Impressed With Tyler Pastornicky So Far
April 10, 2012 at 5:10 pm by Ben Duronio under Player Analysis
It is definitely early to say that Pastornicky will be a solid Major League shortstop, but over the past few games I have really liked what I have seen. There have been very few bright spots over the first four games of the season, but Pastornicky not looking over-matched on either side of the ball has been refreshing.
Defensively, he has shown a better arm than I expected. I did not see this type of arm in the spring training games I watched, so it was good to see him rifle a few balls in yesterday’s game. During the series against the Mets, his range to his left seemed solid and he made a nice play on what ended up being Kirk Niuenhuis’s first Major League hit — after looking at the replay it seemed to me that he was out.
Offensively, Pastornicky could end up benefiting in the eight hole. He has a very smooth contact swing and has shown plate discipline in the minors — though mostly in his tenure with the Blue Jays. Even so, with eight hitters being pitch around occasionally in order to get to the pitcher, he could thrive in the eighth spot if he remains patient at the plate. His swing has looked pretty solid as well, though he will likely have a very high ground ball rate. He doesn’t seem to get under many balls and has an up-the-middle type swing, which was on display in his triple and last night’s single.
Nothing about Pastornicky’s game will likely ever be tremendously impressive, but so far he is playing exactly like we had hoped before the spring. He has been pretty much average defensively and average offensively, which is all the Braves could really ask for given his skill set and past performances. I would be jumping to gun to say that this is the player we should expect to see throughout the season, but it is the player we hope to see. We’ll check back in a few weeks to monitor whether or not his solid play has continued.
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Agreed. I didn’t really get a chance to watch any of the Spring Training games, so I had been curious about how he looked at the plate, and from what I’ve seen he looks like he can handle the bat pretty well. Certainly not going to be an easy whiff like Gonzalez, which is enough for me.
Ain’t that the truth!
Ben, after seeing Tyler last night, I think your assessment is spot on. He fielded the position decently and handled the bat well, even better than some veteran guys, who were repeatedly fooled on pitches. I think people’s assessment of Pastornicky at the end of the year will all depend on their level of expectation. Your level seems most reasonable, especially given his age and experience (or lack thereof). Keep up the good posts! They are making this opening stretch somewhat bearable…
If he keeps up any decently solid numbers at the plate, he’ll quickly earn that coveted “bunt em over” job in the 2 hole.
That throw he made on the (failed) relay home was awfully impressive.
Love the new layout guys! Keep up the good work
I was thinking the same thing the other day. Perfect hitter for the 8 hole. All he has to do is play average defense and this is a upgrade over AGon
He had a hell of a game tonight. That AB where he ended up hitting a HR was awesome.
Can someone tell me what he was trying to do with the hit up the middle that he tried to swat towards second base? Was he actually swatting it or did he think he had it and was trying to flip it to second? Sounded weird when I heard the play by play…
From what I could understand from the commentary and replay it seemed as though he tried to glove flip the ball to Uggla.
That is one of the things I’ve seen from TP that I’m not thrilled with, he tends to try and do too much sometimes. He looks to try and make a spectacular play rather than just make a good strong play that might not be as exciting. I still think he has great upside as a MLer and hope that he continues to improve on both sides of the ball. I’m sure as the year goes on he’ll get more comfortable and learn to make just a simple play.
I have been super impressed with Pastornicky. Love the fact that he seems to have a great understand of what his role is on the team and understands his requirements of hitting in the 8th spot. That at-bat where he hit the homerun was a thing of beauty. He fouled off tough pitch after tough pitch then Weiland finally made a mistake and Pastor showed a really quick swing to turn on it and drive it.
He reminds me a lot of a young scrappy David Eckstein. Eckstein was never spectacular but he was a solid MLB starter for a long time.
That’s someone I’ve compared him to for a long time. Eckstein is a bad name in saber-world because of how highly most old-schoolers love him, but he was an effective player. He wasn’t nearly as good as the old-schoolers thought, but he had value and I see Pastornicky as an Eckstein/Theriot type as well.