Has anybody read any Arizona-type discussion why Segura went to 2B last year?
Ahmed is a guy with extraordinary range at SS (4.8 the last two years) but injury let him start only 80 games in '16. 4.8 is Brendan Ryan stuff. Ahmed's .560 bat is below the Ryan Line, however. Chris Owings got most of the rest of the SS starts, his .731 bat being a factor, but his 4.0 range is pretty abysmal.
Segura only had 9 starts at SS. I wonder if the idea was that his bat was playing so well at 2B that they were just going to let him stay there and mash?
And then you have to ask whether the move to 2B took some pressure off him (somehow) and was part of the reason he ripped the ball?
Here's very interesting analysis of Segura from last February, when Arizona acquired him. The Batted-Ball chart is pretty cool. RF-RF-CF-Rf....that's where he earns his keep. http://insidethezona.com/2016/02/jean-segura-diamondbacks-trade-brewers-...
And heres his spray chart from 2016: Not much change: http://www.fangraphs.com/spraycharts.aspx?playerid=5933&position=SS&type...
Segura can run (44 SB's in '13 and 33 last year) so he should have a decent BABIP. In '13 he was at .326 ("normal", let's say) and he was .353 last year. His '14 and '15 seasons saw his BABIP fall to .275 and .298.
He shouldn't fall below .300 many times. He'll be fine and dandy for us. He was a lead off hitter last year and was great. I like him better between two LHB's nad hitting #2, but I hate Martin at the top of the order so we would have to lead off Gamel (or Vogs...and I don't hate that idea) to make that work. So he will lead off for us.
I like him. I'm not betting he bashes like he did last year....but if he falls all the way back to .290-.330-.425 (about '13) then he's a heck of a MLB SS.
Go kid.