#25 Carlos Willoughby, 2B. BD: 11/12/1988. 5'10" 170 lbs. B-S, T-R.
Rookie AZL: .295/.372/.432, 23 SB, 4 CS.
Carlos Willoughby is a name that has intrigued me for several years. He put up very similar numbers down in the DSL as the Giants inexplicably kept him down there for 3 frustrating seasons. He has no power, but the combination of high BA, even higher OBP and speed give him perfect leadoff numbers all coming from a middle infield position. Why the Giants have held him back so long I don't know. Given the fact that he's always played 2B rather than SS makes me think it's probably due to problems on defense.
Remember Marcus Sanders and how excited some of us were about similar numbers he put up in the low minors? Man, I can just close my eyes and imagine what having a guy like that leading off for the Giants would be like. Not that Andres Torres isn't a heckuva leadoff batter, but if they had a guy with these numbers they could just put him at the top and slide Torres down to #2 or even #3 where he'd be even more valuable!
I've gotta think Willoughby starts out 2011 at Augusta. If not, there has to be something terribly wrong that I'm completely missing, probably defense.
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The hardball times named him one of the best defensive 2nd basemen in 2009. Of course, everyone has an opinion on how defense is measured, and the reliability is worse considering it is data from the DSL.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with minor league 2nd basemen is they usually have to hit enough to become starters to make it. Willoughby has enough arm to have played some OF in the past, so hopefully he can put together a Willie Harris sort of career.
I think we need to put Carlos on the fast track. 22 years old and in the AZL is a little behind. I have been following his numbers since the Dominican Republic and they have been good enough to groom him as our future leadoff hitter. I hope he gets some starts at SS because we are jammed at 2B. I have heard from various sources that his arm is decent and he may be able to play SS or 3B. We could use some speed in our lineup and he is a great basestealer.
ReplyDeleteI love the Marcus Sanders comparison as this is exactly who I have been envisioning with Willoughby's DSL/AZL stats.
ReplyDeleteI am loving the commentary as you move further along your prospect list because I read a lot of stuff about Belt, Wheeler and even Neal, but this is just like prospect writeup dessert for us prospect hounds. Great work Dr B.
Hey thanks everybody! If Carlos is really a good defensive 2B, then it is really mystifying why he was kept back in the DSL so long because his numbers there looked very good even in his first season.
ReplyDeleteI must be missing it, but he did not really deserve to rise faster.
ReplyDeleteHe was 83rd and 85th in 2007 and 2008 in OPS in the DSL, if he can't dominate that league, why did he deserve to be moved up?
Then he dominated in 2009, .904 OPS, and finally got to move up the next season. Even with that great OPS, he was only 13th in the league in OPS, while being right in the middle in terms of age, and his ISO was only 111, which is not that great in the majors, it was all batting average and walks, and a .367 BABIP is hard to maintain as well as a 170% BB/K ratio (elite if over 100%).
And last year, he was 28th in the AZL, at the same age as every one else was. And he struck out roughly 20% of the time, but did not keep his walks up, though he did keep up his BABIP, .364, but the increase in strikeouts dropped his BA and that plus less walks equals much lower OBP. And his ISO was still on the low side, though much better, 137.
I love the Sanders comparison though, that is exactly what Willoughby compares with, lot of speed, lack of power, but more importantly, no history of injury.
He's the right age range for Augusta, but they might put him in Salem-Keizer if they felt that he wasn't adjusting to US life that well and need more time.
I think he will have to take one level at a time as a prospect unless he breaks out. He's like those soft-tossers you wrote about in your other post, DrB, who don't strike out a lot of batters: he will have to prove he can do it at every level because he could fail at any level.