#9 Nick Noonan. AA .237/.280/.304 with 3 HR, 7 SB in 372 AB.
Not too many positives to find in that line! As with so many Giants hitting prospects that have come before him, Nick Noonan struggled mightily in AA. I don't know if it's the weather, the home stadiums, the league or the players just aren't as good as we hoped, but Giants hitting prospects just disappear down a trapdoor when they hit AA. As one would expect, Nick struggled in April, but looked like he was getting his feet under him in May hitting .284. Alas, it was all downhill from there. He missed most of June with an injury then hit just .239 in July and an even worse .210 in August. Word is he may have tried to come back too soon from a hammy and battled it all season.
On the positive side, Nick didn't turn 21 until the season was underway which is still somewhat young for the level. He could repeat the level for whole season and still be on a nice career track. For the time being, Charlie Culberson has clearly passed him on the organizational depth chart at 2B, but remember, Culberson has yet to play a game at AA level. Nick Noonan will drop significantly in the 2011 prospects list, but it's way too early to write him off. It will be interesting to see where Noonan and Culberson are assigned to begin the season.
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Forget Nick Noonan! The Phillies just signed Cliff Lee?! Not too sure the Giants are boasting the best starting rotation in baseball any longer.
ReplyDeleteNot my post originally, but it is well worth stealing...
ReplyDeletePhillies Avg Age 31
Lee Age 32 World Series Championships: 0
Halladay Age 33 World Series Championships: 0
Hamellls Age 26 World Series Championships: 1
Oswalt Age 33 World Series Championships: 0
Giants Avg Age 25
Cain Age 26 World Series Championships: 1
Lincecum Age 26 World Series Championships: 1
Sanchez Age 28 World Series Championships: 1
Bumgarner Age 21 World Series Championships: 1
Don't worry, team. I'll post something about Cliff Lee and the Phillies. The best analysis is not always the first analysis. It does look like the Phillies took some lessons away from the beating the Giants laid on them, huh?
ReplyDeleteThe Phillies everyday lineup is aging quickly, and, as we saw during the regular season, went AWOL for long stretches at a time, due to injury and just plain slumping. And everyone knows what good pitching did to their lineup in the NLCS. Given the ages plus the heavy historic workload of all their starters, the Phillies' window to win is actually smaller than one might think. It is probably something the organization (and Jason Werth) realize, which played a part in their big offseason signing (and departure).
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, the Phillies are going to be the early favorites to win the WS again. Let's hope the Giant can once again play David to their Goliath in the NLCS. And let's see if Charlie Manuel will at least be able to dig up an iota of class and grace next time and congratulate (or even acknowledge)the Giants in his losing manager interview after we beat him in 2011.
Come on people! We were discussing Nick Noonan! You know, Chase Utley with less power? Remember? Um... yeah...
ReplyDeleteI still really like what he did in 2009, he was starting to figure some things out, his batting discipline looked really good in the second half of the season, as well as his hitting line.
ReplyDeleteThe EL can be a tough league even when you don't account for what Dodd Stadium was doing to our best prospects' stat line. In 2010, overall batting line was .259/.332/.397/.729 and the Richmond team only hit .253/.318/.366/.684.
Unfortunately, no way to check the splits on the minor leagues anymore, first minor league splits removed that data, then this season even the player data is not available anymore...
According to BP's old park factors, the Richmond park was neutral in its prior league when a Braves affiliate in the International League (AAA). That league was also a pitching oriented league, so neutral in that league is probably about the same in AA.
Still, either way, the EL appears to be more pitching oriented than hitters.
Noonan probably repeats in AA and Culberson probably makes jump to AAA since Charlie got to play in AFL, which some have said is between AA and AAA, and he did well there. That should probably mean good-bye to Bond, unless they keep him as utility player.
Clearly, Nick'll fall, but to me mainly because the other guys rose, as I still think he has good potential.
At age 21, he was much younger than the bulk of the players there, and he'll still be much younger in 2011 at age 22. Not everyone is going to make majors by age 24-25, yet still if he can hit well enough in 2011 and 2012, he would make majors at age 24 in 2013.
Of course, don't know if he will, but even with a stumble or three, making majors at age 26-27 isn't kiss of death, many have been a good starting 2B at that age. It is making the majors at age 22-24 that is rare and very good, and being a supplemental pick, getting a regular starting 2B there is still very good value for the pick. He is still a good prospect.
Richmond - noonan to SS Culberson 2b ...just a guess
ReplyDelete