Tag Archives: Yonder Alonso

December 20, 2017

Replacing Santana

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The Indians go to Yonder Alonso to fill the hole at first base left by the departure of Carlos Santana:

While Santana posted better number long term, Alonso posted a better 2017 season. They were very close in terms of OBP, but Alonso slugged at a higher rate. Alonso is also a year younger. If he can repeat his 2017 season, the Indians get a nice replacement for under half the cost per season.

May 8, 2017

Loft the Ball, Yonder

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Yonder Alonso takes his place as another positive data point as hitters experiment with lofting the ball.

As Travis Sawchik has noted in roughly half of the posts he’s written since joining FanGraphs, a lot of people are talking about the positive impacts of elevating the ball this year, so Alonso isn’t the only one who said he was trying to get more fly balls this spring. However, it’s always helpful when a player notes that he’s trying to do something before he actually does it, and no one has succeeded in changing their batted ball profile more than Alonso this year.

The article is well worth the read.

It’s also interesting that Alonso is doing this with the Athletics. One of the points of Moneyball when it came to OBP was that you couldn’t really teach selectivity once a player reached the majors. Teams needed to drill that in at a young age. I wonder, however, if a batter can change his swing if he can also improve his pitch selection.

March 16, 2017

Sending Ball Yonder

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Tim Eckert-Fong explains why the Athletics are the perfect team at the perfect time for Yonder Alonso to try out a new swing path:

Then there’s the team aspect. Alonso changing his swing path is a risk, and while he’s not guaranteed to put up decent numbers (see 2016), a team counting on a decent, .750ish OPS, league average hitter might not want to see him risk a major change. Like Alonso, the A’s really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And with a team that’s not projected to do much of anything at all and with time to really let their prospects bake, the big league team can be a testing ground for just about anything.

For someone who is cautiously optimistic about 2017 but realizes that there are going to be some losses, some ugly games, and some boring nights, this is exciting. For one, if the A’s are to be good it’ll be thanks to risks turning into rewards and players hitting their ceilings. Alonso’s ceiling is now higher even if he might not hit it, and so is the A’s. That’s exciting!

It worked for Jose Bautista, and now teams have StatCast data to back up the rewards.

December 3, 2015 December 2, 2015

Pomeranz Goes Over Yonder

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The Padres and Athletics made a trade of former high draft choices:

Ahead of Wednesday night’s deadline to tender contracts to unsigned players, the Padres exchanged two players with uncertain futures for a pair of left-handed pitchers, trading first baseman Yonder Alonso and reliever Marc Rzepczynski to the Oakland Athletics for Drew Pomeranz, prospect Jose Torres and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

It’s a trade of players who were once considered prime prospects who never quite lived up to the hype. If either Pomeranz or Alsonso turns out to be a late bloomer, one of these teams will get a nice boost.

June 9, 2013

Filling in the Blanks

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Kyle Blanks homered Saturday night in the Padres 4-2 win over the Rockies. His two for four night raised Kyle’s BA to .300, with very strong OBP and slugging numbers.

It’s nice to see him hitting well after a string of set backs due to injury. Even when he wasn’t collecting many hits during may, he managed to maintain a decent OBP and hit for power. At 26, he’s still in his early prime, so he has a lot to offer the Padres.

Blanks does present a bit of a problem, however, as the Padres have Yonder Alonso to play first. While Blanks can play the outfield, first base seems like his natural position. If Blanks can stay healthy and keep up the power, it would make sense to play him instead of Alonso. Kyle’s injury history, however, probably means San Diego will be slow to commit to Blanks as the every day first baseman. With Alonso on the disabled list, however, Blanks gets a month to prove to San Diego he deserves to stay in the majors.