Mangum Update

[ZombieKissinger]

He’s continuing to hit well. He’s had some good balls to the outfield recently, which is encouraging. Single, double, and walk tonight in three PA. The double almost went out.

What’s a bit frustrating is that for the last few games he’s been a fraction of a PA short of showing up on ESPN’s batting average stats. He’s currently batting .348, but ESPN/MLB requires 3.1 PA per scheduled game. The Rays have been so bad lately on offense that he’s often getting 3 PA instead of 4 each game. For the last three games, he’s been the batter up next before the game ended, so he’ll hopefully show up on stats in the next couple days.

He also is leading MLB in fastest home to first times, though Simpson will be ahead of him once he gets the minimum 10 attempts

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Thanks for sharing. Your nerdiness is highly valued Pope Killer.

 

[ZombieKissinger]

Thanks for sharing. Your nerdiness is highly valued Pope Killer.

I’m trying to establish that I spend a lot of time watching baseball as an alibi

 

[CoastTrash]

Seems like he should be slotted a bit earlier in the lineup. 7th or 8th seems odd

 

[johnson86-1]

Seems like he should be slotted a bit earlier in the lineup. 7th or 8th seems odd

I really don’t understand baseball metrics anymore. .348 and fastest home to first time no longer projects as a lead off hitter?

 

[CoastTrash]

I really don’t understand baseball metrics anymore. .348 and fastest home to first time no longer projects as a lead off hitter?

Yep. I think he batted second his first game but otherwise he’s 8th in lineup most frequently. Rays are pretty bad though and are not getting much offense out of catcher and ss position.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Curious if he’s being looked at by any of the teams who are playing more small ball. Specifically wondering if he’d fit with Arizona. No clue what the Rays would take for him in a trade or others would give up, but he doesn’t seem to be highly valued in Tampa and Simpson is basically a younger, faster version of him with more power. I don’t think the Rays want to see him at the top level all season. The homer fan in me still wants to see him in St. Louis.

 

[ZombieKissinger]

Seems like he should be slotted a bit earlier in the lineup. 7th or 8th seems odd

Yeah, early on they put him 3rd and 4th in single games. They recently had him 6th, but he’s usually batting right before the black hole of the lineup, which is Walls at SS and either catcher.

 

[ZombieKissinger]

Curious if he’s being looked at by any of the teams who are playing more small ball. Specifically wondering if he’d fit with Arizona. No clue what the Rays would take for him in a trade or others would give up, but he doesn’t seem to be highly valued in Tampa and Simpson is basically a younger, faster version of him with more power. I don’t think the Rays want to see him at the top level all season. The homer fan in me still wants to see him in St. Louis.

Agree with this other than the power piece. Simpson only had one HR in the minors and was about 50 points lower in SLG. He hit for great average though and stole a ridiculous amount of bases. I will say that Cash is at least playing Mangum a ton, though a lot of that is because he likes matchups and the switch hitting gives flexibility.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Agree with this other than the power piece. Simpson only had one HR in the minors and was about 50 points lower in SLG. He hit for great average though and stole a ridiculous amount of bases. I will say that Cash is at least playing Mangum a ton, though a lot of that is because he likes matchups and the switch hitting gives flexibility.

He is also top 3 or so in stolen bases. Simpson had a ridiculous amount in the minors though.

 

[onewoof]

Seems like he should be slotted a bit earlier in the lineup. 7th or 8th seems odd

has to be a rookie wait going on there, egos and all from the vets

 

[Perd Hapley]

Curious if he’s being looked at by any of the teams who are playing more small ball. Specifically wondering if he’d fit with Arizona. No clue what the Rays would take for him in a trade or others would give up, but he doesn’t seem to be highly valued in Tampa and Simpson is basically a younger, faster version of him with more power. I don’t think the Rays want to see him at the top level all season. The homer fan in me still wants to see him in St. Louis.

Simpson doesn’t have more power. Somewhat the opposite, actually. He was a mostly inferior offensive player in terms of average, slugging, and OPS in AAA to Jake. He’s still young though. May get better with the average / OBP, who knows on the power, but he has like 2 total home runs going all the way back to his freshmen year of college, so I think he kind of is what he is there.

I don’t think he was expected to get called up until much later in the year if at all, but continued injuries and the fact that Yandy Diaz has been awful in the leadoff spot this year kind of paved the way for them to get him out there sooner.

As for Jake, the 8 hole kind of suits him. Its a small sample size, but his numbers when leading off an inning are markedly lower than when he isn’t. See below:

When leading off inning:

17 plate appearances
16 AB
.607 OPS
18% K rate
6% BB rate

All other plate appearances:

54 plate appearances
50 AB
.884 OPS
7% K rate
7% BB rate

He’s hit everywhere in the order except lead-off and the 5-hole this season, so it seems that Cash likes him up there with guys on base. I don’t think he hit lead-off very often in the minors, either.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Jake left the game injured in the 4th inning. Tightness in his groin. He was replaced by Simpson, who does NOT have more power than Jake, but did lead the minor leagues in batting average last year. Not an ideal time for Jake to be injured, but hopefully it’s not serious and he doesn’t miss much time.

ETA: Jake was 0-2 at that point. Simpson went 1-3 with and RBI and run scored.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

We need ice for the Mayor's Gonads...stat!