Who is Brooks Conrad?

Brooks Conrad is a journeyman minor leaguer. HE was drafted (8th round), by Houston back in 2001 as a second baseman.

He hit .819 in low A ball that year.
He hit .845 in A ball in 2002 (age 22)
He hit .768 between A and high A in 2003
He hit .842, .822, .868 the next three seasons, as he moved up to AAA.

Having hit .868 with 40 doubles, 15 triples and 24 HRs, 94-RBI and 100 runs scored in AAA at Round Rock, he returned to AAA in 2007. He didn't even get a September callup.

He swooned to .725 in 2007 (age 27) - I'm guessing understandably depressed that he was still in Round Rock.

Oakland snagged him for 2008, where he hit .820 in AAA - but they rewarded him with 19 ABs!!!

In 2009, at age 29, he ends up with the Braves AAA club, hits .780, and gets 34 PAs in July (thanks to injuries), and posts a 1070 OPS before returning to the farm. In September, almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter, he went oh-for-September, (22 ABs), so his final OPS was .666.

What does this have to do with Seattle? Nothing, really. But, Brooks Conrad is the ultimate poster boy for your typical AAAA player. As a middle-infielder, he has a career minor league line of: .261/.344/.466 (.810). His career AAA line is: .251/.330/.474 (.804).

Why did he never get a shot? His average is poor - and that's because he strikes out too much. 977 Ks in 1103 games as a minor leaguer, (his AAA reality is 1-K per game). The mindset is that he'll be overmatched in the majors. But, his minor league line shows 80 patience and a 220 ISO. The kid has POWER ... but it's mostly doubles power -- 40, 39, 36 ... those are his three high minor league doubles totals for a season -- 28, 24, 23 are his HR peaks.

But, he's a switch hitter who stole 20 of 23 bases in his prime, and 13 of 14 last season.

Brooks Conrad is the reality of "old school" road blocks. Low average, (but nice OBP), outstanding slugging (but not enough HRs), fans too much. And he cannot even get a cup of coffee in the bigs until age 28. Heck, what if he transitioned to the bigs with a .220/.300/.440 line? That's a .740 OPS. But, he'd never stick. Forget the Mendoza line. Today's reality is STILL - if you cannot hit .250, the rest of your stats don't matter. Guys like Glaus and Dunn are too easily tossed aside. Why? Because the Bavasi-era reality of "Ks bad -- average good" refuses to die. And it ain't just Bavasi that still believes in it. Let us hope the next Brooks Conrad the Ms have doesn't meet a similar fate.

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We have our very own example

of this phenomenon, and his name is/was Justin Leone.

I won't go as in-depth as you did, but the guy has a career .254/.360/.469 minor league line and in his first taste of big-league action put up .216/.298/.441 in 102 AB's (in a call-up to replace Cirillo at 3B, following a .269/.344/.597 line at Tacoma that season).

Good find on under-appreciated players. Leone should have been a benchie for this organization the last few years, and a spot starter on the left side of the infield. Instead he puts up a couple .940 OPS high minors seasons, and gets relegated to AAAA status because of his profile. Not hard to understand why the guy has basically fallen apart the last year or two.

I don't know that it's old

I don't know that it's old school batting-average mentality as much as it is old-AND-new-school bell curve assessments. An 8th rounder doesn't have "pedigree" so he's gonna have to perform - there's no real bonus to justify and no scout's name on the line. So the judgment is that he's gonna take a while to adjust to the pros if he can cut it at all, and how much adjustment time are you willing to put up with to get those doubles and his OBP potential to work for you?

If it's the Pirates, they have plenty of time - they haven't sniffed .500 in forever, so an .810 OPS bat that's a little old for level can crack that organization's roster and get playing time to prove himself - or fail.

The Astros? In 2004 Brooks Conrad put up a nice line in AA (that .845 OPS you spoke of at 24) but the Astros had just fired their manager midseason and were on the hottest tear in Baseball to end the season trying to make the playoffs. He wasn't getting a callup.

2005 - The Astros just had a fabulous run to end '04 and are now in a season-long pennant race with HOFer Craig Biggio at 2B and 144 OPS+ Morgan Ensberg at 3B - Conrad's not getting promoted. They went to the World Series, btw - this was not an organizational oversight. Their utility ABs were pretty bad, though, so maybe he deserved a shot in 2006 to fill that hole.

2006 - Defending NL champs aren't concerned with looking for diamonds in the rough or underappreciated talent in the MIF (except maybe at SS, which Conrad doesn't play). Still running dying HOFer Biggio and 120 OPS+ Ensberg out there, and swapped their crappy 2005 utility guy ABs with 96 OPS+ Burke and 107 OPS+ Aubrey Huff. That covers 2B and 3B again - no room.

2007 - Chris Burke is terrible this year and Huff is gone. Bruntlett is still brutal at SS offensively, but Conrad still can't play that. Mark Loretta is the IF everything guy, though, logging 460 ABs for an 88 OPS+ playing a bunch of shortstop (finally!) and some 2B and 3B as well. He covers the position Conrad can't and is "proven."

Could they have run Conrad as a benchie? Sure, it's possible. Instead they traded for Huff in 2006 and re-signed Loretta in '07 - with whom they were familiar from his time with the team in '02 - to fill the holes in what was viewed as a contender.

I don't know that I can say the Astros were wrong to do what they did. I kinda feel like the moral of the story with Brooks Conrad is "don't be a AAAA player with moderate potential in a system for a contending team." Because you will get overlooked. Not playing a position currently occupied by a HOF player who's spent his whole career with the team is another good idea. Trapped behind Cal Ripken or Derek Jeter? Find a different position, or a different team.

It was the wrong place and the wrong time to be Brooks Conrad, that's all. If he'd been Chase Utley (1st round draftpick, jumped from A+ to AAA and skipped AA entirely, then destroyed AAA a year later), they would have found a place for him. Conrad just didn't offer enough reward in their eyes to merit the roster spot.

Wrong team, wrong time. Sometimes, IMO, it's as simple as that.

Can you say "Tug Hulett?"

I'mm still completely miffed the Mariners let Hulett go after the '08 season.

3 AAA years...the laast two with .898 and .858 OPS and OPB's north of .380. And he gets two cups of coffee...with the M's and the Royals (for Pete's sake!).

Wouldn't you feel better with Hulett at 2nd and Lopez in KC or Detroit...or anywhere.

... and the list goes on.

Nice call with Tug.

This is the thing. If you're an .800 OPS hitter at 1B or in the OF, yeah ... maybe you belong in AAA. But at second?!? Clubs routinely get stuck with sub-.700 glove guys up the middle. Yet, Ronny Cedeno keeps getting ABs, while guys like Hullett, Conrad, et al tromp on in the bus leagues.

And, you'd think - if your .800+ MI is blocked because you've got good production there that SOMEBODY would be trading that spare bullpen arm - or backup catcher that you NEED to get those .800 OPS MIs out of pergatory.

The annoying part for me is that the .280/.300/.350 (.650) guy will stick around almost exclusively because of that .280 average. While the kid who could post a .230/.310/.430 (.740) at the same position is considered absolutely worthless, not only for the org he's with - but they're apparently worthless on the trade market, too.

I can't argue the trade

I can't argue the trade thing. Conrad or Hulett might be blocked on their current teams but a bat like that should have some value. Certainly enough to swap them out for something their current team MIGHT actually let step on a big-league field.

Conrad was better than Bloomquist, but one of them has been drawing a big-league check for many years and one of them never will, and it's not the one it shoulda been, IMO.

And I was a big fan of the Hulett acquisition, btw. Even the moves we made that I liked in the Bavasi era were not allowed to pan out in our favor. We traded Shin-soo Choo for Broussard, then Broussard for Hulett, then DFAed Hulett to make room for Luis Pena, then released Pena to make room for Messenger.

That's just a downward spiral to suck right there.

I agree with the concept, but

I agree with the concept, but I'm not sure if Conrad is one of those undervalued guys.

His offense likely wouldn't translate to MLB due to the extremely poor CT ratios in AAA, and only so-so production.

Being a lead glove at 2B doesn't help things.. He actually does look like one of those AAAA tweeners to me.

Hulett on the other hand was much more interesting IMO..and right now we could use a MI depth piece like him.

Yeah. Side note Choo:

Nice little piece on espn.com right now about Choo... I knew he was good, but didn't realize HOW good he's been. He's posted an OPS+ of 142 the past two years. And apparently he was, by far, the best 'clutch' hitter in baseball last year (BA .405, OBP .542). Ouch.

That guy is almost the 'aircraft carrier' Z is missing in the middle of the lineup.

Union Question

Does the players' union perhaps contribute to AAAA - type hitters languishing in the minors? Just wondering if contractually or financially there are incentives for big league teams to pick a guy who's got a little MLB service time over an equal or even slightly superior minor league veteran. Is there some pension money that kicks in or something?

Walk-Off Granny

After Conrad hit his walk-off Granny, I just had to come find this thread again.

Brooks' current line with the Braves coming off the bench (at age 30)?

.250/.344/.679 (1022).

It's only 32 PAs -- but he's managed 3 doubles, 3 HRs and a SB in those trips (along with 4 walks and 9 Ks. Yes, he still fans too much. And no, he's not going to maintain a four digit OPS. But, the Braves snagged a switch-hitting, backup infielder with modest patience and a LOT of power (for an MI). And they're getting him for loose change.

Granted, the Braves are also getting surprise production from an MLB journeyman (Hinske), who is also posting a 1000 OPS at the moment. So, why has Hinske gone from Boston to Tampa to Pittsburgh to Atlanta after his 4+ years with Toronto? Well, his career average is only .256 ... he fans 120 times a year ... and he only hits HRs in the teens (and doubles in the 30s).

But, Hinske is viewed as only a platoon option (.810 against righties - .664 against lefties for his career). He's mini-Branyan to a degree, (though he's actually got enough time against lefties, in this case, the stereotype may actually be on the money).

I think Z was "trying" to get his own version of Hinske with the Byrnes pick-up. He just missed on the reality that Byrnes had fallen off the ability cliff two years ago, and wasn't coming back.