#33 Alex Burg, C/3B/1B. 6'0", 190 lbs. BD: 8/9/1987. B-R, T-R.
High A: .298/.369/.550, 14 HR in 262 AB.
ABL(Australian Baseball League): .277/.374/.546, 10 HR in 130 AB.
Alex Burg is my sleeper of sleepers although a few other prospect oriented sites have started to notice his numbers. He didn't get assigned to San Jose until after Hector Sanchez' promotion, but what he lacked in quantity of experience there, he sure made up for in quality hitting for average, with patience and power. He also played multiple positions including catcher. Now I ask, how valuable is it for your backup catcher to be able to play a couple other positions plus hit like that? Burg then headed off to Australia to play winter ball there and put up almost identical numbers. I don't know what the relative strength of competition is there, but the quality of international baseball has improved dramatically in recent years. The league features professional players from Korea, China and Japan.
He was drafted in the 24'th round in 2009 out of Washington State. where he hit .346/.466/.631 his senior season. His MLB debut was delayed until 2010 due to a knee injury requiring arthroscopic surgery suffered toward the end of his college career. He appeared in 3 levels in 2010 hitting a combined .245/.331/.443 so his Iso's were not much different than his 2011 numbers.
He's built like a mini-me of Tommy Joseph. In fact, I though he WAS Tommy Joseph until I checked his number in the program at the Cal League game where I saw him play. He's got a short, compact swing that generates good power. He strikes out a lot, but also draws a good share of walks. Patient hitters are going to strike out more because, well, you can't have strike 3 until you first get to strike 2! He does seem to be able to drive pitches he swings at.
He has some Asian facial features, his middle name is Musashi and His mother's name is Izumi, so I would deduce that he is Japanese-American. I would think he will get a chance to show what he can do with AA pitching in 2012. If he does well there, hey, I think he have a long career as at least a utility IF/C at the MLB level.
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Great numbers there but a little old for the competition, yes? I can't get enough of how well the Giants have done with re-invigorating the system with power hitting types as compared with just a few years ago when the system was stocked with 5-tool flameouts (no offense to those guys, but I'm glad to see Sabean having learned from the Wendel Fairleys of the world).
ReplyDeleteAlso, how stocked is this system with catchers!? Reading between the lines, in two years I think the Giants have forced their own hand to move Posey from catcher to 2b, which I think would be Great move if Panik can stay at SS.
Also DrB, if you would, where else does Burg play, and with his frame (Tommy Joseph-esque?) where else can does he potentially profile as a super-utility?
Thanks for all the great work DrB, very nice to see a guy like Burg this far down the list.
Burg played 1B and 3B last year for San Jose and played them quite well, in addition to catcher. His body is very compact but not as heavy as Joseph who is absolutely built like the Rock of Gibralter. I would liken Burg to a light tank and Joseph to an Abrams heavy tank.
DeleteBerg is old if you are looking at him as a top prospect, but at age 23 in a league where the average player is roughly 23, he's not old for the competition either. And he was 17th overall in OPS, which is pretty good too. And despite playing roughly half the PA of the HR leaders, he still hit 14 and was tied for 23rd in the league (with Gary Brown). Had he played a full season there, and continued to hit for roughly the same rate, he probably would have been 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in HR.
DeleteUnfortunately, being a leader in HR in the Cal League does not mean much. Out of the three prior years, only Goldschmidt did anything in the majors subsequently, the other HR leaders I'm aware of as prospects, mostly failed prospects, like Chris Carter, Jon Gaston, who were the leaders the two prior years to Goldschmidt. When you can't control your strikeouts, don't matter how much HR power you got.
Given all this, DrB, I would have thought Burg would be higher in the rankings, a HR leader is still pretty good. Is it because he didn't show much before that is keeping him low? Or the high strikeout rate in San Jose?
Also, do you know what caused him to be assigned so late? Was he in instructional league where they revamped his hitting mechanics, because he was not that good in 2010 at all, then suddenly pretty good in San Jose, that suggest revamp to me.
Ha, serendipity strikes again. I searched on his name and it turns out that he hurt his leg in his senior year in college in a collision with USC's first baseman, Alex Oropesa, which I have to assume is Ricky Oropesa.
Also, according to this ABL blog post, Burg was working with Jason Ellison (?!?????) for five months on an "explosive leg kick": https://thebaseballdigest.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/top-ten-yanks-in-the-abl-alex-burg/#comment-1019
If Ellison could have ever shown us an explosive leg kick, he could have been our starting CF!
To Wendell Fairley, I would add Fred Lewis, and I think there were others touted that way too, oh yeah, RafRod.
Nothing against Burg, or anyone else on the list, but I gotta say I disagree with Monell not on the list ahead of some of these guys. I fully expect Monell to AT LEAST get a cup o' joe with someone, and likely put up a journeyman type career.
ReplyDeleteBurg may have more ceiling, but he also has a MUCH lower floor, and I would say his expectation is probably lower than Monell's.
Regardless, the Giants are absolutely STACKED at catcher. We have 2 legit stud prospects and numerous fringe prospects. This is all behind Posey who is one of the best catcher prospects to come along since Mauer (Santana and Moreno still have to show they can hang with him).
If I didn't think the 46 people in the Honorable Mention list didn't have chance at some sort of MLB career, I would not have put them there. Monell was a tough guy to leave off the Top 50. Maybe I should have added a #51 just for him? I agree that Monell has a great chance to have a nice career as a backup catcher. I don't agree that Burg has a much lower floor. Guys who can hit like Burg plus play multiple positions have a great shot at a nice career as a utility player and I don't think it's a slam dunk that Monell makes it that far.
DeleteWhen Hector Sanchez leapfrogged over Monell last year, I think that told you all you need to know about how the Giants view Monell.
Monell? He didn't hit better than Burg did in the Cal League, and he was even older that season too than Burg. And he didn't hit that well in AA last season either, .728 OPS is not that great for that league. While his strikeout rate is better than Burg's, it isn't even that good either.
DeleteHe's probably going to have to share the catcher's position with Burg in AA, with Hector Sanchez and Whiteside probably sharing C in AAA, and Susac most probably in San Jose.
Then there's Tommy Joseph who seems like he should be the primary catcher for Richmond.
DeleteI knew I forgot someone!!! Dang, I can't wait for me to get well from the bad flu/cough I've had since New Years!!!
DeleteSo basically there is no place for Monell or Burg to play regularly in 2012, Hector is probably the main C in AAA, Joseph in AA, Susac most probably in San Jose, or do you think the Giants might put him in Augusta and let Monell/Burg start in San Jose?
DrB,
ReplyDeleteI know this is off topic but I am curious about the Giant's television revenue. Being from SoCal I hear a lot about the Angel's $150MM/year deal and the possible $4B total (depending on where you hear it) that the Dodgers might receive after the team is sold. The only thing I could find out is that the Giant's possibly own stake in the company that shows the games (CSN Bay Area) but who knows what amount that is. I am wondering if they are locked in to anything or if they could get a blockbuster deal in the next few years. Any details would be appreciated for I could find nothing of value out there.
I'm not an expert on the by any means, but I seem to recall that the Giants deal is somewhere around $1.2 B for 10 years, or maybe it's 20? Can't believe anybody would lock into any deal for 20 years in this business. Anyway, if it's $1.2 B for 10, that would be about $120 M/yr., right?
DeleteYeah, I saw that for the Angels too. I have not been able to locate how much the Giants are getting from local media, but it certainly isn't $150M.
DeleteFor 2010, they had total revenues of $230M according to Forbes, but that does not include revenues used to pay off the stadium debt, so that's roughly $250M. Gate receipts was $107M.
I found one report that KNBR was paying $5-6M per season up to 2009. Wikipedia says the Giants own 30% of CSN Bay Area. Could not find any other numbers.
I should note that there was a Mercury article in 2009 talking about the Giants extension to 2012 for one of their media deals but their archive blocks out usage except for paying customers.
DeleteI've been trying to find such financial info before but have been unsuccessful. I probably need to access the local business papers to find that.
Speaking of depth at catcher in the system...
ReplyDeletehttp://mlbreports.com/2012/01/29/murray-interview/