John Sickels has posted his Giants Top 20 prospects for 2013 over at Minor League Ball(minorleagueball.com). Here they are. You might want to go check it out for his comments.
1. Kyle Crick, RHP
2. Chris Stratton, RHP
3. Clayton Blackburn, RHP
4. Gary Brown, OF
5. Joe Panik, SS
6. Heath Hembree, RHP
7. Mike Kickham, LHP
8. Martin Agosta, RHP
9. Andrew Susac, C
10. Francisco Peguero, OF
11. Mac Williamson, OF.
12. Chris Heston, RHP
13. Steven Okert, LHP
14. Stephen Johnson, RHP
15. EJ Encinosa, RHP
16. Josh Osich, LHP
17. Adalberto Mejia, LHP
18. Edwin Escobar, LHP
19. Adam Duvall, 3B
20. Ricky Oropesa, 1B
Others: Ehire Adrianza SS, Bryce Bandilla LHP, Brett Bochy RHP, Gustavo Cabrera OF, Jesus Galindo OF, Ian Gardeck RHP, Conor Gillaspie 3B, Joan Gregorio RHP, Cody Hall RHP, Tyler Hollick OF, Chuckie Jones OF, Rogers Kieschnick OF, Chris Marlowe RHP, Shilo McCall OF, Mason McVay LHP, Keury Mella RHP, Nick Noonan INF, Shawn Payne OF, Eric Surkamp LHP.
Around the League: Melky Cabera agreed to a 2 year/$16 M contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. I think Melky is the best value on the FA market and will tear it up in Toronto and the AL East where he should hit more HR's than in the NL West.
Giants are reportedly still focused on re-signing Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro who are testing the market.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
Buster Posey: MVP!
Buster Posey joined a long list of Giants to be awarded the NL MVP award yesterday. I posted my Thoughts on Buster Posey fairly recently, so I'll keep this on short. You can look it up in the archives. Just a few random thoughts to add:
Giants fans have been blessed over the years to cheer for some amazing players. Previous winners include Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Kevin Mitchell, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey.
What? Will Clark never won a MVP? That is just wrong!
What sets Buster apart from the previous Giants winners(except for Willie Mays while the team was still in New York) is that he led them to a championship in the process.
My favorite factoid: Buster is the first catcher to win the NL MVP since Johnny Bench in 1972.
It would seem to be a strong possibility that had Buster not been injured in 2011, the Giants would be celebrating a 3-peat. Think about THAT!
What are your thoughts on Buster Posey winning the NL MVP?
Giants fans have been blessed over the years to cheer for some amazing players. Previous winners include Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Kevin Mitchell, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey.
What? Will Clark never won a MVP? That is just wrong!
What sets Buster apart from the previous Giants winners(except for Willie Mays while the team was still in New York) is that he led them to a championship in the process.
My favorite factoid: Buster is the first catcher to win the NL MVP since Johnny Bench in 1972.
It would seem to be a strong possibility that had Buster not been injured in 2011, the Giants would be celebrating a 3-peat. Think about THAT!
What are your thoughts on Buster Posey winning the NL MVP?
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Scouting the Draft: Oscar Mercado
BA came out with their High School Top 100 list yesterday. Oscar Mercado is a shortstop who has been linked to the Giants in at least 1 mock draft. Other mocks have him going significantly higher. BA has him ranked #11 on the HS list which means he is borderline for being available at #27 for the Giants. Of course, chances go up if they can move up in the draft as teams lose picks for signing FA's with qualified offers.
Mercado is a 6'2", 175 lb HS SS out of Florida. He is committed to Florida State. He bats R and throws R. Big League Futures rates him as the top SS in the draft. BA ranks him second behind JP Crawford. He does not have any one outstanding tool but is an excellent all-around athlete. Projects more as a line drive hitting with gap power than a slugger. He is projected as a true SS who will stick at the position.
Big League Futures has a more complete write up as well as some video. You can find video on Youtube also.
Check it out and tell me what you think.
I really like the kid and would be happy if he fell to the Giants and they grabbed him.
AFL Update: Chris Gloor pitched 5 shutout innings yesterday to lower his ERA to 2.70. Saw a note in BA that LHP Ryan Bradley was assigned to the AFL. Not sure who, if anybody, got sent home.
Mercado is a 6'2", 175 lb HS SS out of Florida. He is committed to Florida State. He bats R and throws R. Big League Futures rates him as the top SS in the draft. BA ranks him second behind JP Crawford. He does not have any one outstanding tool but is an excellent all-around athlete. Projects more as a line drive hitting with gap power than a slugger. He is projected as a true SS who will stick at the position.
Big League Futures has a more complete write up as well as some video. You can find video on Youtube also.
Check it out and tell me what you think.
I really like the kid and would be happy if he fell to the Giants and they grabbed him.
AFL Update: Chris Gloor pitched 5 shutout innings yesterday to lower his ERA to 2.70. Saw a note in BA that LHP Ryan Bradley was assigned to the AFL. Not sure who, if anybody, got sent home.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Hot Stove Update: Marlins Complete Firesale
Wow! Hard to know where to start with this one. The Florida Marlins, who just one year ago were among the biggest spenders of the offseason, just completed the razing of that team by sending Josh Johnson, Mark Buerhle, Jose Reyes, John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio to Toronto for SS Yunel Escobar, SS Adeiny Hechavarria, RHP Henderson Alvarez, C Jeff Mathis, and 3 prospects: OF Jake Marisnick, LHP Justin Nicolino and RHP Anthony DeSclafani. In prior trades, the Marlins had unloaded Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Edward Mujica receiving among others, RHP Nate Eovaldi, RHP Justin Turner 3B Zack Cox and C Rob Brantly.
The trade created an immediate firestorm of protest from almost all observers as Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria once again dismantles a team for apparent financial gain. At the same time, some of the same people criticizing the trades from a PR standpoint admit that the moves make sense from a purely baseball standpoint. What raises a stench about the whole thing is the new stadium, revenue sharing and the fact that the Marlins heavily backloaded all those contracts last year while refusing to give no-trade clauses. It would appear that perhaps they were planning a 1 year splash and one of their patented firesales no matter what the outcome of last year's campaign was.
I'm going to refrain from jumping on the condemnation bandwagon for the time being. To be sure, Jeffrey Loria seems like a terrible owner who is in it only for the money and has found a bottom feeding way to make lots of it. On the other hand, you can look at it as a very smart way to build a team for the future. The Marlins did get a a boatload of fairly good prospects in these deals, prospects they would not have had a chance of getting had they not had those players to trade. They essentially parlayed a relatively small amount of upfront money into a lot of prospects and now let some other team pay the expensive parts of the FA contracts. If Billy Beane had pulled that stunt it would be hailed as the latest Moneyball breakthrough!
It just seems a bit hypocritical to me that Billy Beane has just been named Executive of the Year for doing essentially what the Marlins just did. Remember last offseason when Billy was being criticized for his own firesale which was seen by some as trying to manipulate MLB into speeding up approval of the new stadium in San Jose? Well, look who got the last laugh on that one!
What's your take?
The trade created an immediate firestorm of protest from almost all observers as Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria once again dismantles a team for apparent financial gain. At the same time, some of the same people criticizing the trades from a PR standpoint admit that the moves make sense from a purely baseball standpoint. What raises a stench about the whole thing is the new stadium, revenue sharing and the fact that the Marlins heavily backloaded all those contracts last year while refusing to give no-trade clauses. It would appear that perhaps they were planning a 1 year splash and one of their patented firesales no matter what the outcome of last year's campaign was.
I'm going to refrain from jumping on the condemnation bandwagon for the time being. To be sure, Jeffrey Loria seems like a terrible owner who is in it only for the money and has found a bottom feeding way to make lots of it. On the other hand, you can look at it as a very smart way to build a team for the future. The Marlins did get a a boatload of fairly good prospects in these deals, prospects they would not have had a chance of getting had they not had those players to trade. They essentially parlayed a relatively small amount of upfront money into a lot of prospects and now let some other team pay the expensive parts of the FA contracts. If Billy Beane had pulled that stunt it would be hailed as the latest Moneyball breakthrough!
It just seems a bit hypocritical to me that Billy Beane has just been named Executive of the Year for doing essentially what the Marlins just did. Remember last offseason when Billy was being criticized for his own firesale which was seen by some as trying to manipulate MLB into speeding up approval of the new stadium in San Jose? Well, look who got the last laugh on that one!
What's your take?
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Hot Stove Update: 3 Year Deal for Affeldt
MLBTR is reporting that the Giants and Jeremy Affeldt have agreed to a 3 year contract for a total of $18 M. Affeldt has been a vital part of 2 Giants World Series championships. He has been durable throughout his career except for a penchant for bizarre injuries that have nothing to do with pitching. Fortunately none of them have involved his left arm or hand and have not cost him significant DL time. Affeldt is a versatile reliever. He can get middle of the order LH batters out in high leverage situations, but he is also serviceable against RH batters as he showed against strongly RH leaning lineups in the 2012 postseason. He is capable of pitching full innings at a time, even more. He can close if he has to and probably even start.
When the Dodges gave Brandon League a 3 year $22 M contract to fire up the hot stove, it probably set Affeldt's market value. Although I hate to see teams do business that way, the Giants had to follow suit and get this deal done. Of the 3 major FA's, Pagan, Scutaro and Affeldt, Affeldt was probably the one the Giants could least afford to lose and the most difficult to replace.
Approximately 70-90% of the world's population is right-hand dominant while only about 10% is purely left hand dominant. There appears to be some selection bias for lefthanders in baseball with up to 25% of baseball players being naturally left-handed. Being able to hit lefthanded against a right-handed throwing pitcher is enough of a competitive advantage that more and more young aspiring ballplayers learn to swing the bat from the left side. Last year, 50% of the top 100 OPS hitters in MLB either hit exclusively from the left side or were switch-hitters. Many of those batters throw the ball right handed when on the field. By contrast, just 25% of the top ERA's in MLB were by LH pitchers.
The most common way for analysts to measure player value is by a calculated statistic called WAR(Wins Above Replacement). Analysts who depend on this method have long complained that many teams in baseball overpay for relief pitchers, particularly lefthanded relief pitchers. Here's why these analysts are wrong: WAR does not account for differences between high and low leverage situations. Leverage is a recognized concept in sabermetrics. Sabermetricians have long believed that teams should use their best reliever in high leverage situations rather than saving him for the 9'th inning which is usually relatively low leverage. With 50% of the top hitters in baseball swinging the bat from the left side or switch-hitting, and left-handed pitchers having a competitive advantage against those batters, you have to have left-handed pitchers available to get those hitters out in high leverage situations late in games. Because WAR does not account for leverage, it underestimates the value of those lefthanded relievers.
The thing that makes Affeldt special is that he brings much more than his lefthandedness to the table. Not only can the Giants use him in high leverage situations to get lefthanded batters out, but he is serviceable against RH batters. They can, thus leave him in against RH batters so he can face other LH batters later in the game. While Affeldt pitched approximately 1 inning per appearance last year, Jose Mijares and Javier Lopez, the other two LHP's in the bullpen only pitched approximately 0.5 innings per appearance.
Even the most hardened naysayers are muting their criticism of this contract due to Brian Sabean and the Giants track record with Affeldt and the role he and the bullpen have played in their 2 WS wins. Some are objecting more on the grounds of the length of the contract. Affledt is 33 years old until June 6. He will be 37 when this contract runs out at the end of the 2015 season. While pitchers can break down physically any time, Affledt has proven to be durable. He appears to take care of himself and stay in excellent shape. Relievers put less cumulative stress on their arms than starters and therefore tend to have long careers often pitching into their 40's. Thee length of contract is an issue but an acceptable risk to take given the market for relievers and the alternative options available.
When the Dodges gave Brandon League a 3 year $22 M contract to fire up the hot stove, it probably set Affeldt's market value. Although I hate to see teams do business that way, the Giants had to follow suit and get this deal done. Of the 3 major FA's, Pagan, Scutaro and Affeldt, Affeldt was probably the one the Giants could least afford to lose and the most difficult to replace.
Approximately 70-90% of the world's population is right-hand dominant while only about 10% is purely left hand dominant. There appears to be some selection bias for lefthanders in baseball with up to 25% of baseball players being naturally left-handed. Being able to hit lefthanded against a right-handed throwing pitcher is enough of a competitive advantage that more and more young aspiring ballplayers learn to swing the bat from the left side. Last year, 50% of the top 100 OPS hitters in MLB either hit exclusively from the left side or were switch-hitters. Many of those batters throw the ball right handed when on the field. By contrast, just 25% of the top ERA's in MLB were by LH pitchers.
The most common way for analysts to measure player value is by a calculated statistic called WAR(Wins Above Replacement). Analysts who depend on this method have long complained that many teams in baseball overpay for relief pitchers, particularly lefthanded relief pitchers. Here's why these analysts are wrong: WAR does not account for differences between high and low leverage situations. Leverage is a recognized concept in sabermetrics. Sabermetricians have long believed that teams should use their best reliever in high leverage situations rather than saving him for the 9'th inning which is usually relatively low leverage. With 50% of the top hitters in baseball swinging the bat from the left side or switch-hitting, and left-handed pitchers having a competitive advantage against those batters, you have to have left-handed pitchers available to get those hitters out in high leverage situations late in games. Because WAR does not account for leverage, it underestimates the value of those lefthanded relievers.
The thing that makes Affeldt special is that he brings much more than his lefthandedness to the table. Not only can the Giants use him in high leverage situations to get lefthanded batters out, but he is serviceable against RH batters. They can, thus leave him in against RH batters so he can face other LH batters later in the game. While Affeldt pitched approximately 1 inning per appearance last year, Jose Mijares and Javier Lopez, the other two LHP's in the bullpen only pitched approximately 0.5 innings per appearance.
Even the most hardened naysayers are muting their criticism of this contract due to Brian Sabean and the Giants track record with Affeldt and the role he and the bullpen have played in their 2 WS wins. Some are objecting more on the grounds of the length of the contract. Affledt is 33 years old until June 6. He will be 37 when this contract runs out at the end of the 2015 season. While pitchers can break down physically any time, Affledt has proven to be durable. He appears to take care of himself and stay in excellent shape. Relievers put less cumulative stress on their arms than starters and therefore tend to have long careers often pitching into their 40's. Thee length of contract is an issue but an acceptable risk to take given the market for relievers and the alternative options available.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Thoughts on Brandon Belt
As I have said many times, and many of you readers too, one of the more satisfying subplots of the 2012 season was the establishment of two additional homegrown starters to the Giants roster, The Brandons. We've already discussed the growth and contributions of Brandon Crawford, so it's time to turn our attention to the other Brandon, Brandon Belt.
Before doing that, though, let's just consider for a minute just how significant the successful graduation of these two talents is to the reputation of the Giants farm system and to their future. Brandon Crawford was drafted in the 4'th round in 2008 while Brandon Belt was drafted in the 5'th round in 2009. Now, ogc has correctly pointed out the relative futility of drafting later than the top 10 picks in the draft, let alone in the 4'th and 5'th rounds. Many teams, including the Giants, go a decade or more without having picks in that range get so much as a cup of coffee in the majors, let alone develop two starting players. Being able to fill 2 of 8 offensive positions with homegrown players taken that late in the draft is an enormous competitive advantage for the organization going forward taking pressure off the draft and farm system as well as the FA budget.
Back to Brandon Belt. Belt was drafted in the 5'th round in 2009 out of the University of Texas where he had a rather undistinguished college career. The Giants had a scout who saw something and advocated strongly for Brandon in the draft room. The Giants knew about his plate discipline and ability to hit for average, but the scout had seen him crush a ball to dead center and knew he also had the power potential.
Belt did not play pro ball in 2009, instead going to instructional league where the Giants got him to open up his batting stance and put some loft into his swing. What followed in 2010 was one of the greatest breakout seasons by a prospect in the entire history of baseball! Starting at high A ball in San Jose, Belt put up a batting line of .381/.491/.626 with 10 HR and 18 SB in 334 PA. He moved up to AA Richmond, a place where hitting prospects go to die, and went .337/.413/.623 with 9 HR in 201 PA. He then played the last 13 games of the season in Fresno hitting just .229 but with an OBP of .393 and a SLG% of .563 with another 4 HR's in 61 PA. In the fall, he moved on to the Arizona Fall League and hit .372/.427/.616 in 96 PA's.
Belt was the toast of the prospect watching world and expectations had become impossibly high. He had a strong spring training to begin 2011. The Giants debated whether to put him on the 25 man active roster from day one, and when Cody Ross came up with a calf strain in the last week, it sealed the deal. The Giants even moved an obviously out of shape Aubrey Huff to the OF to make room. That didn't work out so well as Belt struggled to a .196 BA in the first month of the season while Huff was a disaster in the OF. A dejected Belt was sent down to Fresno to work on some things and the criticism of the Giants handling of the situation was loud with some saying Belt should not have been rushed and others saying he should not have been sent down and some saying both!
Belt was recalled at the end of May and appeared in 2 games before breaking his hand and missing the next 6 weeks on the DL and rehabbing in the minors. He was called back in July and was better, hitting .263 in the month. Overall, from the time he came back from the injury to the end of the season, he appeared in 42 games with 142 PA's putting up a slash line of .231/.300/.469 with 8 of his 9 HR's.
After some initial lineup juggling, Belt settled in as the starting 1B for the Giants in 2012. The first 4 months of the season were a roller coaster with Brandon looking lost at the plate for stretches and occasionally earning a day of two off to pull himself back together. The Giants stuck with him as the starting 1B, though, except for occasional days when Buster Posey slid down to first base to rest his legs but keep his bat in the lineup.
Belt seemed to finally find himself down the stretch batting .329/.390/.418 in August and September. Something that went almost unnoticed down the stretch with everyone focusing on the exploits of Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Buster Posey was that the Brandons, along with Gregor Blanco, had become an offensive force at the bottom of the lineup. It appeared to me just from eyeballing it while watching most of their games down the stretch, that the bottom of the lineup was producing about a run per game which was taking a lot of pressure off the top of the lineup. Looking up the RC stats, it appears that indeed, over the last 2 months of the season those 3 batters created a total of 58 runs in the last 59 games and they did not all play together every day.
As for the future, Belt should start next season knowing he is the starting first baseman. Although he looked lost again at times in the postseason, he showed an ability to make adjustments and correct his approach on the fly. That, combined with his strong finish to the regular season should bode well for 2012. Most likely we will still see struggles, but they should be for shorter periods of time with longer periods of success. I would expect to see more power as he gets more confident and comfortable at the plate. There is the potential for a huge breakout along the lines of what we saw in the minors, but more likely a solid progression from his 2012 performance. All of which makes Brian Sabean's job a whole lot easier this offseason.
Before doing that, though, let's just consider for a minute just how significant the successful graduation of these two talents is to the reputation of the Giants farm system and to their future. Brandon Crawford was drafted in the 4'th round in 2008 while Brandon Belt was drafted in the 5'th round in 2009. Now, ogc has correctly pointed out the relative futility of drafting later than the top 10 picks in the draft, let alone in the 4'th and 5'th rounds. Many teams, including the Giants, go a decade or more without having picks in that range get so much as a cup of coffee in the majors, let alone develop two starting players. Being able to fill 2 of 8 offensive positions with homegrown players taken that late in the draft is an enormous competitive advantage for the organization going forward taking pressure off the draft and farm system as well as the FA budget.
Back to Brandon Belt. Belt was drafted in the 5'th round in 2009 out of the University of Texas where he had a rather undistinguished college career. The Giants had a scout who saw something and advocated strongly for Brandon in the draft room. The Giants knew about his plate discipline and ability to hit for average, but the scout had seen him crush a ball to dead center and knew he also had the power potential.
Belt did not play pro ball in 2009, instead going to instructional league where the Giants got him to open up his batting stance and put some loft into his swing. What followed in 2010 was one of the greatest breakout seasons by a prospect in the entire history of baseball! Starting at high A ball in San Jose, Belt put up a batting line of .381/.491/.626 with 10 HR and 18 SB in 334 PA. He moved up to AA Richmond, a place where hitting prospects go to die, and went .337/.413/.623 with 9 HR in 201 PA. He then played the last 13 games of the season in Fresno hitting just .229 but with an OBP of .393 and a SLG% of .563 with another 4 HR's in 61 PA. In the fall, he moved on to the Arizona Fall League and hit .372/.427/.616 in 96 PA's.
Belt was the toast of the prospect watching world and expectations had become impossibly high. He had a strong spring training to begin 2011. The Giants debated whether to put him on the 25 man active roster from day one, and when Cody Ross came up with a calf strain in the last week, it sealed the deal. The Giants even moved an obviously out of shape Aubrey Huff to the OF to make room. That didn't work out so well as Belt struggled to a .196 BA in the first month of the season while Huff was a disaster in the OF. A dejected Belt was sent down to Fresno to work on some things and the criticism of the Giants handling of the situation was loud with some saying Belt should not have been rushed and others saying he should not have been sent down and some saying both!
Belt was recalled at the end of May and appeared in 2 games before breaking his hand and missing the next 6 weeks on the DL and rehabbing in the minors. He was called back in July and was better, hitting .263 in the month. Overall, from the time he came back from the injury to the end of the season, he appeared in 42 games with 142 PA's putting up a slash line of .231/.300/.469 with 8 of his 9 HR's.
After some initial lineup juggling, Belt settled in as the starting 1B for the Giants in 2012. The first 4 months of the season were a roller coaster with Brandon looking lost at the plate for stretches and occasionally earning a day of two off to pull himself back together. The Giants stuck with him as the starting 1B, though, except for occasional days when Buster Posey slid down to first base to rest his legs but keep his bat in the lineup.
Belt seemed to finally find himself down the stretch batting .329/.390/.418 in August and September. Something that went almost unnoticed down the stretch with everyone focusing on the exploits of Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Buster Posey was that the Brandons, along with Gregor Blanco, had become an offensive force at the bottom of the lineup. It appeared to me just from eyeballing it while watching most of their games down the stretch, that the bottom of the lineup was producing about a run per game which was taking a lot of pressure off the top of the lineup. Looking up the RC stats, it appears that indeed, over the last 2 months of the season those 3 batters created a total of 58 runs in the last 59 games and they did not all play together every day.
As for the future, Belt should start next season knowing he is the starting first baseman. Although he looked lost again at times in the postseason, he showed an ability to make adjustments and correct his approach on the fly. That, combined with his strong finish to the regular season should bode well for 2012. Most likely we will still see struggles, but they should be for shorter periods of time with longer periods of success. I would expect to see more power as he gets more confident and comfortable at the plate. There is the potential for a huge breakout along the lines of what we saw in the minors, but more likely a solid progression from his 2012 performance. All of which makes Brian Sabean's job a whole lot easier this offseason.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Fantasy Focus Prospect Edition: Oscar Taveras
Over the last few years, I've give a friend of mine who also plays fantasy baseball a few tips on prospects coming into the league which have worked out well for him. Now he periodically asks me if I know of any good ones coming along. I figure if he's that interested then maybe there are readers out there who might be too. I thought I would write a series of mini-profiles of some of the top prospects who I think will become fantasy relevant within the next year or two. This is a different exercise than simply reviewing top prospects as you would not be interested in 17 year olds who haven't played above rookie ball unless you are in a deep dynasty league. These will be in no particular order.
First up is St. Louis Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras. As if he Cardinals don't already have enough talent at the MLB level, they also have one of the better stocked farm systems in the game. Taveras is an example of how you don't necessarily have to spend 7 figures on international players to get high ceiling prospects as he was originally signed as a 16 year old out of the DR for $145 K in 2008. He bats and throws lefthanded. He is not particularly big by today's standards at 6'2", 180 lbs, but is compact and wiry strong. He's got a quick, powerful swing on a fairly level plane, maybe a minimal uppercut. Every scouting report I've read absolutely raves about his eye-hand coordination and his ability to "barrel" the ball in all areas of the strike zone. Despite that, he seems to have a god eye at the plate with excellent walk rates at all levels. He has played all 3 OF position, but profiles as a RF. He's not a speed burner and will probably not steal a lot of bases, but is also not a base-clogger. The Cardinals have been deliberate in how they have promoted him despite the eye popping numbers he's generated at almost every level.
Here is a summary of his pro experience starting with his age 16 season in the DSL(his BD is June 19. I will list his age from the start of each season):
Age 16 DSL .257/.338/.392, 13 2B, 8 3B, 1 HR, 28 BB, 36 K in 237 AB.
Age 17 Short Season .322/.362/.526, 13 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 12 BB, 42 K in 211 AB.
Age 18 Low A(MWL) .386/.444/.584, 27 2B, 5 3B, 8 HR, 32 BB, 52 K in 308 AB.
Age 19 AA .321/.380/.572, 37 2B, 7 3B, 23 HR, 10 SB, 42 BB, 56 K in 477 AB.
His .386 BA in the MWL was the highest in that very tough league for hitters since 1956! He is currently tearing up the Dominican Winter League with a .339 BA.
Taveras could probably start for a lot of MLB teams right now. The Cards are pretty well set in the OF with Holliday, Jay and Beltran out of the gate, so they can afford to be conservative with Taveras and start his age 20 season in AAA. Beltran is fairly fragile, though, so an opportunity could arise mid-season. The other possibility is that Taveras could force the issue and trigger some kind of trade to make room for him. If and when that happens, he's somone fantasy owners will want to consider rostering from day 1 of his MLB career. Keeper leaguers may want to draft him and stash him on the bench. He will likely be a big asset in 4 categories with a relative lack of SB's keeping him from being a 5 category stud in the Mike Trout/Matt Kemp/Bryce Harper club.
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