Let's Call Up Jeff McNeil

[Frayed Knot]

I gotta think that with between his bat-on-ball and low-K/all-field kind of skills being so rare in today's game -- and quite possibly under-valued -- that there's got to be a spot for him on the roster.
Whether that's as an everyday starter or not is still open to question.

[Frayed Knot]

[fimg=300:2qpamx43]https://img.discogs.com/N-lE-f66Aoc45rSOjfI5woyRgW8=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2476279-1404699859-5245.jpeg.jpg[/fimg:2qpamx43]

And the beat goes on

[Edgy MD]

Let's call up Jeff McKnight.

[MFS62]

Here's an analysis done by a stat guy with a screen name erosen responding to a comment by another restricted site poster:
"Wow. He almost deserves rookie of the yr consideration."

He's a decent clip behind a bunch of NL rookies for 2018 fWAR: 3.9 Ronald Acuna 3.5 Juan Soto 3.5 Harrison Bader 3.0 Brian Anderson 3.0 Walker Buehler *2.4 Jeff McNeil* 2.3 Jack Flaherty 2.1 Dereck Rodriguez 2.0 Jorge Alfaro Though a big piece of that is play-time. He's in a virtual three-way tied for first by wRC+, NL only: 147 Juan Soto 146 Ronald Acuna *146 Jeff McNeil* ... and [position player only] fWAR/600PA, NL only, min 150 PA: *6.9 Jeff McNeil* 5.4 Harrison Bader 5.2 Ronald Acuna 4.6 Juan Soto 3.5 David Bote 3.2 Jorge Alfaro 3.2 Franmil Reyes

Yeah, Wow!
Later

[Centerfield]

Another four hits. Yawn.

[Edgy MD]

The coolest thing he did, maybe a week or so ago, wasn't a hit at all. Far from it. He had two strikes on him, and was swinging at a slider and as he realized it was breaking inside toward his belt, it was too late to check his swing. So he sort of fell backwards out of the box, taking a hack and somehow barreled the bat up enough to ground out softly to first.

The replay showed that him pushing back off the plate with his feet actually led to him having both feet off the ground at the time he made contact. Sure, it would have been more useful if he fouled the pitch off, but that's not what he does. He hits the ball.

[Lefty Specialist]

Safe to say we can pencil him in at second base in 2019.

[Centerfield]

What's crazy is that he's only hitting .340. I mean, every time I look he's got a multi-hit game. If I couldn't see his stats, I'd guess he's hitting .600.

Which makes you wonder how guys like Olerud and Ichiro hit even better.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Safe to say we can pencil him in at second base in 2019.

I just hope he's not Mike Vail. But yeah, I'd have to figure that second base doesn't need to be on the Mets winter shopping list.

[Edgy MD]

He had an 0-5 a couple of days ago. If he had simply gone 1-4 instead, he'd be at .347.

Qualifying or not, I'm rooting for him to out-average Jones '69 and Olerud '98.

[Centerfield]

I looked up the numbers. He's performed significantly better than Mike Vail. Also, golf seems to be his second sport, rather than basketball. So the risk of injury is less.

If you're of another generation, McNeil has amassed nearly twice as many AB's as '88 Jefferies.