The Giants seem to be having as much trouble with their Christmas shopping as I do every year, so to distract from theirs and my shopping issues we'll continue our Impact Rookie Series. Just to show I'm not "relentlessly negative" we'll take a look at the Giants recent Rule 5 Draft acquisition, Drew Ferguson.
Drew Ferguson, OF. DOB: 8/3/1992. B-R, T-R. 5'11", 180 lbs.
2018 AAA: .305/.436/.429, 11 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 6 SB, 15.75 BB%, 20.89 K%, 292 PA.
Career MILB: .297/.393/.455, 84 2B, 7 3B, 35 HR, 65 SB, 12.03 BB%, 19.75 K%, 1504 PA.
Of all the Giants offseason acquisitions so far, I am most intrigued by Drew Ferguson who was their second pick in the the Rule 5 Draft out of the Astros organization. He was a senior draftee out of Belmont College in 2015 so has flown under the radar as a prospect. What intrigues me is he has a relatively rare profile of a contact/gap power hitter who also draws a lot of walks which makes him a veritable on-base machine. While he does not have any single outstanding tool, he does have 5 tools that are at least average. He's capable of playing all 3 OF positions.
The Giants have needed a leadoff hitter with his skill set for years now and have nobody else that fits the profile coming into 2019 so maybe Ferguson is the guy? He may start out as a 4'th or 5'th OF or the RH half of a platoon, but I could see him working his way into a starting job due to his elite leadoff skills. If that happens, he would become a fantasy baseball asset in BA and Runs and would be even better in OBP leagues. Comp is Adam Eaton.
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The short comment on Ferguson in the Giants’ top 30 prospects’ list says that he “earns raves for his baseball IQ.” If so, he seems still more promising as a leadoff hitter.
ReplyDeleteOff topic thought here, the offseason is really long and after worrying about the Giants for the last few weeks I had to think about something else. It occurred to me that nobody has talked about expansion recently.
ReplyDeleteIn the last 50 years there have been expansion teams added throughout the decades with 5 teams between ‘69 and ‘77 added and another 4 teams added between ‘93 and ‘98. About 15 years between bubbles and here we are 20 years since the last expansion teams were added (Rays and D-Backs). With more players in minor leagues than any other sport doesn’t it make sense to expand?
I’m mostly curious because I enjoy the international involvement in baseball and would love to see it played everywhere. With all the countries in the Caribbean playing ball along with Japan and Korea having competitive leagues it just makes sense that MLB would someday expand into those regions right?
I would propose adding 6 teams making it 36 teams total in divisions of 6. Games would be spread out more so something like 50 games against division opponents and the rest spread out among the other 5 divisions. Invitations could be sent to prospective countries but I think Cuba (AL East), Mexico (NL Central), Puerto Rico (NL East), Japan (2 teams for AL & NL West), and Korea (AL Central) make the most sense. Any chance of this becoming a reality in the next ten to twenty years?
Expansion is a fun thought. (Keep in mind, 8 or 9 years ago MLB was thinking about contacting.)
DeleteBefore major international expansion, I think MLB should drop the pretense of separate leagues and do a major realignment. If MLB wants Giants fans to care about a rivalry with the A’s, they need to be in the same division.
With expansion, we’d see expanded playoffs, and need to scale back the regular season.
Travel (which is kind of a thing currently just in the US) would be huge. Especially into Japan. (Who probably would fight it.)
However they get there, I’d like to see a true “World” Series.
Probably need to settle the stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa-St Pete before expanding, but Portland is building a Field of Dreams hoping "they" will come. San Antonio could probably handle a team as well as the Raleigh-Durham area in NC.
DeleteRule 5 working as intended to free up talent bottled up in an organization.
ReplyDeleteAM I correct or wrong to say that Ferguson matches up with Slater - so that SLater os most at jeopardy with this signing.
Both RH hitting OF with good averages but limited power.
Probably. I think Slater still has an option so he would likely be sent down to AAA for depth while keeping Ferguson on the 25-man due to Rule 5 rules.
DeleteRelatively, Tokyo isn't much farther by jet from Seattle and the West Coast than the West coast was from the east coast by propeller planes which were the air mode of travel in the early days of baseball in SF and LA, and more comfortable and less stressful than long propeller driven aircraft of the early 60s.
ReplyDeleteBefore air travel, very long train trips were the norm for travel between Boston (Red Sox and Braves) and St Louis (Browns and Cardinals). Trains between cities were often overnight trips.
Two three-game series in major Japanese cities (in addition to Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world, are many very big cities such as Osaka, the size of Chicago) with a day of travel coming and going would not be a whole lot different from today, especially on lower pressurization of the 787's.
That makes two 16-team leagues in expansion with existing cities although Oakland may remain a problem but not insurmountable: San Antonio, Portland, Charlotte.
There's a lot of talk about a new Oakland stadium north of the Colosseum at the site of Howard Terminal with private funding.
Mexico City is huge -- like NYC.