#16 Seth Rosin, RHP. BD: 11/2/1988. 6'5", 235 lbs. B-R, T- R.
Short Season(Salem-Keizer): 1-1, 4.91, 11 IP, 1 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 1.67. College(Minnesota): 9-4, 4.72, 103 IP, 12 BB, 93 K's.
You may have noticed a paucity of highly ranked pitching prospects on this list. After years of having pitchers dominate Giants top prospect lists, it seems strange the the lions's share of top prospects in the system are position players. I am optimistic that this imbalance will be corrected in the near future and a big part of that is because of pitchers in the system like Seth Rosin. He is at the top of a fairly long list of pitching prospects in the system with great arms and tremendous upside who have a great chance to break out within the next two years.
Seth Rosin is a big kid who was the Friday starter for Minnesota, a well respected D1 college program. Although his ERA was not spectacular, his K and BB stats reflected a much better performance. His season culminated in a dominating performance against none other than Cal State Fullerton in CSF's home stadium in the college playoffs. In my own pre-draft analysis, I had Rosin right up there with other college starters like Deck McGuire, Asher Wojciekowski, and others who went much higher in the draft, so I think the Giants got tremendous value when they were able to grab him in the 4'th round.
Rosin is listed at 6'5", but other reports have him at 6'6" and even 6'7". John Klima has extensive scouting reports, writeups, video and a Q/A on Seth on his website baseballbeginnings.com. If you go to the site, just type Seth's name into the search function and you will find a treasure trove on information. Make sure to look at he scouting video. Trust me, it's awesome!
Seth throws two fastballs, a 4 seamer that goes 94-96 MPH and a 2 seamer that goes 92-94. He has 80 command of both pitches on both corners of the plate. His best secondary pitch is a changeup that goes in the mid 70's, so there is as nice differential there. He throws it with the same arm angle and motion so he hides it well too. He had a rudimentary curveball in college that he seldom used, but the Giants had him throwing a hard slider in the NWL. If he can put those fastballs in the inside corner in the pros, he will leave a lot of wood splinters scattered around the ball fields he plays on!
He got off to a nice start in Salem-Keizer until giving up 4 runs in his last outing that blew up his ERA. The 9/1 K/BB is right in line with his college performance. The Giants shut him down after that due to fatigue from the long college season that extended into the college playoffs. His arm is reportedly healthy and he's spending his offseason working on conditioning.
I think his likely destination is San Jose. I can hardly wait to see him pitch! Last year, BA ran an article saying that fastball command is the single best predictor of future success for pitching prospects. If that is true, Seth might just be the best pitching prospect in the entire 2010 draft! He should be a fast mover in the system with the potential for a huge breakout and long term dominance. He's my #1 sleeper/breakout prospect from a system that is full of sleepers and breakout potential.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Down on the Farm: DrB's 2011 Giants Top 50 Prospects- #15 Nick Noonan
#15 Nick Noonan, 2B. BD: 5/4/1989. 6'0, 180 lbs. B-L, T-R.
AA: .237/.280/.304.
Nick Noonan struggled at the plate in Richmond and battled hamstring problems most of the season. In the process, Charlie Culberson, who moved to 2B just this last season has likely moved ahead of him on the Giants 2B prospects depth chart. It's pretty tough to find any positives from the season for Nick. So, why am I still ranking him in the top 20? I still think he's more of a natural second baseman than Culberson and he is still young enough that repeating the level won't put him behind in development. One alarming trend is his BA from his first season as a pro:
2007 AZL .316.
2008 Low A .279.
2009 High A .259
2010 AA .237
I'm guessing the Giants jump Culberson to Fresno and ask Nick to repeat AA, but then I am so bad at guessing where the Giants assign their prospects that is a fairly safe bet to go 180 degrees opposite of what I think. 2011 is a critical year for him as he really needs to start showing the talent that made him the #32 overall pick in the 2008 draft and reverse the downward trend in is BA.
AA: .237/.280/.304.
Nick Noonan struggled at the plate in Richmond and battled hamstring problems most of the season. In the process, Charlie Culberson, who moved to 2B just this last season has likely moved ahead of him on the Giants 2B prospects depth chart. It's pretty tough to find any positives from the season for Nick. So, why am I still ranking him in the top 20? I still think he's more of a natural second baseman than Culberson and he is still young enough that repeating the level won't put him behind in development. One alarming trend is his BA from his first season as a pro:
2007 AZL .316.
2008 Low A .279.
2009 High A .259
2010 AA .237
I'm guessing the Giants jump Culberson to Fresno and ask Nick to repeat AA, but then I am so bad at guessing where the Giants assign their prospects that is a fairly safe bet to go 180 degrees opposite of what I think. 2011 is a critical year for him as he really needs to start showing the talent that made him the #32 overall pick in the 2008 draft and reverse the downward trend in is BA.
Hot Stove Update: Agent Ned Adds HR's and Outs
I generally believe that since you can't control what other people do, it's generally best to focus on what you can do, or not do. This philosophy usually carries over to the sports teams I root for. If they take care of their own business they won't have to worry about what their rivals are up to. Of course, there are exceptions. A perfect example is last season when Brian Sabean worried about what the Padres might do with Cody Ross and placed a pre-emptive waiver claim. We all know how that turned out!
Another exception is pretty much everything the Dodgers do. Now, I can finally say that nothing beats the feeling of winning the World Series, but for a large portion of my life as a Giants fan, I have to admit that I was sometimes torn between which I enjoyed more, the Giants winning or the Dodgers losing. Having finally settled that and with the knowledge that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, I admit I have taken a peek or two at what the Dodgers are up to this offseason.
Ned Colletti, AKA Agent Ned, has done an admirable job of shoring up the back end of his starting pitching rotation by retaining Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla, and by adding Jon Garland. Some analysts have commented that the Dodgers now have the deepest rotation in baseball. I agree, it's an impressive bunch. Kuroda is a scary pitcher when he's healthy, but the other 3 are probably closer to Barry Zito than Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, if that good.
Last season, the Dodgers offense pretty much froze over after Manny went out with an injury. They had a severe lack of power and finished with just 120 HR's, the 3'rd lowest total in baseball. Agent Ned set out to correct that deficit, and did a good job. He retained Rod Barajas who will probably hit about 16 more HR's than Russell Martin. He added Juan Uribe who can be expected to add about 20 HR's over Ryan Theriot or Jamey Carroll, and retained Jon Gibbons and added Marcus Thames who will likely combine for about 20 more HR's than Scotty Pods. All in all, I'm estimating that the Dodgers are likely to hit about 45 more HR's than last season(Manny hit 8 and Gibbons hit 5 in limited PT). They are also likely to hit about 60 more HR's than the likely alternatives at C, 2B and LF. That is not an insignificant number. Each HR creates 1 run which adds 45 runs from last year and 60 runs over the alternative right off the bat.
As I have commented a few times, the cost of adding these HR's is that the Dodgers have also added a lot of outs to their lineup by decreasing their OBP. Although it is commonly expressed that way, a lower OBP does not really add outs to a lineup. Every game played in regulation innings has 24-27 outs depending on the outcome. You can't add or subtract from that range. What a lower OBP does is take away successful plate appearances. Just for fun, I decided to try and quantify how many runs these lost Successful Plate Appearances will cost the Hated Ones.
First we need to agree on what we are comparing here. After considering several scenarios, I finally settled on the career OBP's of the likely players at the 3 positions in question vs the most likely alternatives:
At catcher, the Dodgers lose Russell Martin and his career .362 OBP to Rod Barajas and his .284(that's right, .284) OBP.
At 2B, the Dodgers could have kept Ryan Theriot and his .348 career OBP(although he only had .323 last year) or they could have gone with Jamey Carroll and his career .355 career OBP. Instead they went with Juan Uribe's 22 or so HR's along with his .300 career OBP.
In LF, the Dodgers look like they are going with a straight L-R platoon of Jon Gibbons and his .314 career OBP plus Marcus Thames and his .311 career OBP instead of Scotty Pods and his .340 career OBP.
The average career OBP of the new Dodgers at the 3 positions of C, 2B and LF is .299. We'll round it to .300. The average career OBP of the 3 players who were the likely alternatives is .351. We'll round it to .350.
The formula for calculating the number of Successful Plate Appearances (SPA) for a given OBP is SPA/(Outs+SPA)=OBP. I estimated the number of outs over a 160 game schedule for the two sets of 3 players to be 160X9=1440.
For the Dodgers likely players in 2011, SPA/1440+SPA= .300. SPA= 1440(.300) + (.300)SPA. SPA-(.300)SPA= 432. (.700)SPA=432. SPA=432/.700= 617.
For the likely alternatives, SPA/1440 + SPA = .350. SPA= 1440(.350) + SPA(.350). SPA-(.350)SPA= (.350)1440. (.650)SPA=504. SPA= 504/.650= 775.
So, the Dodgers projected 2011 lineup can be projected to get 775-617= 158 fewer Successful Plate Appearances than a projected lineup with the 3 likely alternative players for LF, 2B and C.
That doesn't quite tell the whole story though. If you are going to give Agent Ned credit for adding about 60 runs from the added HR's he will get out of these 3 positions, you also have to subtract the HR's from the SPA's when calculating the runs lost to due to the lower OBP.
On average, 1 non-HR SPA produces 0.3 runs. If 60 more of the SPA's are due to HR's, you subtract that from 617 and get 557.
775-557= 218 fewer non-HR SPA's. 218 X 0.3=65.
In trading OBP for HR's, Ned ended up very close to even-steven in terms of run production. Since these are rough calculations, 60 extra runs from HR's is approximately equal to 65 Runs lost due to fewer Successful Plate Appearances.
Conclusion: The Dodgers offense is likely to be about as productive as it was over the second half of last season, which is quite bad. The pitching depth that Ned acquired is unlikely to be good enough to overcome that lack of run production.
Another exception is pretty much everything the Dodgers do. Now, I can finally say that nothing beats the feeling of winning the World Series, but for a large portion of my life as a Giants fan, I have to admit that I was sometimes torn between which I enjoyed more, the Giants winning or the Dodgers losing. Having finally settled that and with the knowledge that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, I admit I have taken a peek or two at what the Dodgers are up to this offseason.
Ned Colletti, AKA Agent Ned, has done an admirable job of shoring up the back end of his starting pitching rotation by retaining Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla, and by adding Jon Garland. Some analysts have commented that the Dodgers now have the deepest rotation in baseball. I agree, it's an impressive bunch. Kuroda is a scary pitcher when he's healthy, but the other 3 are probably closer to Barry Zito than Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, if that good.
Last season, the Dodgers offense pretty much froze over after Manny went out with an injury. They had a severe lack of power and finished with just 120 HR's, the 3'rd lowest total in baseball. Agent Ned set out to correct that deficit, and did a good job. He retained Rod Barajas who will probably hit about 16 more HR's than Russell Martin. He added Juan Uribe who can be expected to add about 20 HR's over Ryan Theriot or Jamey Carroll, and retained Jon Gibbons and added Marcus Thames who will likely combine for about 20 more HR's than Scotty Pods. All in all, I'm estimating that the Dodgers are likely to hit about 45 more HR's than last season(Manny hit 8 and Gibbons hit 5 in limited PT). They are also likely to hit about 60 more HR's than the likely alternatives at C, 2B and LF. That is not an insignificant number. Each HR creates 1 run which adds 45 runs from last year and 60 runs over the alternative right off the bat.
As I have commented a few times, the cost of adding these HR's is that the Dodgers have also added a lot of outs to their lineup by decreasing their OBP. Although it is commonly expressed that way, a lower OBP does not really add outs to a lineup. Every game played in regulation innings has 24-27 outs depending on the outcome. You can't add or subtract from that range. What a lower OBP does is take away successful plate appearances. Just for fun, I decided to try and quantify how many runs these lost Successful Plate Appearances will cost the Hated Ones.
First we need to agree on what we are comparing here. After considering several scenarios, I finally settled on the career OBP's of the likely players at the 3 positions in question vs the most likely alternatives:
At catcher, the Dodgers lose Russell Martin and his career .362 OBP to Rod Barajas and his .284(that's right, .284) OBP.
At 2B, the Dodgers could have kept Ryan Theriot and his .348 career OBP(although he only had .323 last year) or they could have gone with Jamey Carroll and his career .355 career OBP. Instead they went with Juan Uribe's 22 or so HR's along with his .300 career OBP.
In LF, the Dodgers look like they are going with a straight L-R platoon of Jon Gibbons and his .314 career OBP plus Marcus Thames and his .311 career OBP instead of Scotty Pods and his .340 career OBP.
The average career OBP of the new Dodgers at the 3 positions of C, 2B and LF is .299. We'll round it to .300. The average career OBP of the 3 players who were the likely alternatives is .351. We'll round it to .350.
The formula for calculating the number of Successful Plate Appearances (SPA) for a given OBP is SPA/(Outs+SPA)=OBP. I estimated the number of outs over a 160 game schedule for the two sets of 3 players to be 160X9=1440.
For the Dodgers likely players in 2011, SPA/1440+SPA= .300. SPA= 1440(.300) + (.300)SPA. SPA-(.300)SPA= 432. (.700)SPA=432. SPA=432/.700= 617.
For the likely alternatives, SPA/1440 + SPA = .350. SPA= 1440(.350) + SPA(.350). SPA-(.350)SPA= (.350)1440. (.650)SPA=504. SPA= 504/.650= 775.
So, the Dodgers projected 2011 lineup can be projected to get 775-617= 158 fewer Successful Plate Appearances than a projected lineup with the 3 likely alternative players for LF, 2B and C.
That doesn't quite tell the whole story though. If you are going to give Agent Ned credit for adding about 60 runs from the added HR's he will get out of these 3 positions, you also have to subtract the HR's from the SPA's when calculating the runs lost to due to the lower OBP.
On average, 1 non-HR SPA produces 0.3 runs. If 60 more of the SPA's are due to HR's, you subtract that from 617 and get 557.
775-557= 218 fewer non-HR SPA's. 218 X 0.3=65.
In trading OBP for HR's, Ned ended up very close to even-steven in terms of run production. Since these are rough calculations, 60 extra runs from HR's is approximately equal to 65 Runs lost due to fewer Successful Plate Appearances.
Conclusion: The Dodgers offense is likely to be about as productive as it was over the second half of last season, which is quite bad. The pitching depth that Ned acquired is unlikely to be good enough to overcome that lack of run production.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Down on the Farm: DrB's 2011 Giants Top 50 Prospects- #14 Rafael Rodriguez
#14 Rafael Rodriguez, OF. BD: 7/13/1992. 6'5", 198 lbs. B-R, T-R.
Short Season(Salem-Keizer): .163/.250/.209 in 43 AB's. AZL: .301/.323/.398, 2 HR's, 4 SB in 123 AB.
RafRod, as he has become known in the blogosphere of Giants fandom, left those fans with mixed emotions after his second professional season. He started the season by staying back in extended spring training then going to Salem-Keizer, a higher level than the Rookie Arizona League where he played last season. Unfortunately, Raf struggled against the older players, strained his back and finished the season back in Arizona after a short DL stint. He again hit .300 along with 2 HR's which is 2 more than he hit in 2009.
So where does this leave RafRod in the development game? Well first of all, remember that he played half the season at age 17, so he would have been considered on the young side for a HS draftee had he come out of an American HS last year. Given that, the Arizona League was an age appropriate level for him and he did hit .300 there, including .342 over his last 10 games. I'm still not worried about the power as it will eventually come as he matures. At this point in his career, the most important tool is the hit for average, and he has done that at the age appropriate levels. Speaking of age appropriate, the short season leagues are generally populated with college draftees who are 21-23 yo. Some of RafRod's teammates there were even older! Low A ball has some college draftees in their first full season after short season, but it also has quite a few HS draftees playing their first full season. I wonder if Low A is a more age appropriate level for a 17 yo kid trying to move up from the AZL?
I would think we would see RafRod in Augusta in 2011, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants keep him back in camp again and send him back to S-K. I think he still has a very high ceiling, but is obviously a long term project who may not be ready for the majors until 2015 or even 2016.
Short Season(Salem-Keizer): .163/.250/.209 in 43 AB's. AZL: .301/.323/.398, 2 HR's, 4 SB in 123 AB.
RafRod, as he has become known in the blogosphere of Giants fandom, left those fans with mixed emotions after his second professional season. He started the season by staying back in extended spring training then going to Salem-Keizer, a higher level than the Rookie Arizona League where he played last season. Unfortunately, Raf struggled against the older players, strained his back and finished the season back in Arizona after a short DL stint. He again hit .300 along with 2 HR's which is 2 more than he hit in 2009.
So where does this leave RafRod in the development game? Well first of all, remember that he played half the season at age 17, so he would have been considered on the young side for a HS draftee had he come out of an American HS last year. Given that, the Arizona League was an age appropriate level for him and he did hit .300 there, including .342 over his last 10 games. I'm still not worried about the power as it will eventually come as he matures. At this point in his career, the most important tool is the hit for average, and he has done that at the age appropriate levels. Speaking of age appropriate, the short season leagues are generally populated with college draftees who are 21-23 yo. Some of RafRod's teammates there were even older! Low A ball has some college draftees in their first full season after short season, but it also has quite a few HS draftees playing their first full season. I wonder if Low A is a more age appropriate level for a 17 yo kid trying to move up from the AZL?
I would think we would see RafRod in Augusta in 2011, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants keep him back in camp again and send him back to S-K. I think he still has a very high ceiling, but is obviously a long term project who may not be ready for the majors until 2015 or even 2016.
Fantasy Focus: Ranking Andres Torres
As I'm starting to put together my draft board for the 2011 version my Savvy Vets fantasy baseball team, I've been looking at some mock draft and some early fantasy magazine player rankings. I try to not let my real life allegiances affect my judgement when it comes to my fantasy draft, but I can't help but notice where some of the Giants players are ranked on other draft boards. One really interesting name that keeps jumping out at me is Andres Torres. My Yahoo Sports fantasy mag has him ranked at #178 on their overall draft board and #55 among OF's.
Even if you look at Andres Torres' overall numbers from last season, he performed better than those rankings. Now, I understand that a big portion of his 6 WAR campaign was due to defense, which doesn't help you in fantasy baseball, but did you know that Andres was one of only 9 players in all of MLB with at least 15 HR's and 25 SB's last year? Here's something else to consider when looking at Andres' performance last year. He essentially missed the first and last months of the season! He started out the season on the bench and only got into 15 games in April. He also missed most of September with an appendectomy and was not feeling 100% in the games he did play. After a poor NLDS, the monster from May, June, July and August returned for the NLCS and WS. Monster, you say? In those 4 months, when Andres was fully healthy and in the starting lineup daily, he put up a line of .279/.363/.449 with 38 2B, 6 3B, 14 HR, and 22 SB. Had he been starting from day 1 and healthy in September, he projected to some pretty stupendous numbers. How do 21 HR's and 33 SB's grab your fantasy? How about 111 runs and 85 RBI's? Just for comparison, Jayson Werth had 106 runs, 85 RBI's, 27 HR's, but only 13 SB in 2010. Yahoo Sports has Werth ranked #42 overall and the #14 OF.
Now, I understand that these rankings are not based on last year's performances, but on how fantasy baseball managers think a player is likely to perform in the upcoming year. Jayson Werth's 3 consecutive seasons of solid production count for more than a 1 year breakout for a player like Andres Torres. If you are looking for clues that maybe Torres' season was not a fluke though, I'll throw out 2 points to consider: 1. Torres' line as a reserve in 2009 was .270/.343/.533 with a projection of 24 HR and 24 SB over a full season of PA's. 2. His performance in the NLCS and WS, after fully recovering from his appendectomy was right in line with his performance over the middle 4 months of the regular season.
Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not advocating for drafting Andres Torres ahead of Jayson Werth in your fantasy draft, but if you are looking for a guy who is likely to outperform his ADP in the later rounds of your draft, you could do a whole lot worse than Andres Torres.
Even if you look at Andres Torres' overall numbers from last season, he performed better than those rankings. Now, I understand that a big portion of his 6 WAR campaign was due to defense, which doesn't help you in fantasy baseball, but did you know that Andres was one of only 9 players in all of MLB with at least 15 HR's and 25 SB's last year? Here's something else to consider when looking at Andres' performance last year. He essentially missed the first and last months of the season! He started out the season on the bench and only got into 15 games in April. He also missed most of September with an appendectomy and was not feeling 100% in the games he did play. After a poor NLDS, the monster from May, June, July and August returned for the NLCS and WS. Monster, you say? In those 4 months, when Andres was fully healthy and in the starting lineup daily, he put up a line of .279/.363/.449 with 38 2B, 6 3B, 14 HR, and 22 SB. Had he been starting from day 1 and healthy in September, he projected to some pretty stupendous numbers. How do 21 HR's and 33 SB's grab your fantasy? How about 111 runs and 85 RBI's? Just for comparison, Jayson Werth had 106 runs, 85 RBI's, 27 HR's, but only 13 SB in 2010. Yahoo Sports has Werth ranked #42 overall and the #14 OF.
Now, I understand that these rankings are not based on last year's performances, but on how fantasy baseball managers think a player is likely to perform in the upcoming year. Jayson Werth's 3 consecutive seasons of solid production count for more than a 1 year breakout for a player like Andres Torres. If you are looking for clues that maybe Torres' season was not a fluke though, I'll throw out 2 points to consider: 1. Torres' line as a reserve in 2009 was .270/.343/.533 with a projection of 24 HR and 24 SB over a full season of PA's. 2. His performance in the NLCS and WS, after fully recovering from his appendectomy was right in line with his performance over the middle 4 months of the regular season.
Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not advocating for drafting Andres Torres ahead of Jayson Werth in your fantasy draft, but if you are looking for a guy who is likely to outperform his ADP in the later rounds of your draft, you could do a whole lot worse than Andres Torres.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Down on the Farm: DrB's 2011 Giants Top 50 Prospects- #13 Tommy Joseph
#13 Tommy Joseph, C. BD: 7/16/1991. 6'1", 210 lbs. B-R, T-R.
Low A: .236/.290/.401, 16 HR's.
Tommy Joseph has "light tower power." He reportedly has a pretty good arm too, but he may be a 1 tool player. That 1 tool, though, is the power. He will go as far as that power takes him. Over the last several seasons, power numbers in MLB have been in sharp decline. That makes Tommy's 1 tool relatively more valuable than it would have been 5 years ago and a lot more valuable than it would have been 10 years ago. So, he certainly has something going for him.
Joseph certainly had his ups and downs last season, but 16 HR's is a pretty impressive feat for Augusta and the Sally League, especially with it being his first professional experience.
There are several concerns: 1. Contact- he struck out more than 25% of his AB's. In one video, he appears to be taking the exact same swing on every pitch, no matter where the pitch is located. 2. Athleticism- Although he has a good arm, his other skills behind the plate are lacking. He has thick, heavy legs which probably limits his options on the field to catcher and 1B if that. In one video that shows him running down the line to 1B, he looks about as fast a Bengie Molina.
On the other hand, you don't need to be fast to trot around the bases, and Tommy should be doing a lot of that in the future.
The Giants seem to be set on keeping him at catcher for now. I think that is the right move. If he can become adequate behind the plate, that is where he will have the most value. Most likely destination in 2011 is San Jose. Looking forward to getting a chance to see him in person.
Low A: .236/.290/.401, 16 HR's.
Tommy Joseph has "light tower power." He reportedly has a pretty good arm too, but he may be a 1 tool player. That 1 tool, though, is the power. He will go as far as that power takes him. Over the last several seasons, power numbers in MLB have been in sharp decline. That makes Tommy's 1 tool relatively more valuable than it would have been 5 years ago and a lot more valuable than it would have been 10 years ago. So, he certainly has something going for him.
Joseph certainly had his ups and downs last season, but 16 HR's is a pretty impressive feat for Augusta and the Sally League, especially with it being his first professional experience.
There are several concerns: 1. Contact- he struck out more than 25% of his AB's. In one video, he appears to be taking the exact same swing on every pitch, no matter where the pitch is located. 2. Athleticism- Although he has a good arm, his other skills behind the plate are lacking. He has thick, heavy legs which probably limits his options on the field to catcher and 1B if that. In one video that shows him running down the line to 1B, he looks about as fast a Bengie Molina.
On the other hand, you don't need to be fast to trot around the bases, and Tommy should be doing a lot of that in the future.
The Giants seem to be set on keeping him at catcher for now. I think that is the right move. If he can become adequate behind the plate, that is where he will have the most value. Most likely destination in 2011 is San Jose. Looking forward to getting a chance to see him in person.
Down on the Farm: DrB's 2011 Giants Top 50 Prospects- #12 Conor Gillaspie
#12 Conor Gillaspie, 3B. BD: 7/18/1987. 6'1", 195 lbs. B-L, T-R.
AA: .287/.335/.420, 25 2B, 8 3B, 8 HR. AFL: .306/.350/.597, 5 HR in 72 AB's.
After hitting .419 in his junior season at Wichita State then signed to a major league contract after being drafted in the second round by the Giants in the 2008 draft, Conor Gillaspie hasn't quite lived up to expectations that he would immediately hit in the mid .300's in the minors and fast-track his way to a Bill Mueller-like career as a 3B for the Giants. Although his numbers for AA RIchmond last season don't jump out at you, they are quite good considering the league/park factors. After a slow start in the AFL, he went on a HR tear hitting 5 in his last 10 games to go with a .459 BA, so he's coming into 2011 on a high note.
Time is running out for the Giants and Conor Gillaspie. Because of the MLB contract he signed after the draft, the Giants can option him to the minors 3 times and they've already done so twice. Conor has to make the 25 man active roster to stay by the end of spring training 2012 or be exposed to waivers where some other team could claim him. He should be assigned to AAA Fresno for 2011, a much more hitter friendly environment than AA Richmond. He could have a massive spike in his numbers, but that is probably what it will take for him to beat the deadline imposed by his contract. His future with the Giants may very well be tied directly to how Pablo Sandoval performs this year.
Just a thought. Conor has always been a contact/line drive hitter. I wonder what would happen if he tried some of the same adjustments that jump-started Brandon Belt's career? Maybe that's what he was working on in the AFL and explains his HR spike at the end?
AA: .287/.335/.420, 25 2B, 8 3B, 8 HR. AFL: .306/.350/.597, 5 HR in 72 AB's.
After hitting .419 in his junior season at Wichita State then signed to a major league contract after being drafted in the second round by the Giants in the 2008 draft, Conor Gillaspie hasn't quite lived up to expectations that he would immediately hit in the mid .300's in the minors and fast-track his way to a Bill Mueller-like career as a 3B for the Giants. Although his numbers for AA RIchmond last season don't jump out at you, they are quite good considering the league/park factors. After a slow start in the AFL, he went on a HR tear hitting 5 in his last 10 games to go with a .459 BA, so he's coming into 2011 on a high note.
Time is running out for the Giants and Conor Gillaspie. Because of the MLB contract he signed after the draft, the Giants can option him to the minors 3 times and they've already done so twice. Conor has to make the 25 man active roster to stay by the end of spring training 2012 or be exposed to waivers where some other team could claim him. He should be assigned to AAA Fresno for 2011, a much more hitter friendly environment than AA Richmond. He could have a massive spike in his numbers, but that is probably what it will take for him to beat the deadline imposed by his contract. His future with the Giants may very well be tied directly to how Pablo Sandoval performs this year.
Just a thought. Conor has always been a contact/line drive hitter. I wonder what would happen if he tried some of the same adjustments that jump-started Brandon Belt's career? Maybe that's what he was working on in the AFL and explains his HR spike at the end?
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