Angel Villalona has a lot of catching up to do. He did a lot of catching up in 2013, and he's still working on it. In 2009, Angel was a very young, very raw power hitting prospect coming off a season of mixed results in San Jose. That was his age 18 season(his birthday is 8/13). It looked like he had all the time in the world to develop that power tool. He did not play in the USA again until 2013 in his age 22 season. He was accused of murder in a murky case in his hometown of La Romana. It took him 2 years to pull himself out of the apparent cesspool that is the legal system in the Dominican Republic then another year to convince USA immigration authorities to let him back. He bided his time for a full season in the DSL where he played well, but by that time he was a 21 years old playing against 17 year olds.
Finally back in the States for 2013, Angel was assigned to High A San Jose. He continued to strike out at an alarming rate and did not draw many walks, but his pitch selection was far improved from 2009, at least by my observation. When he did make contact, the ball jumped. 30 of his 65 hits were for extra bases.
He was promoted to AA Richmond midseason, at least in part, I think, because Ricky Oropesa was struggling and the Giants wanted to get Ricky out of there. You had to wonder whether Angel V would break .100 on his BA in a place like the EL, but he held his own, smacking another 8 HR's for a total of 22 on the combined season line.
That earned him an assignment to the AFL where he struggled in a very small sample size of 65 AB: .200/.243/.246 with 3 doubles out of 13 hits. That is not a good line no matter how you look at it, but again, it is a very small sample size. With the AFL now in the books, Angel is back in the DR(yikes!) looking for more AB's in the DWL. His minor league bio page has him in just one game going 0 for 4 with 2 K's.
Where does this leave Angel Villalona in the future scheme of things? By my calculations, he has 1 year of options left(he was vulnerable to the Rule 5 draft after the 2011 season despite missing those 2 seasons, which hardly seems fair at all, and was added to the 40 man roster at that time.). Unless there is some exception that gives the Giants an extra year of options, he will have to be kept on the 25 man MLB Active Roster in 2015 or be exposed to waivers.
I continue to believe that Angel V has a high ceiling, but it is hard to imagine that he is going to be ready to hit MLB pitching by 2015. Age-wise, he has 3-4 years of development before he starts to become impossibly old to be a prospect, but the option clock is ticking ominously. Then there is Brandon Belt, who is looking more and more entrenched at 1B for the forseeable future. Angel reportedly continues to take groundballs at 3B before every game, but to my eye, it's hard to imagine him fielding the position in a competitive game despite his deceptive athleticism.
Angel Villalona's pitch selection and plate discipline issues may well keep him from ever developing into the power hitter he can be, but I'm tellin' ya, there is toonder in that bat!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting review on Angel. Generally, I believe there is a bus ticket waiting for him fall of 2014. Caveat, it will take a tremendous year in Richmond/ Fresno to cancel it. I believe, Ricky O now has a higher ceiling then Angel. I expect Ricky to have a very good spring, and head back to Richmond, and then mid season move to Fresno. It is more a hunch then any intrinsic insight .
ReplyDeleteRichard in Winnipeg
Richard in Winnipeg
I believe Ricky is still highly regarded by the Giants, but they also appear to be giving Angel V every chance to make up for those lost years. How it plays out will be in interesting storyline.
DeleteHi Richard. Stop by and say hello to the GEers sometime. I'm with you, send Villalona on that bus to the DR. Never mind if the bus doesn't float. No plate discipline; he'll continue to get eaten alive by more advanced pitching.
DeleteThe bus ticket won't be to DR. There'll be plenty of teams willing to give him another chance.
DeleteShould have been manslaughter charges, and any time you have booze, 18 year olds, firearms and a lax laws... Who knows what happened, but every eyewitness account I've read from Giants fans most specifically his host family is that he's an absolute shy sweetheart. You never know with people of course.
ReplyDelete26.3 K% this year, the contact is an issue, but 22 HRs is pretty nice, only Mac W and Devin Harris bested him in the Giants system. Raw power is the rarest commodity there is right now, so you gotta give it chances to play. Angel will pass 2K PAs this next year, that'll be something. Hope they can work a tad on the BB% along with the grounders at third.
Personally, I'm not convinced anybody even died in this case.
DeleteThe other entity that needs to be investigated is the US State Department employee who rejected his application to re-enter the US. What was the excuse again????
DeleteCan't blame the State Department personnel for being cautious here, although I think it would be better to be upfront about it and say it's because of his legal issues rather than making up an excuse such as he is not an elite athlete.
DeleteThere is power and then there is BIG TIME power. Big time power is very rare, and it cannot be taught. When you find big time power in the body of a guy that is athletic, you don't put it on a bus unless you are darn sure it comes with too many drawbacks. For what it's worth, Villalona is very well liked by teammates, is a hard worker and responds well to input from coaches. He may never develop the plate disciple needed to be successful at the big league level. But, if he does, look out!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I agree completely.
DeleteWell said
ReplyDeletePower in a bat is the one tool you don't want to give up on... but I don't think I'm quite as high on Angel V. at this point. The AB's I saw from the AFL were pretty poor, although that's not nearly enough to form a complete opinion. What soured me on him was his progression throughout the AFL, or lack thereof. As the season went on, his bat seemed to disappear entirely. I'm guessing this was a result of pitchers realizing they didn't have to give him anything to hit. Just tempt him and he'll chase. I'll be looking to see if he's the one doing the adjusting next year, instead of the opposite. Sometimes I forget that he missed so much time, and that he really is still catching up in his development. Only time will tell...
ReplyDeleteI guess I was impressed by how much progress I saw between 2009 and 2013, but yeah, he still has a long way to go.
Delete