On a slow news day, a few back-reads on Michael Saunders, if you're so inclined.
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Tale of the Tape - from Dec. 2008, a friendly little debate in which Dr. D argued that Michael Saunders' sabermetrics (i.e. his results) have been well ahead of Mike Carp's.
In fact, Saunders has been pretty close to blue-chip pedigree -- A+ star at 20, AA at 21, AAA at 22 -- whereas he is a tools-projectable player, not a sabermetric one. Like Matt Tuiasosopo, Ryan Howard, and the like, Michael Saunders isn't a player you judge solely (or even primarily) on age-arc performance. Some guys have plateau leaps in them.
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October Baseball - Spectator chips in with a report that The Mick is lookin' good in postseason baseball.
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August 26 - Marvelling in a postgame recap, Dr. D waxes ecstatic about Saunders' bunting ability, composure, and frontrunning position towards the 2010 lineup.
You hear this come up repeatedly, Saunders' "baseball intelligence."
It's true that Willie Bloomquist has legitimate "baseball intelligence" and that it hasn't gotten him very far. But you take guys with talent and acuity, and give them a chance to learn, and you wind up with the Jamie Moyers and Ichiros and Paul Molitors of the game.
Not that Saunders is a Molitor-level talent, but don't let the Bloomquists fool you into thinking that smarts are always irrelevant...
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Sept. 24 - Our verdict on the coaching staff's overhaul of Saunders' swing mechanics. Sat out about four years this fall, came back with sore hands, a new swing, and ripped three hits. We didn't get to see much more.
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Two-Seam RH Fastballs - in which we follow on the discovery that the Mariners' April lineup was having trouble with 2-seam RH FB's with the general principle that righty first-pitch fastball hitters don't work in Safeco...
Thereby making Michael Saunders the park-appropriate choice for LF. For what that's worth, not much, per se.
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Ryan Rowland-Smith, July 29 - Dr D's first ballpark look at Saunders' speed in LF, in which we proposed the M's might be better off with Saunders in CF and Gutierrez in LF.
I know, I know, a dirty word. :- ) Only point is, don't undersell Saunders' mitt.
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Canadian Bacon, July 25 - Saving the best archive read for last...
Right after the ASB, and right after Wlad Balentien got powerflushed, Cool Papa Bell blared the sirens that Michael Saunders was liable to have staying power after his callup.
Cool Papa -- for those of you who just joined us, CPB secured everlasting fame by winning the mammoth 20-team Yahoo invitational roto league in 2008 -- pushed all into the pot, flatly declaring that Michael Saunders would hit 30+ homers and OBP .370 on a year-in, year-out basis, making him "a legit impact player and a star in the AL."
When you raise Cool Papa, you get reraised, and if you raise again, he comes right back at you. He'll roll over any table with that attitude, and he seeks to roll the scouts off with this one. :- )
... "It is true you won't find scouts who are drooling over him and predicting stardom as I have. However, this is a reflection on the scouts, not Saunders. It is important to understand that if a player is not hyped up when he enters professional baseball, then scouts are very slow to change their projections..."
" In short, he isn't a solid prospect, he isn't a good prospect, he is a GREAT prospect."
Don't think that Cool Papa has updated his assessment of Saunders since his writeup in July. Would be interested to hear if anything's changed.
Cheers,
Dr D
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