A Second Slice of Bacon
What will Gordon Beckham be this year?
SOX fans know it will be Beckham at 2nd with Alexis at short and former KC Royal Mark Tehan at 3rd. How will he adjust to playing 2nd in the bigs? Everything #15 tried his hand at last year seemed to work pretty well...but there is something to being a 2nd year player in MLB coming on the heels of a brilliant season.
Chicago sports fans need look no further than to the Northside and one Giovanni Soto. The cubs backstop had a brilliant rookie campaign (and not just in comparison to crap catchers like the coward and fool Barrett before him)...Soto called a great game, was better than average at getting guys out and did damage at the plate...and not just for a catcher...he did some good work in his first year and seemed to be a threat with men on the base paths
And I don't think the cause of Soto's drop off was weed and junk food, although that makes for a good story. I think Soto faced what a lot of Rookie of the Year types come up against in their 2nd season.
Adjustments.
In MLB, on a daily basis you are facing the best pitchers and best pitching coaches you have ever faced in your life. There is now a bigger book on you...a whole season of work...and you can bet the Dave Duncans of the world are going to use it against you. Yes Soto came in overweight and yes that might've led to the injuries but my larger point here is Beckham could face a similar fate even though he has come to Spring training healthy and seemingly in good shape. Pitchers are (more likely than not) going to figure out some things about the SOX plucky young infielder and it will be on him to make adjustments to their adjustments.
No one knows for sure how this will all play out. I think Bacon's had success at every level but saying that does NOT guarantee smooth sailing this year. And the WhiteSOX, to do well, need Bacon to perform at a high level...and that might mean hitting homeruns while batting second and playing 2nd base (traditionally not a power position)...Ozzie may be asking Bacon to be a mini-Chase Utley.
Is this asking too much?
We shall see.
Moving on to a more reliable predictor of things to come...
Kim and I got the Chinger tonight. My fortune cookie read, "You will set foot in the soil of many lands."
Better bring along an extra pair of shoes
SOX fans know it will be Beckham at 2nd with Alexis at short and former KC Royal Mark Tehan at 3rd. How will he adjust to playing 2nd in the bigs? Everything #15 tried his hand at last year seemed to work pretty well...but there is something to being a 2nd year player in MLB coming on the heels of a brilliant season.
Chicago sports fans need look no further than to the Northside and one Giovanni Soto. The cubs backstop had a brilliant rookie campaign (and not just in comparison to crap catchers like the coward and fool Barrett before him)...Soto called a great game, was better than average at getting guys out and did damage at the plate...and not just for a catcher...he did some good work in his first year and seemed to be a threat with men on the base paths
And I don't think the cause of Soto's drop off was weed and junk food, although that makes for a good story. I think Soto faced what a lot of Rookie of the Year types come up against in their 2nd season.
Adjustments.
In MLB, on a daily basis you are facing the best pitchers and best pitching coaches you have ever faced in your life. There is now a bigger book on you...a whole season of work...and you can bet the Dave Duncans of the world are going to use it against you. Yes Soto came in overweight and yes that might've led to the injuries but my larger point here is Beckham could face a similar fate even though he has come to Spring training healthy and seemingly in good shape. Pitchers are (more likely than not) going to figure out some things about the SOX plucky young infielder and it will be on him to make adjustments to their adjustments.
No one knows for sure how this will all play out. I think Bacon's had success at every level but saying that does NOT guarantee smooth sailing this year. And the WhiteSOX, to do well, need Bacon to perform at a high level...and that might mean hitting homeruns while batting second and playing 2nd base (traditionally not a power position)...Ozzie may be asking Bacon to be a mini-Chase Utley.
Is this asking too much?
We shall see.
Moving on to a more reliable predictor of things to come...
Kim and I got the Chinger tonight. My fortune cookie read, "You will set foot in the soil of many lands."
Better bring along an extra pair of shoes
posted by edP | 4:35 AM
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