Monday, June 13, 2011

Watched: Kansas City Royals vs. Anaheim Angels

As I mentioned in my last post, I am trying to avoid the media-made narratives and just watch sports while creating the narratives for myself. So far it has been kind of nice watching games without the announcers mindless drivel (although I do find myself to be more easily distracted from the game when I watch without sound).

I watched most of the Royals three games against the Angels over the weekend, mainly to get a first glimpse of Mike Moustakas, who was called up prior to Friday's game. Mike started all three games at third base and had a pretty decent series, going 3-10 with three walks and hitting his first home run during Saturday's game. He did not commit any errors at third base over the weekend, although his arm seemed a little erratic and Eric Hosmer had to make a couple of nice plays at first to save an error for Moustakas.

My overall impression of him is (small sample size alert!) that he is patient at the plate - he seemed to go deep in the count almost every time (he saw 4.08 pitches per plate appearance) - and when he finds a pitch that he likes, he swings hard and when he connects, hits it with authority. He was fooled by a couple of good breaking balls, but that is expected out of a 22 year old rookie. I think he'll end up being a guy that hits for a lot of power, gets on base at an above average level, but probably strikes out quite a bit and never hits for a high average. I don't think he's quite at the Mark Reynolds level, as far as that goes, but maybe Adam Dunn. His defense should be adequate, although I can see him bulking up as he gets older and becoming less mobile, killing his range. For the immediate future, though, he looks to be a very nice complement to Eric Hosmer in the middle of the Royals lineup.

No comments: