Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer was on 670 The Score this week (or do I have to call it 104.3 FM The Score now?) on the Spiegel and Holmes Show, getting into all things Cubs. I’ve embedded the full appearance at the bottom of this post, which you can check out.
For me, among the things that stood out …
The praise for Moises Ballesteros was obviously effusive, but Hoyer also pointed out the next steps for his development: “He’s a really gifted hitter. That’s the best way I’d put it. He’s got a beautiful swing, and he does some things physically, puts himself in some positions you probably wouldn’t necessarily teach, but he does it so easily and gets to all sorts of different pitches. As he matures and gets to know the league better, I think his walk rates will go up. His blessing and his curse is incredible hand-eye coordination. The ability to touch the ball all the time. That’s a blessing, but it can also be a curse if you’re hitting too many soft balls on the ground. As he matures, I just expect him to get better and better at getting to his power, which is very real. I think his zone judgment will hone in and that’s what gets him there.” On the success of the Nico Hoerner extension and the second baseman’s value: “That skill set traditionally hasn’t gotten paid a ton of money, but there also aren’t a lot of guys like [Hoerner]. When we sat down to do the deal, there weren’t a lot of great comps because he has such a unique skill set. I do think he’s getting better and better as a hitter. We saw real steps forward in the second half last year, and he’s carried those over. He’s not going to finish with the OPS he has right now, but you can see a more aggressive swing, getting the ball in the air better. Some of that comes with maturity; knowing when you can look to hit for power and when you need to revert to just putting the ball in play.” You would never root for a spate of pitching injuries like the Cubs have had all at once, but Hoyer did point out that such a situation naturally creates opportunities and experience for guys who might not otherwise get it. You hope, then, that this provides development value for those pitchers longer-term, and also gives you valuable information for later in the season. Hoyer was pretty candid about the tension that exists in the modern game, between the kinds of things you have to do to succeed, and the things that tend to increase pitcher injuries: “The reason we’re seeing more injuries than ever before is that the stuff is just so much better. We’re putting different forces on arms through velocity and pitch types that didn’t exist before. The obvious answer is “don’t do that,” but you can’t win if you don’t. No team wins without premium stuff, the ability to get strikeouts and weak contact. So that’s the real challenge.” So you build up as much depth as you can, and you also do the best you can to protect arms throughout the season. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and that means sometimes you aren’t going all-out to win a game in April if it risks pitcher availability longer-term. Craig Counsell, as we’ve seen, is very good about getting pitchers rest even before they know they need it. Still, injuries happen.Hence then, the article about jed hoyer speaks ballesteros hoerner pitcher injuries more was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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