Does that jinx him into being the next Matt Nokes or the catching version of Todd Van Poppel?
I think it is unlikely Wieters will tank. He is too good, last year he only started slowly (ended leading all rookies in Batting average and good numbers in other categories), and he does not seem to be a mentally unhinged guy.
Expectations for him were so ridiculously high that unless he came in right away and started putting up MVP type production, people would have been disappointed.
This is based on memory, but the SI article gives a pretty telling breakdown on the real story. He had a .288 batting average, which led all rookies, with a .340 OBP. Threw out 24% of base stealers, which ranked him 4th among catchers with at least 58 chances. Maybe the best part is that of his 9 HR, 7 of them came in the last three months, including 4 in September. His OPS for September was .882.
Pretty good numbers with a strong upward trend.
From Sept 1st to the end of the season,
Joe Mauer hit .354 with 2 HR and 16 RBI
Matt Wieters hit .333 with 4 HR and 17 RBI.
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content...opic_id=8187248 (@8:00)
I like it.
p.s. i just realized that's me at the beginning of the clip, March 9th down in Sarasota. :biggrin:
