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Nick Markakis


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#41 NewMarketSean

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Posted 22 April 2012 - 07:50 PM

It was nice to see Markakis come back from some bad calls to get some big hits. I thought for sure those bad calls would get into his head.
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#42 hallas

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Posted 23 April 2012 - 03:33 PM

Over time, it won't.


His hands still aren't as high as they were when he first came up.

Also, keeping his hands that low leaves him susceptible to a high fastball, so it's a bit of a trade-off.

I'm a bit more worried about Nick's defense. He seems to have lost a step on the field...

#43 Oriole85

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Posted 23 April 2012 - 10:03 PM

I'm a bit more worried about Nick's defense. He seems to have lost a step on the field...

He lost a step each of the past two years it seems, so is this the third step? His range has definitely declined as well as his arm.
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#44 SportsGuy

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Posted 24 April 2012 - 09:16 AM

His hands still aren't as high as they were when he first came up.

Also, keeping his hands that low leaves him susceptible to a high fastball, so it's a bit of a trade-off.

I'm a bit more worried about Nick's defense. He seems to have lost a step on the field...


1) Not worried about the high fastball because he usually lays off that pitch anyway.

2) Nicks range to the sideline has always been a mediocre. Coming in has never been great either.

#45 RichardZ

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Posted 02 May 2012 - 12:16 PM

As for Markakis I'm happy to see him going to LF as much as he has lately. It's a start. I think you'll start to see him drive the ball a little more to LF and then hopefully hit the occasional mistake over the RF wall. It's probably a little too much to hope for but he's never been a good pull hitter and I'm just glad he's going with what he does best, which is stroke the ball into LF. I don't think that means he's a "slap hitter" per se, although he looks like one right now.

#46 SportsGuy

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Posted 02 May 2012 - 06:13 PM

As for Markakis I'm happy to see him going to LF as much as he has lately. It's a start. I think you'll start to see him drive the ball a little more to LF and then hopefully hit the occasional mistake over the RF wall. It's probably a little too much to hope for but he's never been a good pull hitter and I'm just glad he's going with what he does best, which is stroke the ball into LF. I don't think that means he's a "slap hitter" per se, although he looks like one right now.

Good call!

#47 RichardZ

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Posted 02 May 2012 - 11:08 PM

Nick also smoked another one to RF tonight for an out. A very solid night for him but I hope he sticks with the LF approach instead of going up there and looking for something to pull.

#48 Mackus

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Posted 02 May 2012 - 11:18 PM

Real good game for Nick tonight. Hopefully he can build on that. Good to see him break the HR drought. Maybe he can get real hot and hit 5-6 over the next two weeks or so.

#49 BSLChrisStoner

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Posted 02 May 2012 - 11:29 PM

Nice game for Nick. I liked him admiring his hr a bit tonight. Nice to show a little swag vs. NY.If Reimold has to go on the DL, Nick should leadoff.

#50 You Play to Win the Game

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Posted 02 May 2012 - 11:33 PM

Nice game for Nick. I liked him admiring his hr a bit tonight. Nice to show a little swag vs. NY.If Reimold has to go on the DL, Nick should leadoff.


Agree about him batting lead off. Chavez just isn't a solution there.

No surprise that the very next pitch from Nova hit Jonesy. That's how Girardi does things. Don't. Even. Look. At. Him. Wrong. It wasn't the time and place for the O's to retaliation (Jake was in a groove), but I wonder if this will seep back up at some point, or I'm just making mountains out of molehills. It's almost 1 AM on a work night, so it's highly possible.

#51 BSLChrisStoner

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Posted 08 May 2012 - 07:24 AM

Mackus nailed it in the Hardy thread, Markakis needs to get going, and increase the production.

After back-to-back 2 for 5's in NY, Markakis is now 1 for his last 17. This has dropped his average to .230, and his OPS back under .700.

#52 Mackus

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Posted 08 May 2012 - 07:33 AM

It's really sad seeing how far Nick has fallen. He was essentially a perfect player in 2008. A .300/.400/.500 line is like the gold standard, IMO.

I know it's still early and he has plenty of time to turn things around, but him just hovering around an .800 OPS isn't acceptable to me. He has to be better than that to justify his salary and his talents. He's simply a better player than that, IMO, and I don't know what would cause him to under perform for such a long stretch. At some point, obviously, it stops becoming under performing and just becomes who he is, but I won't ever be satisfied with Nick being a slap-hitting RF with a .775 OPS. That's not good enough from him. He has to be better.

#53 BSLChrisStoner

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Posted 08 May 2012 - 07:39 AM

It's really sad seeing how far Nick has fallen. He was essentially a perfect player in 2008. A .300/.400/.500 line is like the gold standard, IMO.

I know it's still early and he has plenty of time to turn things around, but him just hovering around an .800 OPS isn't acceptable to me. He has to be better than that to justify his salary and his talents. He's simply a better player than that, IMO, and I don't know what would cause him to under perform for such a long stretch. At some point, obviously, it stops becoming under performing and just becomes who he is, but I won't ever be satisfied with Nick being a slap-hitting RF with a .775 OPS. That's not good enough from him. He has to be better.


I agree with a lot of this. I think with his talents, that his '09, and '10 (and 2nd half of '11) production should be his minimum. While I would take that minimum, over what we are currently seeing, I feel like he should be even better than that.

#54 SportsGuy

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Posted 10 May 2012 - 08:33 PM

In Nicks last 978 at bats, he has 47 doubles. That covers from Aug 1, 2010 through tonight. Thats a double every 20.8 at bats.

From 2007-2009, he had 1874 at bats and had 136 doubles..one every 13.7 at bats.

Where are the doubles Nick?

#55 Oriole85

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 12:05 AM

Markakis been on the decline for a while. I have no evidence to back this up but since he signed that contract/got married/had kids, his career has been spiraling downward. Remember when the debate was who was going to be better between Markakis and Ryan Zimmerman, lots of laughs now.
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#56 furryburres

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 09:08 AM

In Nicks last 978 at bats, he has 47 doubles. That covers from Aug 1, 2010 through tonight. Thats a double every 20.8 at bats.

From 2007-2009, he had 1874 at bats and had 136 doubles..one every 13.7 at bats.

Where are the doubles Nick?


Someone changed his approach, and I'm hoping it wasn't Presley. But given what Presley said to Hardy (pull the ball, try to hit homeruns) to get him to increase his production, it very well may have been him.
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#57 SportsGuy

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 09:33 AM

Someone changed his approach, and I'm hoping it wasn't Presley. But given what Presley said to Hardy (pull the ball, try to hit homeruns) to get him to increase his production, it very well may have been him.

The thing is, Nick's LD% is way up since Pressley got here. His GB rate was down last year, although its up early this year.

Where Nick has seen a big jump is in his IFFB%. That's not good..too many pop ups.

His BABIP was like 25 points point below his average last year and that was with an increasded LD%...so, he was probably unlucky some last year.

This year, its way down even with a high LD% and high GB%, so he is definitely unlucky this year thus far.

#58 furryburres

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 09:52 AM



Someone changed his approach, and I'm hoping it wasn't Presley. But given what Presley said to Hardy (pull the ball, try to hit homeruns) to get him to increase his production, it very well may have been him.

The thing is, Nick's LD% is way up since Pressley got here. His GB rate was down last year, although its up early this year.

Where Nick has seen a big jump is in his IFFB%. That's not good..too many pop ups.

His BABIP was like 25 points point below his average last year and that was with an increasded LD%...so, he was probably unlucky some last year.

This year, its way down even with a high LD% and high GB%, so he is definitely unlucky this year thus far.


At what point do we accept this new BABIP as his new baseline, though? And on an unrelated note, he's got 23 strikeouts in 32 games...that's 0.71 K/gm, up from 0.46 last year and 0.58 the year before. Is his increased strikeout rate a product of a different approach?

#59 SportsGuy

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 10:35 AM

At what point do we accept this new BABIP as his new baseline, though? And on an unrelated note, he's got 23 strikeouts in 32 games...that's 0.71 K/gm, up from 0.46 last year and 0.58 the year before. Is his increased strikeout rate a product of a different approach?


In terms of his BABIP, I don't accept it yet. First of all, it was 300 last year. It has usually been around 330. Its not that it was way off but off enough to where he was a little unlucky when you factor in his LD%. The thing that bothers me is the IFFB%. That is going to keep that BABIP down because you don't expect those to become hits at any point.

His BABIP is 255 right now...That will definitely go up.

Nick is a guy where if he isn't going to hit many homers, should be hitting 35-45 doubles and batting 310.

He just isn't as good as he should be. Whether its a work ethic thing(offseason) or just doesn't have that desire to be better, something just isn't right. He goes through way too many prolonged slumps every year for a guy that is as talented as he is. He has a good approach at the plate...generally sees a lot of pitches. Walks, etc..So, there is no reason for him to get into this constant prolonged slumps.

Part of it is he tinkers way too much. He has to stop overthinking, look at the tape from 2007 and 2008 and go with what works.

In terms of strikeouts...I actually don't mind them. First of all, he seems to get called out a lot on those pitches that are like 3-6" off the plate. I don't want him swinging at those. He will just get into a bigger funk because there is nothing he can do with those pitches. Secondly, if you look at his biggest years, they are also years were he k'ed the most. A lot of that has to do with not swinging at bad pitches.

I see people saying his bat is slow or that he can't catch up to a fastball. I disagree with that. I will agree that the inside fastball will give him issues but at the end of the day, that pitch gives a lot of hitters issues.

I wouldn't disagree that a good fastball will give Nick issues but again, there is a reason the fastball is the pitch every pitcher throws...it can give everyone issues.

#60 Oriole85

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 12:32 PM

What bothers me more than anything and I've mentioned this multiple times on Twitter is how much slower he seems. It's like he loses a step by the day.

What is disappointing most of all about Markakis was we signed him to be a player who we could build around with a young core coming up, instead he's getting more and more into the background it seems. Guess it just happens like that sometimes, I don't quite accept it.
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