Betancourt seeks greatness*

JMB · May 28, 2007 at 3:33 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

From ESPN.com’s Enrique Rojas.

*Disclaimer: He defines greatness as Jose Reyes and Derek Jeter. Not that I’m bagging on either one of those guys. If Betancourt turns into either one we should all do backflips down Edgar Martinez Drive.

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12 Responses to “Betancourt seeks greatness*”

  1. Tom on May 28th, 2007 4:19 pm

    Patience is a virtue people. . .

  2. pensive on May 28th, 2007 4:30 pm

    Wish it were possable I could do a backflip anywhere.
    Yu-Bet is a main reason to watch the Mariners for me.

    How is Rutherford?

  3. CSG on May 28th, 2007 4:37 pm

    I’d currently settle for an accurate throw to first. He can work on greatness after that.

  4. coasty141 on May 28th, 2007 4:48 pm

    I was thinking about Yu Bet and the pre-season offensive projections we did for all of the mariners. I think Yuni might be the biggest suprise from our projections. He really doesn’t have a track record we can and with as much turmoil as he has gone through and now just playing baseball, he could be better offensively than many of could forsee. just a thought.

  5. John D. on May 28th, 2007 4:54 pm

    I’m with CSG (# 3).

    “I’d currently settle for an accurate throw to first. He can work on greatness after that.”

    [You have to walk before you can run.]

  6. CSG on May 28th, 2007 5:09 pm

    It’ll be interesting to see if Yuni can sustain a high batting average while maintaining the added power he’s shown this year. His groundballs are down this year from last year, which was the source of a lot of his hits, but also the reason why we thought he lacked much more power potential. He’s also hitting more line drives this year, which has made up for the decrease in ground ball hits. The big thing for him though, is figuring out the fielding issues, as the part of his game that makes him valuable is his ability to be an elite defender. I don’t see any physical issues that’ll stop him from being an elite defender; the throwing errors and miffs of easy grounders are mental lapses.

  7. DMZ on May 28th, 2007 5:15 pm

    The brain’s part of the body.

  8. CSG on May 28th, 2007 5:18 pm

    Touche.

  9. bhsmarine on May 28th, 2007 5:19 pm

    Mental throwing issues are scarier then physical, ala Knoblock

  10. joser on May 28th, 2007 5:24 pm

    Well, a full year of being able to eat anything you want for the first time in your life may do wonders. Though it doesn’t explain all the errors so far this season. I’m not going to be the guy to suggest they threaten to send his family back to Cuba, or take back his contract (not that they could do either in any case) but last year he certainly seemed more focused in spite of everything. Hunger is a funny thing.

    I am heartened by the walks he’s been getting lately. I’d love to see more than that. If he took more pitches he’d be a great #2 hitter behind Ichiro: double-steals, hit-and-runs, terror on the basepaths.

  11. hub on May 28th, 2007 9:11 pm

    If Yuni can continue to emerge as a solid 7/8/9 hitter, with above average defense (and improved OBP)…I’m happy. What I fear: the second coming of Christian Guzman. Never taking the next step in becoming a more polished hitter. Good news: Betancourt is at least ‘talking’ about how wants to improve. And he’s still young enough to develop further across the board.

  12. Gomez on May 29th, 2007 10:17 am

    If Betancourt turns into either one we should all do backflips down Edgar Martinez Drive.

    You misspelled Atlantic Street ;P

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