The Edge of Seventeen: Wilmer Flores

[Edgy MD]

I don't know which position I'll be playin', but if I'm healthy, I'll be playin' it. But health, that's a bitch. But waddaya gonna do? You've got to be fast to stay ahead of the injury bug, and me, I've got heavy feet.

But I got hands. I've got sure hands that turn on inside pitches, go down to drop the barrel on the low ones, and generally provide deft dexterity on dangerous darts demolished by Dodgers. That's if I don't trip over my feet. My feet.

So what's it going to be? What defines my year? My unwieldy and burdensome feet or my nimble and skillful hands? My rotten and injury-prone fortune or my million dollar smile and Hollywood tears? Please let me know.

[fimg=326:3934ywit]https://cdn1.lockerdome.com/uploads/23177d4d9c2e71b17969284a5acb7b8ae096544df590237d4925755b20a2fdf4_large[/fimg:3934ywit] [fimg=374:3934ywit]http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2697990.1467595385!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/544411552.jpg[/fimg:3934ywit]
[fimg=379:3934ywit]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6xEeBLV0Utw/maxresdefault.jpg[/fimg:3934ywit] [fimg=321:3934ywit]http://www.newsnish.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/wilmer.jpg[/fimg:3934ywit]

[Frayed Knot]

I noticed that the small tattoo he's had on his left wrist for several years now grew significantly over the winter to where it's at least up to his elbow now and maybe further.
How that'll affect his performance going forward is still unknown.

[MFS62]

Too early to predict. I'll revisit this thread once the health of Wright and Duda become clearer.
I guess the new slash lines don't take at bats into account, so I'll say .275/ .320/ .465. But his numbers improve the more he plays regularly and decline when he is jerked in and out of the lineup.

Later

[Ceetar]

110 games, 320 PA (200/120 R/L), 18 HR, 6.1BB%, 14 BB%. .270/.315/.420. wRC+ of 105 0.5 fWAR

Really not sure where he's going to end up playing, besides a couple of stints at third for when both Wright and Reyes are banged up. Maybe he gets some vs. lefty AB for Duda at first. Actually he'll play a lot of 8th/9th innings at first when Collins foolishly removes Duda when the opponent brings in a lefty.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Here's Flores's write-up from Baseball Prospectus' 2016 Annual, published just before the start of the 2016 season:

What a year. Flores began the season an unfortunate guinea pig in Sandy Alderson's pitcher-hoarding, defense-Frankensteining experiment, then became the first person to cry on the field during a game since Evelyn Gardner, and eventually found himself on a late-night talk show. In the middle of all that, Flores somehow found time to make real strides. He nearly halved the whiff rates on the breaking pitches that dogged him in 2014, and while he'll never be a good shortstop, he showed outstanding work ethic to mostly avoid embarrassment. Looking forward, what would help Flores most would be a defined role. He yo-yoed between Triple-A and the majors in 2014, then yo-yoed around the infield in 2015. There is a reason closers pitch the ninth, the setup man the eighth, and so on. A cynic would say it's because the less these guys need to think, the better. We'll just say it's because it puts the players at ease. In Flores' case, being at ease is worth a lot, and it means he may have a higher ceiling than the raw numbers indicate. Unfortunately for him, the acquisitions of Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera leave no room for him to settle into a position just yet.

[MFS62]

... just say it's because it puts the players at ease. In Flores' case, being at ease is worth a lot, and it means he may have a higher ceiling than the raw numbers indicate.

As I said, the more he plays, the more comfortable he gets, and I feel, the better he does. That BP writer seems to agree.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

Answering in alphabetical order, today I see big things for Flores in
2017. Huge, big I tell you, just not sure which pieces (or pieces) he
will fit in hugely. Huge.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I think he's good. The question is how much he plays.

270/320/420 15 HR, 44 RBI, hits like Babe Ruth off Lefties, 300 PA

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think he'll get 300 plate appearances, and that he'll get squeezed into the lineup one way or another in most games where the opposing starter is a lefty.

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think he's good. The question is how much he plays. 270/320/420 15 HR, 44 RBI, hits like Babe Ruth off Lefties, 300 PA

This sounds about right, so I'm stealing it.

[ashie62]

Will play almost eveyday by summer and make the faithful happy.

[Guest 41Forever]

Had a six-RBI day with a grand slam on Friday. I think Wilmer blossoms this year and fights his way into a lot of playing time.

[Edgy MD]

Which position do you think he takes the chunk of his playing time at?

[Guest 41Forever]

Edgy MD wrote: Which position do you think he takes the chunk of his playing time at?

First base. I don't Duda can stay healthy.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Our lefty murderer, remarkably, has only 26 AB's against lefties this season. That's about a week's worth of games for an everyday player. Small sample size and all, obviously, yada yada yada, but still..... Flores is hitting a Ruthian .385 against lefties this season with three home runs. That's a home run rate of about 60 over a full season.

Flores was also one of the NL's best hitters this past May. He won't win Player of the Month, but there weren't many who had a better month.

He's been one of the Mets few bright spots in what has become a terribly disappointing season in almost every which way imaginable.

[HahnSolo]

Which position do you think he takes the chunk of his playing time at? First base. I don't Duda can stay healthy.

Why though? he had one major injury last year, and this year's time on the DL was because of Gsellman's inability to make a decent throw to first base. He's been great this year.

Not to single you out, but something has been bothering me: the lack of respect shown to Duda by a lot of corners of Mets fandom--not necessarily here--is baffling. Nevermind that he's OPSing .975 this year (yes small sample size but 35 games isn't that small of a sample size) with 19 of his 32 hits of the XBH variety. The guy has proven he can hit at Citi Field, he got big hits in 2015 helping his team win a pennant, and he's been a model teammate who never embarrasses himself or the franchise (which usually means something to "play the right way" crowd).

Yet I can't go on social media without someone calling for the guy to be benched for TJ Rivera (smh); or my favorite the guy who keeps advocating they bring back Loney!

[HahnSolo]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Our lefty murderer, remarkably, has only 26 AB's against lefties this season.

That's crazy.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah, I'm for some reason fb pals with a reactionary dumbass from high school who calls for the firing of whatever coach loses a game he happens to be watching. One of his recent calls to fire Terry included a well-thought out aside that Doodoo should be "released."

You'll never guess who he voted for in November.

[Frayed Knot]

HahnSolo wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Our lefty murderer, remarkably, has only 26 AB's against lefties this season. That's crazy.

Mostly a case I think of us just not facing that many LH starters so far this season and, when we did, Wilmer wasn't always around.
Remember that he was DL'd himself just when Duda went down with the elbow, something Wilmer seems to have made a habit of in recent seasons when a job, even a temporary one, comes up.
As far as I can recall, Terry has been near manic about getting him in vs every LHP that we faced - but that adds up to not much.


I mentioned this in an IGT over the weekend but Wilmer seems to be going the other way with at least a little bit of punch recently.
He still has just the one career HR to RF but some of his hits lately have been liners to RF & RCF rather than the little bloops he usually gets on those rare occasions that he doesn't pull.
Maybe just a small sample but also maybe an encouraging sign that he's not just going to be a one-trick pony who murders inside fastballs down the LF line but does little else.

[Benjamin Grimm]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: You'll never guess who he voted for in November.

Hmmm...

[Edgy MD]

Wilmer Flores ... potential All-Star?

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Wilmer Flores ... potential All-Star?

He gets my vote.

Later

[G-Fafif]

MFS62 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Wilmer Flores ... potential All-Star? He gets my vote.

I started a #WriteInWilmer hashtag earlier. It's taken two people by storm. You guys make it four. Five, counting myself.

A couple more weeks of Wilmer Flourish, and I don't see how they keep him off.