hit into the ground like you're not it's easy to dream about Gavin Williams but I think I need to see results so I I I don't know what that's why this is not an exercise for me it's for you to name your three starters who you got byby Lively Boyd the fingernail scaring you off well I can't you said right well the Sounder says as of right now I have to pick a starter and cob isn't healthy so I would go Boyd yes over Williams yes but I mean you know once you get deeper into the playoffs you would need more than just three starters but we're talking initially who's those three that that you would believe in and Boyd would absolutely be I mean he's come up and he's now at 270 ra 419 FIP he's got 12 strikeouts in 16 and two thirs innings he's given up a couple of home runs but look who he gave up home runs too you mean the guys he'd have to face in your imaginary playoff series that you're talking about but that was it yeah that was it and I think what has been really impressive as we talked about before when he first appeared his command has looked really good he he looks totally I I don't mean to make this a pun but he looks totally in command of his pitches looks like he knows exactly what he wants to do he's not afraid to shake off of course Bon we saw that in his first start but we saw even Austin Hedges he's he is he knows what he wants to do and he's executing it right now who could argue this guy I was skeptical with you I I mean you you said you were intrigued I didn't go that far because I was I still had some healthy level of skepticism and I still do I'm not saying that I just believe he's going to have a 270 ra for the the rest of the this season but in terms of a guy that is throwing the ball well keeping runs off the board and just looks like he's in command of his emotions out there sort of similar to Ben Lively the one thing that I don't question is the things don't look like they're going to get out The Impact of Starting Pitchers on the Bullpen of control because he can't he can't keep the heart rate at Bay and they're giving this team Innings like it's not three and 2/3 and you're wondering if you should let them face the lineup a third time through and no it's it's helping the bullpen too like I know that they had a rough stretch there but you have gotten rest for guys who needed rest and I think that'll be important um the other thing is how much we don't know the answer to this we won't know the answer to this it's hypothetical we're getting ahead of ourselves how much of who you choose to start depends like are you thinking at all if if you're vote antonetti turn off are you thinking at all about like what the alternative is like if Gavin Williams isn't in the rotation okay let him eat two innings out of the bullpen and like that's fun to think about giv his stuff whereas if Gavin Williams is in your rotation like are you carrying Alex Cobb are you carrying Matt Boyd Ben Lively those guys in the bullpen like maybe you need a long guy kind of I you really don't um how much does that factor into the equation because I have a followup to this as well I mean it does everything does even opponent you look at opponent you look at not just handedness but what a team does against specific pitches that a guy might rely on do you believe more in a guy as as I said that has the heartbeat in check in the postseason compared to a guy that's never done it before yeah I think the goal is still to get Gavin Williams to a place where he's the easy answer to this where he's the second name you say and you don't have to hesitate if you're thinking about ceiling and you want to think about ceiling when it comes to October but he's got to do more you got to see Rotation Options for the Postseason it I do Wonder Gavin Williams being able to get out there with a little extra adrenaline and a postseason start we see this guy hit 101 102 with just a little bit extra added juice or would that play against him would he be too over Amed would he not be able to find the zone at all in a situation like that I mean the beauty is it's August 21st 25th as we record this so we get more information before you actually make that determination but as of today I think it's an easy answer that Boyd would be in and Williams would not and not initially so semi-related I asked antonetti about Tristan McKenzie and it sounds like still spinning their wheels I think there's been some good there's been some bad but there hasn't been like substantial development or Improvement it's don't think there's see exactly what they want and I asked would you consider shifting him to a bullpen roll down the stretch so he could help you for an inning and just simplifying things and in my head I'm thinking the Carlos Carrasco route let him just focus on one inning the the task is not too daunting three four five batters and if you have to pitch from the stretch like Carrasco did do it but just go act like a reliever you don't have to bottle up anything to deploy in the fifth inning just let it eat for 20 pitches he said he didn't rule it out he said yeah like that's that's a possibility I don't know if we'll see that but I would you be intrigued by that at all do you think he could help in that role do you think the Carrasco route would be a sensible one for them to take with him I need to see it yeah I I can't answer that honestly without seeing it and now you'll get an opportunity with small expansion of rosters I think we all have our eye on one guy being part of that but I think if you're going to consider it he's swinging the bad well too I'm going to take it away from him wouldn't you need to see it wouldn't wouldn't you be curious to see even I guess even at triaa I would want to see a little bit but that's you're asking him to do something new in terms of preparation and of course in that role you're probably not asking him to go back to back or anything like that but it's just one one day to come out for one inning or maybe even depending on how the starts going one time through a lineup or something like that but I I need I need to I need me to see it but I think more than anything he needs to experience it to know how do you prepare for a role like that yeah I mean when he went down to Triple A I think if you would have said hey the Guardians are going to have a double header at the end of August and they're going to need two starting pitchers if you would have told me that neither of them would be Tristan McKenzie I would have said what the hell happened did they have Tommy John surgery like I I I I think it's it The Season's gone sideways and I wonder like where does the career go from here you know I I I don't know there are going to be some decisions that have to be made and I I wonder how you get him back on track if you have haven't really seen what you've wanted to seen to this to see to this point and you're right like it's probably something you would have wanted to start by now because he's just going to throw him in the bullpen next week and ask him to come back two or three days later and he's never done that and it's you know it's tough but I don't know if that fast ball plays up and it's 95 96 in a relief Rule and you can live mostly fastball curveball and throw an occasional slider like you simplify everything that's what the key was for Carrasco just simplify it let him attack he was aggressive and that's been the biggest burden for McKenzie is that attacking mindset and instead of being tentative and falling behind guys and then nibbling and having to come in the strike some with the fast ball and the hitter knowing that and feasting on it if you're the aggressor in a relief role and you don't have time to waste I don't know I I feel like that could be a suitable role for him but you're right he got to see it and it's going to take time and even with Carrasco they did that um you know but it wasn't like he he did that and then he was back in the rotation and a few weeks like it was it was a project Stephen Kwan's Struggles yeah and it was just became I think it's worth trying though I mean it's just you just start wondering about how to build the best roster for the the stretch run and like what you're lacking and what because having someone you know wasting away in AAA and then just saying all right thanks see you in February like I don't know there might be a more efficient effective way to for him to spend the rest of his season and for you to try to squeeze a little more out of him since you haven't gotten anything this year I don't know it's worth debating I love the idea that's an intriguing idea but it's we're talking about a theory here we're talking about sure a possibility and we're still it's still a game played by human beings and I don't know how he would respond I don't know how he feels physically there's an element here where you and I we're not talking to him every single day we don't know how he would approach this and the other thing is who who would you envision him replacing that's part of it too you know is he would you rather have McKenzie in this role than than Avala who's done pretty well and it's the other thing is you we envision this like day one of the playoffs and then his this would be his role for however long the playoffs last well if you advance there are changes to a roster and things happen so you want you want a guy to just be prepared in in case either it's a NE necessity or it's an intriguing idea that you actually want to put into practice and that doesn't even mean that it has to be an initial thing no cuz I also want him confident going into the off season I don't want him spending four months thinking well that season sucked and I don't have any more clarity or feel any better about things at the end of the season as I did in the middle of the season when I got demoted you know it's it's can you find a way to help him build some confidence I don't know that's one potential trial you could employ but we'll see you mentioned C what where are we at on him uh he'll throw live BP Potential Call-Ups: Kyle Manzardo and George Valera midweek and then if that goes well I think the question is do you need a rehab start or can you just make your next schedule start so he was going to he missed the New York start which would have been what Wednesday and then he would be scheduled to start tomorrow so theoretically he could return when he's eligible against Pittsburgh uh next weekend if he's ready for that I think you'd want him making that start like in the major leagues I think you want him making that start and for him you're probably thinking I I don't want to waste I've had so many issues coming back and being healthy blisters fingernails everything getting in his way if he goes to columus he's going to get a spider bite and it's going to cost him another month want to ask Chris Johnson where he slept I don't want to waste any if I have a throw within me it is going to be at the major league level and hopefully I got 85 of them against Pittsburgh that to me I I don't I would not waste any time with a rehab start but I mean that's all based on how he feels well I think the thing that helps is this asn't it's not like he was shut down really um he was able to play light catch throwing only fast balls it's just he hasn't been able to grip the baseball to throw that curveball until the nail regrew so now that he's at that point he's fine but it's not like you know it's not like he had shoulder soreness and then he couldn't play catch for a week so yeah I think that's a possibility for sure so he got to go like the knuckle ball route they soak him in pickle juice to try to make the fingernails tougher or something was that a thing we just don't see knuckle BS anymore we could ask I mean guys do anything moisa Salo peed on his hands before he went to bat so he didn't have to use batting clothes like I who hasn't done that before they'll think of anything they [Laughter] can stepen Quan had a big hit really seemed to break the offense loose in that second game I was hopeful that that was going to break him loose too give him a little bit more confidence Not only was it a big base hit but it was a a good hit to the Gap and right center field he pulled it was a screaming line drive just looked great and then it just was back to what's been going on with Steven Quan here lately I know uh our our pal Matt over at covering the corner below average Ops on Twitter had been talking about hey look at the line drives he's not pulling the line drives as much as he was early in the year which is true the problem is that's still a symptom it's not the ca like it is the cause but you have to go deep why is he not doing that and that I know he's trying to get to the bottom of how how he gets back to being the guy that pulls those screaming line drives the team is is doing that too you I'd even wondered here's a guy that is looking to take more significant swings this year late in the year maybe maybe the arms are just getting a little bit tired you know we've we've seen guys throughout Seasons before where they have to go to a lighter bat as the season progresses just because you're not as you don't you're either not as strong or you don't bounce back between swings as much as you did it's a little bit tougher late into the August and September parts of his schedule so I'd wondered about that I even went Zack and looked at his his Bat swing his his swing speeds over the last month and I was like maybe maybe he was at 64 mph early and now it's down to 62 and that'll explain something right it's actually up a mile per hour over the last month at least when I had checked it a couple of days ago and the swing length wasn't significantly different either so I I don't know I'm not paid enough and I'm not smart enough to be able to figure it out but I think we've all like we all recognize that this is not just just your casual Reg FR here this is something he's got to do to get himself out of it and I don't question that he's going to eventually but God Zack they need it soon because we saw in the second game of the series just what one big base hit from Steven Quan at the top of the lineup can mean to this Upcoming Series Against the Kansas City Royals offense yeah he's the catalist and and they've really struggled to score early to grab leads and it feels like they've been playing from behind for a month um yeah I have not dug into it enough and if you say you're not smart smart enough then I certainly am not um I asked him about it and he kind of downplayed it I asked if he felt like he'd been pitched to differently over the last month or two he he he wasn't really buying into it I do wonder I I've said this before but if you look at his home runs almost all of them are fast balls in he says it's because of the short arms he can just pull it it's easy for him to turn on it and he can line that into the seats and and makes sense and and again he's got to be recognizing that pitch that he can hit in a count where he can take the aggressive swing and he's done that I mean if he didn't miss a month we're talking about Steven Quan 20 home run hitter probably so uh it's it's pretty ridiculous to think that we could be critical of a guy who again like I don't know this this season could be like he he could still hit 300 with an 800 Ops I I understand that it feels like his numbers are just plummeting um but you would think that he'd rebound and wind up hitting 300 800 Ops and like 15 to 20 home runs you would have said holy what a season by Stephen Quan and instead we're like oh my God make this freef fall stop I don't understand um so it's it's weird and I think because of that he is attributing to you know the ups and down Downs of a season and having to adjust back and those things and maybe it's not just one simple fix and there's not one thing he can point to and say well this is what's happening here's how I get out of this but I do wonder if you're a pitcher and you recognize you identify that this is his sweet spot this is where he likes to just pull a fast ball and he can do damage on it why would you ever throw him that you know he has a brilliant handle of the strike zone you know he's not going to face so if you can't throw him to him on the inside you've got to attack him on the outside part of the plate and I wonder if he's just having trouble hitting those pitches hard you know if you're if guys are just attacking you to the outside of the plate and they're still throwing strikes well what like what's the best you can do with that kind of what he did two years ago where you get a bunch of blue pits and your babip is high and you wind up hitting like 280 285 I I don't know um I so I don't I don't know how to get out of this I know that if you flirt with 400 for a few months you're a damn good hitter and you're this isn't going to be who you are forever so I think he'll adjust and he'll rebound I just I guess I'm really surprised it's it's taken this long and again if you go over to the Savant page it all still looks great there's a lot of red in expected batting average there's a lot there that you would say what's the issue but it's beyond just you and me saying it or even just a casual I only watch two games a week fans sitting on a couch that could recognize it Stephen Quan recognizes it too he looks frustrated there was one where he popped out into foul territory it might even have been the one at right after the double where he like did a spin out of the backward spin out of the box it just he was extremely frustrated with himself again he just I don't know if it's a question of not being able to get the barrel out in front enough where he wants I I don't know I really am just throwing stuff at the wall trying to figure it out myself and if if he hasn't figured it out yet then who who am I to think that I'm going to figure it out yeah I mean yeah you still trust the guy and I it's hard because he's his season is kind of reflect of the Guardian season and you don't want to lose sight of just how incredible he was for a long period of time you you're going to look back at his numbers at the end of the season and you might be like man he was hitting so well there and but then you might look back in five years and be like hey Stephen Quan Remember in 24 he hit 310 with 17 home runs and what a great year even if you don't feel that way on November 1st it's weird baseball's weird 162 games make this difficult to analyze at various points and it's always the thing that sticks with you is what have we seen over the last several weeks M or even a month well that's what I believe and we talk about it when a team's in a losing streak you think that they're never going to recover how are they ever going to get themselves out of this it felt like after you lose the opener to Texas in this series it's how many games are they going to lose in a row now and then they fight back the offense looks phenomenal in the second game of the series and you're you're hopefully that that can carry over you get a couple of bombs in the the finale Noel goes deep again you get great starting pitching and then you go to the next series in Kansas City you're like yeah I can't be stopped it's just it's human nature and with Steven Quan you you look at the struggles he's had and then I go down to the minor leagues we're talking about manzardo every single show how about George Valera the the role that he's on well you said that it has to be positional flexibility that's holding down down Kyle manzardo at this point cuz David fry kind of does the same thing first BCE in DH because of where he's at physically well George Valera can do more than that how about George Valera another bomb today sure I'd like an I'd like an answer on on George Valera even if the numbers overall don't look great he's been really good here recently and I think he can beat up some right-handed pitching we know the team needs that but he's now what 16 home runs this year yeah I mean more importantly the Ops is below 500 against lefties but it's over 850 against righties that's you know you're not asking him to come up here and play every day uh look I I appreciate that people that listen to this podcast can understand we've been talking about this for weeks I think when the team was down in the dumps and the fans were frustrated and the questions started flying again Ask the tough questions why don't you ask this or that and it's like what we do and also what do you just because they don't give the answer you want to hear doesn't mean it doesn't get asked and that's not why they're losing games um but as we have discussed on this podcast for weeks because of the Intel I've received and the an analysis we've provided as you said you know David fry lack of defensive versatility at this moment since he has had the elbow injury and has not been catching or playing Outfield compounded with the fact that he's also really struggled especially against right-handed pitching even though he did hit a home run right over there um there there in uh in the ninth or eighth inning for some insurance on Sunday um it makes it so that if manzardo came up they they're not thrilled with the limited flexibility they have defensively look who cares we've we've covered this for weeks um but you'll obviously see somebody by September 1st and and I'm kind of feel like Valera might be a better fit at this point I don't know what do you think well in terms of who's going to perform better I would still put money on manzardo but in terms of needing to answer a tough question about Valera as soon as this upcoming year I would like a little bit of major League data him experiencing it because you're how are you going to let this guy just walk away you you going to let his options run out and You' never put him on the big league roster I'm pretty skeptical that that's going to be the case so I don't know if he's swinging the bat well and he could help against right-handed pitching doesn't have to does it have to be an ether or thing I maybe I just want to see them both up here yeah I guess that's not impossible it would be the same thing though I think they really want roio and schneeman and Freeman I think they want the ability to to mix some match I I don't know I I'm with you I I think part of the issue is Lane Thomas was supposed to be a solution here and you've seen it too like they're it's not like they're still trotting out fry and Thomas every day against righties they've curtailed that the problem is I don't think Freeman and schneeman are the answers every every day either um so yeah I mean like this lineup is still missing some pieces they're very fortunate Noel has been on the Terr he's been on because otherwise like that's if you if if he wasn't doing what he was doing imagine what this lineup would look like be pretty ugly I mean it already has been yeah you're not you're not wrong but I mean that's that's how it goes that's how it goes but I'm saying not only is there already like the menardo valer whoever getting another left-handed bat up here is long overdo if you didn't have Noel hitting for power I mean like what what's your excuse at that point yeah there there would be none um and thankfully that has been the case and you know what with with Noel the one pleasant surprise I have with him you look at that guy and you think God he must just Station to Station plot and along got some okay speed for a man of that size he look run away freight train runaway freight train sometimes on the Sprint speed he's above average in terms of Sprint speed I can't believe it and he hasn't I don't think he's going to win any gold gloves in right field but like what I I watch him play right field it looks like he can get to the balls that generally a right fielder would get to maybe doesn't always look extremely pretty but who's going to argue with him finding his way into the lineup however at has to happen and credit to him for making it happen in right field a lot of the time yeah I mean I I he's done everything they've asked done more it's been really impressive um and you know they're they're kind of handcuffed because you've seen will Brennan at DH with Noel in right field some days and I'm like scratching my head I I still think Brennan's a better Defender there this is kind of weird and then you remember late in the game they don't want fry out in right field so if he's going to pinch it for Brandon against the Lefty he's got to be a d so that's that and hey you talked about momentum and going into a royal series having won a couple and creating a little bit more separation between yourselves and the twins and Royals and what's the old cliche momentum's only as good as the next day starting pitcher and with that said the guard the Guardians will send Nick sandin to the mound to start game one of the better big series coming up that's what you want to do more proof that they listen to this show you said it in the last show you said I think the exact words were if we were talking about an opener you said it would probably be sandin wouldn't it ah there it is right there yeah I thought they might consider that with cantillo against the Yankees just to reduce the number of times cantillo would need to face stto and judge they didn't they tagged him in the first inning um so I'm it'll be interesting I I do think remember when this game was originally going to be played sandin was going to start it uh with Logan Allen being the bulk guy in the thought process here is Bobby witch Jr Salvador Perez those are the Royals two best hitters they both hit right-handed so you're reducing the number of times they face cantillo by one should be beneficial but you need sandin to pitch better than he's pitch lately yeah sure and Bobby Wht sometimes doesn't matter who that guy's going to face he's he's been phenomenal eager to to watch him cuz we haven't got to see him in a while and he's just been great this year but at the same time if they want to rest him in this series you know got the rest of the season to think about you probably should s him in one of these games I'd welcome that too I'm sure they'll do that no no no there's going to be a lot going on between now and the next time we talk will there be more party music later in the week [Music] ooh I got to let this play so Tom Hamilton comes in tomorrow you know he'd be fist pumping bobbing his head so it's still bouncing around in there is that the old Party Booth no this is hammy and Rosy's Booth what a missed opportunity no parties here all business you know hammy goodbye everybody [Music]