#29 Conor Gillaspie, 3B. 6'1", 195 lbs. BD: 7/18/1987. B-L, T-R.
AAA: .297/.389/.453, 22 2B, 6 3B, 11 HR, 9 SB, 9 CS
MLB: .263/.333/.421 in 19 AB.
This ranking may be too low. Gillaspie has a very good hit tool. I just see him as the classic "tweener". A guy who doesn't hit for enough power to play a corner position but is not athletic enough to play up the middle on defense. I admit that when he was drafted by the Giants after hitting over .400 in college I had visions of him turning into something like Wade Boggs. That he has yet to break .300 in the minor league makes that a fairly remote possibility at this point. He'll be doing very well if he can carve out a Bill Mueller-like career. I've read that his defense has improved a lot since I saw him in SJ in 2009. It looked very shaky back then. He was put on the MLB roster in September of 2008, the year he was drafted. Ordinarily teams have 3 option years after that but there seems to be a loophole that allows the Giants one more option this year, so we'll probably see him back in Fresno to start the season.
With Pablo Sandoval signed up for the next 3 years, it's pretty hard to envision Conor coming up and being the starting 3B any time soon. He's started to do some work at 2B to possibly help him play a utility role. It seems to me the most likely outcome is he will be part of a trade and hopefully get a chance with another team.
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Good call on Conor, DocB. This year is his to show he can do something well and valuable for the Giants. Just hard to see what that is. Well at least he had his cup-o-coffee.
ReplyDeleteI would have switched Kieschnick and Gillaspie. Yes, Kieschnick has the power tool set, but then again, he hasn't really shown any glimpses of that power in the Eastern league. As for Gillaspie, his power numbers have actually gotten better as he's moved up the system and his plate approach I think could transition very well at the major league level. I just can't see Kieschnick being as or more successful than Gillaspie with his current approach at the plate.
ReplyDeleteAlso, while Gillaspie is blocked by Pablo at 3rd, I can't see any outfield spot opening up for Kieschnick in the near future. Especially with Peguero and Brown a year or two away.
I would say 16 HR's for Richmond is more than a glimpse of power for Roger K.
DeleteYeah, I would agree, he was tied for 14th in the EL in Homers in 2011, though to Roger's point, he was only 48th in overall SLG, but that was mainly due to his low BA, as his ISO was 174, which was good for a tie for 34th and just two extra bases away from 30th.
DeleteHis 2011 was affected by a very slow start in April (maybe he succumbed to the cold New England spring?), with 0 homers, then hit all 16 in the next four months. So in those months, he averaged 23.5 AB/HR, which is a good ratio, had he done that in April, he would have ended up with 20 HR, good for tie for 7th, and his ISO would have been 24th, just behind Allan Dykstra of the Mets.
Oddly, his ISO was hurt by his home, but he made much better contact at him, much more LD, so he hit really well at home, not so much on the road, except for power.
And 26th vs. 29th, seems like quibbling, down this far, they are basically one big blob for the most part, as DrB noted at some point himself.
DeleteDrb, I thought Gillespie would be a Bill Mueller type player when he was drafted.. The problem is that he's blocked by Pablo at 3rd base and doesn't play another position well enough defensively to be a valuable utility player. Maybe he needs to carve out a niche for himself, become better defensively, learn another position, or pinch hitting like Travis Ishikawa did in 2010. He was another player who only played as a defensive replacement at 1st base, but he was also a great pinch hitter for that 2010 WS Championship Team! Love being reminded about that team!
ReplyDeleteLG
Yeah, I saw those descriptions of him too, I really thought he would have slid over to 2B by now, but he must be a total hack defensively there for him not to at least try it out, I mean, they threw Brett Pill there, if there was a time to experiment with Gillaspie, that was it.
DeleteEven if he were not blocked by Pablo (and he is not necessarily, they could always move Pablo to 1B if Gillaspie hit well enough), he hasn't really shown enough to even warrant giving him a shot at winning that job.
At best, right now, he can be a bench player, much like Ishikawa, mostly a PH and spot starter as needed. He needs to hit better to up that profile of his potential. Still, players like that are still needed in the majors, and he could perhaps work himself into a DH position somewhere with his bat.
Clay Hensley back to the mothership. Interesting contract structure - ML deal but has to make the team for it to kick, the Gints can cut their losses for pretty cheap. Now will they go after one of the injury prone starters as well?
ReplyDeleteI'm tellin' ya, Sabes keeps going back to a well the produces until it runs dry. He hits paydirt with Vogey and now he wants to sign every former Giants pitching prospect he can get his hands on!
DeleteYeah, noticed that too, but the contract details had not come out yet. Never heard of a deal like that before, I heard of minor league deals that gives the player the option to leave if they don't make the majors, but not one like this. Maybe new to CBA?
DeleteDoesn't this take up a spot on the 40-man now?
Anyway, I thought it was a good gamble to try, but with this contract, even better. He's been useful before and Bochy seems to have a magic touch with relievers, so he could possibly replace Ramirez at a 5th of the money. Unless Otero or Hembree shocks in spring training and win the spot.