Gwynn Jr., More Than Just A Familiar Name

by Sam Page on May 21, 2009 2:02 PM PDT

Hey Sam from Amazin' Avenue here. I live in Nashville and blog about the Sounds (the Brewer's AAA affiliate) sporadically, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents about TGJ. I wrote this about him before the season:

Gwynn continued his trend toward total slap hitter for the Sounds last year, hitting a career high 62.1% of batted balls on the ground. The result was a modest .275/.328/.331. He’ll need to raise that average this year, if he has any aspirations of a career with the Brewers. Defensively, he was a solid 4 runs above average in center. Unless he enjoys a real breakout in 2009, look for fan-favorite Gwynn to spend the majority of his season with the Sounds.

Well Tony obviously reads my blog, and took it to heart, because he does look much better. After hitting just 14.1% Line Drives in AAA the year before and 11.4% in 2007, Gwynn raised that number to an excellent 20.1%. In 2008, he posted a 56.6% GB, which is good if you're Carlos Gomez or the Luis Castillo of old, but Tony's not that kind of burner. He's fast, and a good basestealer, but he needs to hit more line drives to stay successful, and he is.

Luckily, the improvement seems to stem from a genuine change in approach, not just a sample size fluke. He's swinging less (37.7% of pitches swung at vs 43.4% the year before) and he's missing less: 88.7% contact, which is up about 3% from his career norm. The result has been more walks and better contact.

If he sustains these improvements, he could be a .360-.370 OBP leadoff man, with good speed and centerfield defense. Last year, this move would have been just to get Tony, but this year it's a trade that makes sense, and makes the Padres younger and, maybe, better.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

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Comments

Thanks, dude.

I feel a little better.

by Drama on May 21, 2009 2:42 PM PDT reply actions

Thanks; good stuff.

Note to “simmons”: this is how you do that. Nevermind, you’ll never read this.

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"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev

by TheThirdGonzalez on May 21, 2009 2:46 PM PDT reply actions

Muchas Gracias Amigo

Appreciate the insider info.

"Get on board early," Black said, alluding to, what he feels, is a crop of up-and-coming players.

"I would tell those fans that we're going to play good baseball. We're going to play hard. We're going to have exciting young players..." -Bud Black

by The Kipper on May 21, 2009 2:52 PM PDT reply actions

Thanks for the info

Good to know!

This is a terrible thing for the Padres. - Jerry Coleman

by Padres_Hobo on May 21, 2009 2:59 PM PDT reply actions

Great work

Thanks for the post!

"I bleed powder blue." - Antonio Gates

by matthewverygood on May 21, 2009 3:09 PM PDT reply actions

awesome, thanks

this is like a Chargers blog now, people getting all analytical and fact-based…

by 'Eaters on May 21, 2009 3:21 PM PDT reply actions

haha

Bolts from the Blue and GLB are WAY different

DODGERS, RED SOX, YANKEES, BRONCOS, PATRIOTS and RAIDERS all suck. Especially the Dodgers.

by LJbumfool on May 21, 2009 7:08 PM PDT up reply actions

This does make me feel better.

But I’m gonna miss Gerut.

"If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself." - Bob Dylan

by JollyWaffle on May 21, 2009 4:15 PM PDT reply actions

Awesome!!

I feel all warm and tingly inside now!

by SDPads_1 on May 21, 2009 5:57 PM PDT reply actions

I really, really hope you're right.

Because his career .275 AAA batting average and career .240 MLB batting average tell me this is a dumb move.

by Zach (maestro876) on May 21, 2009 6:43 PM PDT reply actions

i've only seen one Gwynn at bat

… it was a triple

by 'Eaters on May 21, 2009 7:00 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gerut!

"What in the name of Randy Jones is going on over there..."

by ABY on May 21, 2009 7:06 PM PDT reply actions

cynical trade

Let’s see. Gerut played a decent defense, and his road OPS last year was 945, best of any CF. We trade him for a someone with a career MLB OPS of 620? Why? Gee, we are trading our current franchise player, or trying, so let us give the fans a familiar name to distract them.

I mean that is purely cynical. I hope I am wrong, but that is my interpretation. If he was a starting CF, how come Milwaukee did not notice that?

by jayman66 on May 22, 2009 7:23 AM PDT reply actions

if gerut is our franchise player

we’ve got bigger problems than cynical trades.

by Stephen (shaynes41) on May 22, 2009 7:55 AM PDT up reply actions

jayman66 meant Peavy.

by Drama on May 22, 2009 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions

Cherrypicking

If he was a starting CF, how come Milwaukee did not notice that?

Maybe they did…I mean they finally traded him to the Pads after YEARS of them asking and got, what you rightly identified, as a good player. Gerut is nice, but he’s 31 years old and your team needs to get younger.

Also, why did you cite Gwynn’s career OPS versus Geruts road OPS from one year? Gerut has .774 career OPS, nothing to write home about. I’ll take the younger, higher-upside player everyday.

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on May 22, 2009 2:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Gerut as a "franchise player" . Who is Jody Gerut anyway ?

I think I have heard it all now from those Padres partisan that have critiqued the Gerut-Gwynn swap. One has noted the supposed “enormous talent gap” between the two players and one on this blog has labeled of a 31 year old journeyman outfielder as a “franchise player” . Just who is this Jody Gerut anyway ?

by texpadre on May 22, 2009 5:27 PM PDT reply actions