Loney are the Brave…or who ever else will take him.
During a pregame media session with Mattingly, I asked him whether, when he thinks about what he wants this team to accomplish over the next few years, he still sees Loney as a part of it. Mattingly’s answer was even less committal than I anticipated.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This probably isn’t the right time to even talk about it. We’re just trying to win a game every day.”
...Throughout his career, Loney has been a stand-up guy, the kind of player Dodgers fans could easily embrace if he wasn’t perceived as the poster child for the team’s maddening lack of offensive punch. The harsh reality, though, is that his time in Los Angeles probably is winding down, that if he ever does regain that sweet, line-drive stroke that was such an integral part of this lineup from 2006-09, he will regain it somewhere else.
“I saw it for two years, where he ended up at .300 with 90 RBI, and you didn’t know how he did it, but he did it,” Mattingly said. “It made you think that if he could ever hit for power, he could really go off. I always felt like you would watch him take batting practice and see (the power), but he wouldn’t be able to take that into a game.
“I’m not saying I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, but it hasn’t to this point, and it has been a long time.”
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1. Los Angeles El Hombre of AnaheimYeah, and if I had a couple of million dollars I wouldn't have to work for a living, either.
Loney's skill set a couple of years ago was not a lot unlike that of Mark Grace (with more pop). If you leave the guy alone, maybe the power DOES come (as it did for Mattingly himself and for Adrian Gonzalez, both of who also had very similar skills to Loney), but even if it doesn't you still have a pretty nice player albeit not a star. I honestly don't know whether the expectations got him, whether Mattingly tried to clone himself, or what, but it's pretty unusual for a guy with Loney's skills to come apart that quickly.
-- MWE
I can think of an extremely recent example - Casey Kotchman.
I can think of an extremely recent example - Casey Kotchman.
Actually, when I think of both of these guys, I think of two players who were overrated as prospects because they posted high batting avergaes in very good hitters park.
Kotchman's had a pretty nice bounceback this year, but that's a good comp, actually, although Kotchman was more of a contact guy than Loney.
Loney was a pretty highly thought-of guy before he got to Las Vegas - the Dodgers pushed him pretty hard until he hit a wall in his first go-round at AA. He was playing full-season high A at age 19 and holding his own.
-- MWE
He started this year 9-for-60. He's currently in a 6-for-60 stretch. That's one third of the season in which he's hitting .125. Over the other two-thirds of the season (thus far) he's hit .313, but it's a very empty .313.
Sort of, but not really, I think. Lee was a college guy, showed a LOT of power in the minors. Had a decent rookie year with 20+ HRs, then hit a wall, had a couple of bouncebacks that made it seem like he might get it together a la someone like Carlos Pena, then didn't.
Lee's slump was more dramatic and got him sent around to teams. Loney's more like the frog in the pot, he's slowly fried to death as his decline (the increasing water temperature) proceeds by increments.
Lee also walked a good bit more than Loney does.
Lee's slump was more dramatic and got him sent around to teams. Loney's more like the frog in the pot, he's slowly fried to death as his decline (the increasing water temperature) proceeds by increments.
Lee also walked a good bit more than Loney does.
Makes sense.
Btw, I have an ongoing blog thing in which we come up with the nickname first and then assign a player to it. "Frog in the Pot" will absolutely be the next selection. With all due credit, of course.
Kotchman is one year older, so the match up extremely well - initial success, stagnation and decline instead of expected improvement. Of course, nobody knows whether Loney will follow that path to a bounceback season. Or if he'll even get a chance. If Dan Johnson had given TB a .230/.360/.435 line, Kotchman would be having a nice year in Durham.
Rod Barajas.
Dan Johnson, by the way, is a good example of what can happen to guys who succeed by working the strike zone and waiting for a pitch they can drive. I've seen him about 10-15 times since his demotion and he's just totally lost; pitchers have figured out where they can throw strikes to him and he hasn't been able to make adjustments.
-- MWE
ahem (#22) :-)
My skin crawls every time I read the name Kotchman.
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