Kris didn't get a fair opportunity in my book. We had to watch for 3/4 of the year at a freshman at 3rd who was clearly overmatched. We also had to watch KC get worse and worse since his freshman season. I think Kris will surprise people next season with a big year, however it won't be a surprise in my eyes. Kid just needs a chance to build his confidence back. That's no easy task.
Yep, couldn’t agree more and never understood it. Gotta play consistently to develop rhythm. Played and coached some good ones, heck family members that played at pretty high level, and they’d all tell ya need consistency with AB opportunities. Playing Tuesday and then pinch hitting on Sunday is not easy. Even playing 3 games In a row and then sitting the next 2 is beyond hard because BP and game are obviously very different and resetting timing to “live” does not become “locked in” with sporadic opportunities.
Armstrong did not have “sporadic” opportunities. He started the season playing every day and in nine non-conference games played over the first couple weeks of the season, Armstrong went 4-31 with one home run. Sully played him sparingly during the Miami series but then Armstrong was given quite a bit more playing time during the month of March but except for having two big games against Jax and BAMA (combined seven hits), he was 5-27 and after a 1-9 weekend against LSU, he basically lost his starting job for the season. I like Armstrong and hope the kid finds success but the bottomline is he hit .230 with two HRs in 2022. Your insinuation that he didn’t get enough chances last season is completely false and Armstrong’s struggles gave Sully no other choice.
Early on Kris was mostly in as DH which is ill suited to some players who get more into the game playing the field. In both Fall/Spring scrimmages, he looked at 3rd base with a strong arm and pretty decent footwork. I was surprised when Sully named D. Fabian as starter and stayed with him far too long when it was clear that Deric was often overmatched at plate and shaky in the field under pressure moments. That dynamic affected Kris, IMHO, and carried over to his plate appearances. Sully then benched him outright while others played who were unproductive. Wishing him all the best in his next stop- great young man.
I tend to agree with you Stingbb. Think Armstrong had plenty of chances. But let me offer my two cents here. Does anyone know what Armstrong’s more natural, stronger side is as a hitter? I guessed it was as a lefty based on reports of the homeruns he supposedly was hitting over the scoreboard shortly after the new ball park opened. As Lurker posted earlier in this thread it’s hard to tell because Armstrong appeared to struggle from both sides of the plate this season. I can’t confirm that because I haven’t seen the lefty/righty splits, but it sure seemed that way. My suggestion to him as he moves on would be to go all in from his stronger more natural side. You’ve got to be a special athlete to be a successful switch hitter at the MLB level and very few are able to do it. Armstrong has all of the measurables and seems to have the tools it takes to be successful but concentrating on one side of the plate may be the change that allows him to excel at his next stop.
Wes, thanks for putting that info together. As I suspected it looks like Sully gave him more opportunities against RHP which leads me to believe he is generally considered a better hitter from the left side. Unfortunately his poor performance from the left side overshadowed the fact that he was hitting near .300 from the right side. I know the team is big on analytics, too bad he wasn’t given more opportunities from the right side.
