How Good Could Wong Be?

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Big Amoco Sign
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by Big Amoco Sign »

I said hoping but I do believe he could be our top WAR guy if he has an outlier hitting year with BABIP and slugging upticks.

Good Post!

Fat Strat
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by Fat Strat »

Fat_Bulldog wrote:Didn't Wong hit like .323 after Matheny left last year? I could be wrong.

I think not having Matheny's daily mind games will help him tremendously.
From July 15 (Matheny was fired on the 14th), Wong's line was: .310/.380/.429/.809 with a .346 BABIP. (2nd half cumulative - .317/.384/.439/.820)

That said, though, from June 1 - July 14, Wong's line was .263/.339/.465/.804 with a .289 BABIP.

So, any tie to Matheny's presence last year is a stretch, imo. April and May were just really rough months. June was better, though not a complete recovery. But, pretty much since June 1 of last year, Wong has produced at one of the highest rates among 2b'man in the game.

Lots of small sample reasons to be excited about Wong.

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Medwick's_Ghost
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by Medwick's_Ghost »

Fat_Bulldog wrote:Didn't Wong hit like .323 after Matheny left last year? I could be wrong.

I think not having Matheny's daily mind games will help him tremendously.
I don't think "mind" and Matheny should be used in the same sentence, but your timeline is correct. :wink:

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lukethedrifter
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by lukethedrifter »

I think Wong could be really good but i don’t think I’ll ever find out.

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haltz
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by haltz »

MinorLeagueGuy wrote:He keeps this up, he's gonna find himself in the 2-hole.
This will be pretty helpful for him to accumulate value. Joe Morgan posted 5.4 WAR in 1971 with a 117 OPS+ and +5 defense but he got up to the plate 689 times. 40-48 in stolen base attempts didn't hurt either.

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sjgoten6
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by sjgoten6 »

Fat Strat wrote:
Fat_Bulldog wrote:Didn't Wong hit like .323 after Matheny left last year? I could be wrong.

I think not having Matheny's daily mind games will help him tremendously.
From July 15 (Matheny was fired on the 14th), Wong's line was: .310/.380/.429/.809 with a .346 BABIP. (2nd half cumulative - .317/.384/.439/.820)

That said, though, from June 1 - July 14, Wong's line was .263/.339/.465/.804 with a .289 BABIP.

So, any tie to Matheny's presence last year is a stretch, imo. April and May were just really rough months. June was better, though not a complete recovery. But, pretty much since June 1 of last year, Wong has produced at one of the highest rates among 2b'man in the game.

Lots of small sample reasons to be excited about Wong.
The tie to Matheny is that Wong had a feeling Matheny was going to be fired, thus making him feel a lot better...yeah I like that theory.

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MinorLeagueGuy
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by MinorLeagueGuy »

Just spit-ballin' here. But can Wong get to Prime Utley territory offensively? Or was Chase's success dependant on playing a bunch at Citizens Bank?

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InvincibleCakeEater
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by InvincibleCakeEater »

MinorLeagueGuy wrote:Just spit-ballin' here. But can Wong get to Prime Utley territory offensively? Or was Chase's success dependant on playing a bunch at Citizens Bank?
Prime Utley was Paul Goldschmidt.

Utley 05-09
.301 .388 .535 .922

Goldschmidt career
.297 .398 .534 .932

So no, he cannot.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Wong has always been frustrating. His swing is so damn smooth and his hands are so quick it seems like he should offensively produce a lot more than he has been at the mlb level. I can't remember a player I've ever seen where the numbers and eye test misaligned so greatly (just talking offense here). And the fact that he will go through stretches like this where he's locked in and has an OPS above 1.000 for weeks at a time just lends credence to my initial thoughts back in, what, 2014 that he would have an OPS+ easily above 100.

But, then he'll go months on end and not be able to even make contact. Which is...odd.

In short, we will see. He has the physical skills, but I've been waiting for the better part of 5 years now for him to become what he looks like he should be and it has not happened to date yet.

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Popeye_Card
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Re: How Good Could Wong Be?

Post by Popeye_Card »

I think the 5-6 fWAR season would look like his 2017 BA/OBP (.285/.376), plus a sneaky power season good for 20-22 HR's, plus a good defensive year, all over 600 PA's.

Each of these things is individually feasible. 2 out of 3 would be a great year for him. 3 out of 3 is not out of the question though. All the tools are there, as is the playing time opportunity if he stays healthy.

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