When it became clear that Alejandro De Aza was going to be the starting center fielder and leadoff man for the Sox, concerned would be putting it lightly for I felt.
De Aza's career numbers are fine. .280 batting average, .333 on base, fair amount of steals per games played. But the fear came from the unknown. De Aza's 152 AB's last year were the most of his career. He had 144 back in 2007 with the Marlins, but between then he had 0 in '08, 20 in '09, and 30 in '10.
But through the first 5 games, he's been awesome. 2 HR's, 3 RBI, he's stolen a base, played solid D, and most importantly to me, he's started off 4 of the first 5 games with a hit.
The Sox have been so used to Juan Pierre atop the lineup. He was fine when he was on, but he was terrible when he wasn't. His base stealing was his best skill, but that faded as he aged.
De Aza is doing everything he needs to do at the top of this lineup. He's getting on base, he's seeing a lot of pitches, and he's come up with a couple big HR's.
I wasn't expecting much out of the Sox this year, and to be honest I still don't, but if De Aza can keep playing the way he has been, the ceiling is a lot higher.
Showing posts with label Alejandro De Aza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alejandro De Aza. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Opening Day Remarks
Game 1 is in the books. Sox lose but it wasn't a complete disaster.
Danks was good. I'd almost be willing to say very good. If it weren't for Kinsler he would have been unreal. 2 runs created single handedly by Ian and the other run should have never been out there had Morel not botched that double play. Danks mixed it up, struck some guys out, got the big out when he needed it, and really never faced a tough inning. Hard to take a loss when you pitch pretty well, but that's Opening Day sometimes.
Adam Dunn goes yard in the first game. His 8th career Opening Day homer tying him for the most in MLB history. Pretty impressive. But what I liked was the day as a whole he had. Walked in the first, struck out on 6 pitches, homered, and lined out hard to first. Sure it's 1 for 3 with a K, but the HR and the would be double are some very positive signs.
The goat of the game is definitely Brent Morel. Morel struck out, and badly, all 4 AB's. He looked completely lost the entire afternoon and seemed like he had no idea what he was doing up there. Then to botch the DP ball which led to the winning run and the error in the 8th. All in all pretty horrendous day for him.
The worst part of the day for me was the strikeouts. Way, way, way too many. The Rangers set an Opening Day record striking out 13 Sox hitters. Morel's 4 led the team, but De Aza and Alexei also struck out multiple times. A portion of that has to be credited to the mammoth strike zone for Ron Winters, but no matter what the size of the zone, you have to get some contact. Especially on Opening Day when errors are a little more common.
Bullpen was good. Thornton and Addison. Hits for 7 different players. Only the 1 error. Not good, because we lost, but all in all not to bad.
Can't be too disappointed with a loss against arguably the best team in the AL. But, we really do need to get out of here with at least one win. Then we can go take care of some business in Cleveland. I'd really just like to see 3-3 by the time we return home in a week.
Danks was good. I'd almost be willing to say very good. If it weren't for Kinsler he would have been unreal. 2 runs created single handedly by Ian and the other run should have never been out there had Morel not botched that double play. Danks mixed it up, struck some guys out, got the big out when he needed it, and really never faced a tough inning. Hard to take a loss when you pitch pretty well, but that's Opening Day sometimes.
Adam Dunn goes yard in the first game. His 8th career Opening Day homer tying him for the most in MLB history. Pretty impressive. But what I liked was the day as a whole he had. Walked in the first, struck out on 6 pitches, homered, and lined out hard to first. Sure it's 1 for 3 with a K, but the HR and the would be double are some very positive signs.
The goat of the game is definitely Brent Morel. Morel struck out, and badly, all 4 AB's. He looked completely lost the entire afternoon and seemed like he had no idea what he was doing up there. Then to botch the DP ball which led to the winning run and the error in the 8th. All in all pretty horrendous day for him.
The worst part of the day for me was the strikeouts. Way, way, way too many. The Rangers set an Opening Day record striking out 13 Sox hitters. Morel's 4 led the team, but De Aza and Alexei also struck out multiple times. A portion of that has to be credited to the mammoth strike zone for Ron Winters, but no matter what the size of the zone, you have to get some contact. Especially on Opening Day when errors are a little more common.
Bullpen was good. Thornton and Addison. Hits for 7 different players. Only the 1 error. Not good, because we lost, but all in all not to bad.
Can't be too disappointed with a loss against arguably the best team in the AL. But, we really do need to get out of here with at least one win. Then we can go take care of some business in Cleveland. I'd really just like to see 3-3 by the time we return home in a week.
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