One of the most-tired sports cliches is that you’re never as good as you look when things are going great, nor as bad as you look when you’re struggling.
What I try to do with every player is consider their pros and cons and whether the totality of what they provide is worthwhile. It's a fair criticism to say I haven't talked about Acuna's pros very often. So, here are Acuna's "pros" in my estimation
He's very fast
He looks very smooth at 2B, even if the numbers aren't great
He doesn't look overmatched in any facet of the game
Both his strikeout and walk numbers are better than I expected - which is a really good thing.
If all you do is focus on what's actually happened in the short run, Acuna has been productive. He played well enough not to be under consideration to be sent to the minors when McNeil returned. Bully for Acuna!
I've seen Acuna put good swings on balls and hit pitches with authority. I've also seen him get a double on a slow infield hit and hit balls that bounced 20X before they were fielded. And my opinion is that there have been more hits of the latter type than the former.
At the end of the day, I'm going to put 100% faith in the statement that a .371 BABIP is unsustainable. On top of that, my opinion is that the expected improvements in his ISO won't come remotely close to make up for the hits falling in at a somewhat-normal rate.
The league as a whole has a .290 BABIP. If Acuna had a .300 mark in the category, rather than his actual .371 rate, he'd have a .239 AVG and people would be looking at him completely differently.
You're mighty pessimistic about Acuna.
What I try to do with every player is consider their pros and cons and whether the totality of what they provide is worthwhile. It's a fair criticism to say I haven't talked about Acuna's pros very often. So, here are Acuna's "pros" in my estimation
He's very fast
He looks very smooth at 2B, even if the numbers aren't great
He doesn't look overmatched in any facet of the game
Both his strikeout and walk numbers are better than I expected - which is a really good thing.
If all you do is focus on what's actually happened in the short run, Acuna has been productive. He played well enough not to be under consideration to be sent to the minors when McNeil returned. Bully for Acuna!
I've seen Acuna put good swings on balls and hit pitches with authority. I've also seen him get a double on a slow infield hit and hit balls that bounced 20X before they were fielded. And my opinion is that there have been more hits of the latter type than the former.
At the end of the day, I'm going to put 100% faith in the statement that a .371 BABIP is unsustainable. On top of that, my opinion is that the expected improvements in his ISO won't come remotely close to make up for the hits falling in at a somewhat-normal rate.
The league as a whole has a .290 BABIP. If Acuna had a .300 mark in the category, rather than his actual .371 rate, he'd have a .239 AVG and people would be looking at him completely differently.