Quote:
Originally Posted by dlphg9
He was shit in the playoffs in 2015
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And while he was very good in '14, the way Bumgarner tortured him the 9th of Game 7 is what nightmares are made of.
The problem with guys with wide splits in the post-season is the aggression of the opposing manager. From the 5th inning on, you could see a specialist come in at any second. If the tying run is on 2nd in the 6th or later, out comes the LOOGY and those guys give him fits.
Hosmer's a streaky hitter and he can hit anyone when he's on, but that's what you'd be counting on - that he catches a hot streak at the right time. Because if he's just 'fair to middlin', aggressive post-season managers will match him up to death.
Moose and Cain have better post-season skill-sets, IMO. I think the changes Moustakas made to his swing a couple of years ago make better equipped to handle lefties and righties, thus making him less matchup prone. Cain's strength at the plate is that he does a nice job staying inside the ball so while righties give him some grief, he's actually surprisingly adept at dealing with the power pitching you see more of in the post-season. I'm not sure how - he has a shockingly long swing for a relatively small player, but he makes it work for him. Guys really do struggle to get inside his kitchen. And even if he's struggling, his defense in CF is more valuable than Hosmer's at 1b.