[DC 86]

I’m not analytics oriented. Defense has always been the most important attribute for a catcher. If he hits, that’s a bonus. Bailey is, by all accounts I’ve read, already a major league level catcher defensively.  Which gives him a leg up. 

Offensively, he’s been fine - as a left handed hitter. Awful as a right handed hitter, which interestingly is his natural side.  The “buzz” is he’s made adjustments and is anticipating a much better year from the right side.  We will see.

There is reason for optimism regarding his extreme platoon split. He's been switch hitting since he first started playing as a child, i.e. he wasn't converted to switch hitting in high school or college, and his problems from the right side are more recent. Because of Covid cancellations he went 14 months without playing in an organized baseball game between college and the pros, which may have gotten him out of synch.

One other thing to note regarding the overall offensive picture. He hit 225/342/420 last year in Eugene, but the Northwest League is an extreme pitchers league. The aggregate league batting line was 238/325/385 last year. So his OPS was 52 points above the league average; granted it was his second go around in the league and as a college player he should have been more advanced, but it was a better performance than what the superficial numbers show.

[DC 86]

I’m not analytics oriented. Defense has always been the most important attribute for a catcher. If he hits, that’s a bonus. Bailey is, by all accounts I’ve read, already a major league level catcher defensively.  Which gives him a leg up. 

Offensively, he’s been fine - as a left handed hitter. Awful as a right handed hitter, which interestingly is his natural side.  The “buzz” is he’s made adjustments and is anticipating a much better year from the right side.  We will see.

There is reason for optimism regarding his extreme platoon split. He's been switch hitting since he first started playing as a child, i.e. he wasn't converted to switch hitting in high school or college, and his problems from the right side are more recent. Because of Covid cancellations he went 14 months without playing in an organized baseball game between college and the pros, which may have gotten him out of synch.

One other thing to note regarding the overall offensive picture. He hit 225/342/420 last year in Eugene, but the Northwest League is an extreme pitchers league. The aggregate league batting line was 238/325/385 last year. So his OPS was 52 points above the league average; granted it was his second go around in the league and as a college player he should have been more advanced, but it was a better performance than what the superficial numbers show.