#39 Wendell Fairley, OF. A+: .292/.362/.343 with 1 HR.
Wendell Fairley has been a frustrating player for Giants prospect watchers. He was one of the 5 high school players drafted in the first and supplemental rounds of the 2007 draft. He's a "tools" player and it was widely acknowledged at the time that he was very raw and would take some time to develop. He was also 19 at the time, so a year older than most HS draftees. Add in a slow start due to injuries and it's no surprise that he's still struggling. Moved up to San Jose after hitting just .243 with no power in Augusta, Fairley did improve on his BA and maintained a decent batting eye at the plate. He still showed no power until the very end of the season. He finally hit a HR in the last weekend. I saw him hit another in the Cal League playoffs in Rancho Cucamonga. It was a line shot that he pulled smartly over the RF wall. He did show a small amount of progress over the season: Pre All-Star- .272/.353/.293. Post All-Star- .309/.370/.386. I saw him play about mid-season in Lake Elsinore and he looked very tentative at the plate with weak, defensive swings. Later on, he looked much more confident and was swinging the bat with some authority, including the HR swing in the playoffs. Fairley may well be one of those "tools" players who never puts it together. On the other hand, I think it would be a mistake to totally give up on him yet. These guys tend to have sudden breakouts just when you are ready to give up on them. Look at Charlie Culberson's career trajectory.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The question is whether the Giants' are now better at finding the kids with tools, and can develop them. An example of someone who may not have the tools,and the Giants drafted him in the first round anyways is Torcato. Then there are Hosey, Powell, Lewis and Linden, kids with tools, but did the Giants failed to developed them properly? Now, we are seeing Belt and Culberson, kids with tools that others miss, and it is looking like the Giants' are actually developing them. It is too early to make definitive statements, but this trend is obviously a good sign for Wendell.
ReplyDeleteI believe 2011 is a key year for Wendell Fairley. He's got to show some sign of sustained progression or he'll be completely overrun by the hoard of other athletic OF's in the Giants organization. It may be already too late for him to have a MLB career with the Giants, but he could make himself valuable to another organization. Great problem to have from a Giants viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteDo you think he will be in AA next year with peguero and Kieschnick in the OF?
ReplyDeleteAA would seem to be a logical destination for Fairley next season, but I've long since given up trying to guess where the Giants will assign players.
ReplyDeleteThanks Doc, it is difficult to predict. I made a rough draft of how I would place guys, but i was pretty off last year. I would like to see Wendell Fairley and Chris Dominguez pushed to AA to setup a sink or swim scenario. Both are getting older and need to distinguish themselves and AA would most definitely would give them at chance to do that.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing about Fairley is he's a tools prospect, but has put up numbers of a scrappy unathletic player. A decent walkrate (considering his lack of even doubles power), lots of HBP, and a decent average, but no triples or steals.
ReplyDeleteRichmond could destroy him, but like you said, with these sort of players you never know.