What We Talk About When We Talk About McNeil

[Edgy MD]

How much are you watching this and telling yourself, "This isn't a sample size; this is what he is"?



I keep trying to drink as much calm-down juice as my bladder can take, but I'm having trouble not thinking of the super-.300/limited-extra-base hitters of yesteryear: Carew and Gwynn, Boggs and Ichiro.



Yeah, Carew was a super baserunner too, at least the first half of his career. And Gwynn was a very good outfielder and Ichiro a great one. But is a comp of Boggs too ambitious to dream of? If nothing else, he's Daniel Murphy without the early-career injuries and failures in the outfield.



Interesting side note: He's not only taken Nimmo's spot in the batting order, he's also taking Nimmo's hit-by-pitch crown, currently leading the league with seven.



https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.29858814.1555380322!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_768/image.jpg?w=600>

[Fman99]

He's awesome to watch. The power, when it happens, is just gravy. He should be able to turn on a mistake pitch once in a while, but he's mostly just a guy who chokes up and has the intent of putting it in play. I friggin love the guy.

[kcmets]

I was subjected to some Francesa today and he was talking about how the

Mets have to find a way to get rid of Frazier and make McNeil everyday 3B.

[Edgy MD]

Maybe. It's a cool thing, though, that McNeil seemingly hasn't let the headache of playing out of position undermine the rest of his game.



That said, what the Mets really have to do is find a way to get rid of Francesa.

[kcmets]

I was a captive listener.

[MFS62]

I look at Jeff and think "Wade Boggs".

Later

[Edgy MD]

Gary just announced that McNeil has the highest batting average through 100 games since ... Wade Boggs.

[Edgy MD]

This guy is 10-for-18 to start Spring Training. Two doubles and a homer in there.



.556 / .579 / .889 // 1.468

[Fman99]

He's back to choking up and putting it in play. This is first half squirrel, the .335 guy with occasional juice, not the second half squirrel that hit .270 with more power and held the bat at the knob (or where the knob would be).



He can be either hitter, I think, at will, depending on what his approach is.

[MFS62]

I saw an SNY article that said he's interested in a batting title.

So I think he'll do it, while turning on a pitch when the need arises, say-

.347-17-68.



Later

[Edgy MD]

He's back to choking up and putting it in play. This is first half squirrel, the .335 guy with occasional juice, not the second half squirrel that hit .270 with more power and held the bat at the knob (or where the knob would be). He can be either hitter, I think, at will, depending on what his approach is.

I actually grabbed this old thread while looking for http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28875&p=24398&hilit=who%27s+your+squirrel#p24398this old thread where we discussed how incredibly different those two squirrels were.

[seawolf17]

=Fman99 post_id=32826 time=1583413079 user_id=86]
He's back to choking up and putting it in play. This is first half squirrel, the .335 guy with occasional juice, not the second half squirrel that hit .270 with more power and held the bat at the knob (or where the knob would be).



He can be either hitter, I think, at will, depending on what his approach is.