1
The notoriously slow starter is off to the best season of his career in AA with a .333/.400/.568 line and massively reduced strikeouts, he could still emerge as a real prospect.
I was gonna do a series of posts about the upper and lower minors, but Spec is killin' it on MarinersTalk w/r/t that, so I figured I'd do something a little more free-form. Just the guys who've caught my eye early. It wasn't too long ago that we were looking for the Three Little Pigs down on the farm, some bacon with ANY sort of sizzle. We have a lot more sizzle now.
Our 2008 top prospects were Clement, Aumont, Tillman, Triunfel, Balentien, Saunders, JCR, Mark Lowe, RRS and Tui.
5 years later and Clement is worthless, Aumont is still walking the universe, Tillman has a losing record and an ERA near 5 in the bigs, Triunfel is still in the minors while Balentien is in Japan... the only success is The Condor.
Our farm was BAD. Maybe these guys will all look that bad in 5 years... but I'm doubtin' it. We're a much better system now, and here are the guys heading it up, as well as some others worth watching.
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Nick Franklin: Dude started the year with the flu and missing some games. He's gone from playing 2/3 of his games at short, to half last year, to 1/3 this year. But as his fielding position gets easier his bat is really heating up. .410/.538/.623 is a decent line in 79 PAs, with 16 BB / 8 K. If only there were some place we could play a lefty (switch) with power, average and walks. Oh, wait...
Danny Hultzen: He'd fixed the walks. He kept the Ks. He was dominant... and then he strained his rotator cuff. So we're gonna miss him for a month, but his start was everything we could have asked. Hopefully he finds his groove again quickly. 2.78 ERA in 22.2 IP, 10 K/ 2.5 BB / 6.5 H per 9.
James Paxton: He has not fixed the walks. He's the same amazing/wild pitcher he has been in the minors. Well, not quite - he's gotten hit in the early going in Tacoma, which is not like him and the reason he's giving up runs. I have great faith in Paxton - he'll get it righted. 6.00 ERA in 21.0 IP, 9.5 K / 5 BB / 11 H per 9.
Mike Zunino: started off the season like a T-Rex shaking the earth, and now he seems to be struggling with those tiny T-Rex arms. Just a bad couple of weeks for the wunderkind with the power stroke (11/16 hits for extra bases) and the good D (40+% caught stealing career so far). He's got to cut down on the Ks and he'll be just fine. Minor tweaks before July. .222/.333/.542/.875, 10 BB: 24 K in 87 PAs.
Taijuan Walker: He's still tinkering with his offspeed and breaking pitches, and maintaining consistency. So here's Walker "struggling" with learning things: 1.55 ERA in 29 IP, 9.5 K / 5.5 BB / 4.5 H per 9. Had 7 Ks and 2 BB tonight, and is looking a lot like Hultzen looked last year. Did I mention he's 20, while repeating AA? Kid's a baller.
Brad Miller: He's struggling a little over the last week and a half, but that "struggle" is just bringing him back to the realm of mortal men. He's still playing SS most nights, and he and Franklin are fighting for middle infield supremacy. That's a battle worth watching. 278/.356/.478/.834, 10 BB: 21 K in 101 PAs.
Julio Morban: same ol' Morban. Yes for average and power, no for walks and health. Gotta start seeing some continued health for Julio soon, and 4 walks in a plate appearance wouldn't be anathema to me. Just occasionally. Still love that swing. .306/.342/.500/.842 in 38 PAs, with 1BB: 11K. He should probably go in the not-mentioneds like Stefen Romero due to lack of time in the field but I already wrote this, so deal with it.
Ji-Man Choi: The Mariners are letting him play a little third (his original position before we moved him to C and now 1B) so his formerly-broken back must be feelin' good. There's never been anything wrong with his bat, or his batting eye. He's only got doubles power so far, but at 22 years old and limited experience I can handle that. .303/.393/.539/.933, 11BB: 15K in 89 PAs.
Dan Paolini: I called him a Dan Uggla type when we drafted him. He's since been moved off 2nd to 1B last year and to DH and play LF this year. His bat keeps improving. For a guy who blew out his arm as a pitcher and only had one scholarship offer as a hitter, he's doin' mighty fine. .345/.453/.571/1.024, 17BB: 11K in 106 PAs. Look at that eye. I know it's High Desert, but it's still a nice start.
Pat Kivlehan: I love this guy. I know people are tired of hearing it. I don't care. I said before the year that I expected him to start slowly in the cold and the harder league thanks to his raw skills (and working on his 3B glove), then heat up in the summer as he gets more ABs under his belt. He's already improving in things like batting eye and K:AB which are crucial for him. He has great natural power that will start being applied soon, and then look out. .289/.341/.410/.750, 6BB: 12K in 91 PAs. With an up arrow.
Jabari Henry: I haven't said much about "The Other Jabari" because I wanted to see him in full-season ball (rookie ball #s for college hitters aren't worth much). I'm seeing him. He's been incredibly impressive in the first few weeks. He had good college power but it's his stellar batting eye that's making me really curious. Could we finally have a corner OFer with power potential? .385/.500/.523/1.023, 16BB: 7K in 84 PAs.
Tyler Pike: Lefty who doesn't throw hard, but does throw "hard enough." His offspeed and breaking stuff are weapons, as is his big brain and tough-as-nails approach. He's just 19 - he'll get better, and if/when that velo jumps a couple of MPH be VERY afraid. 2.75 ERA in 19.2 IP, 10K / 3 BB / 6.5 H per 9.
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Not mentioned and still interesting: Romero, E-Ram, Sanchez, Elias, Taylor (reached base in every game this year), Landazuri, Triunfel (I guess) Liddi, Peguero, Thames, Burgoon, Smith, LaFromboise, Moran, Ruffin, Guerrero, Lopes...
We have a LOT of interesting players. Enjoy the minor league season this year. It's a smorgasbord of goodness that will soon be complementing the big-league club in so many ways. The future is still very bright, and as the kids figure it out on the big club the present isn't looking so bad either.
~G
Comments
2
Hm. If accurate, that complicates issues, 'cause SS is where they need the help... what is your reaction to that dilemma?
Bring him up, work him in some PT, but not too much short?
3
They relayed the (presumably) org desire to see him throw his #2 for called strikes. (Sigh.)
........
They also mentioned the (more interesting) idea that in Arizona, he had a tendency to come off the rails for 1 IP at a time. Though he seemed able to right it quickly ... implying of course that he's close to skipping the frazz-outs altogether.
What say you?
........
Great read. Can't beat the G-Moneyball minors flyover pieces. Get yer arms around it real quick.
4
Easier position? Bring Franklin up to play 1B (TIC).
5
Or Ackley to 1B, Franklin to 2B, and Triunfel to SS. Smoak might learn to like Tacoma, the armpit of Puget Sound where I grew up.
6
Thanks, Gordon!
As for Franklin:
In this case, the organization can rightly claim that Franklin has "stuff to work on" in AAA. In prior years, Franklin, despite strong overall stats, had a glaring problem: he both (1) failed to hit the ball hard against LHP and (2) struck out too much against LHP.
It was a deadly combination, and my issue was: if you rush him to the majors, do you just "live with it" and hope he can figure it out under the microscope? or do you sit him against LHP in the majors? In which case how is he expected to improve?
So I had no problem with keeping him in the minors until there was improvement there.
Early returns indicate great progress. His ISO vs. LHP is up to .143 (up from .093 last year and .097 in his healthy 2010) and his K% is way down (generally, and against LHP) -- in 2010 his K% vs. LHP was 25.7%, this year so far 9.1%.
But ... it's only 11 plate appearances. That ISO is entirely attributable to one double in seven at-bats.
I don't think you can make any kind of meaningful judgment off of 11 plate appearances.
So I don't view anything as a vast conspiracy or crippling bureaucratic mentality (and I'm the first one to mock bureaucrats).
I think they'll give him a bit more time to make sure he's grooved-in with the right-hand swing. The jump to the majors can easily mess guys up even when they are crushing AAA, as we saw with Saunders and Smoak multiple times.
7
Against another prospect who "...can’t hit lefties and lacks the requisite skills to be a major league starting outfielder." Per USSM, June 2006. Or when they "tried to get his bat in the order, but his fielding in CF was just too poor" to deserve more than a dozen ABs per our manager at the time who was a fan of grizzled vets and "professional at-bats." Also summer of '06, when an established vet (Dinosaur) was hitting under the Mendoza line with awful D and kept showing up in the lineup.
So we dumped this can't-hit-lefties, 4th-OFer type for one half of a DH platoon. And Shin-soo Choo went on to continue not hitting lefies (.692 OPS vs LHP) or being able to play CF (38 games there in the bigs for his career). Did I mention he pounds righties for a .925 OPS, has a career 134 OPS+ (aka, Jim Edmonds at the plate, who OPSed .750 vs lefties and .950 vs. righties) and is a decent MOTO hitter by anyone's definition?
This fascination with a lefty's platoon splits against LHP is weird to me. Can Franklin be easily neutralized by bringing in a lefty reliever? Sure. So can Kendrys Morales, but you don't see us sending him to the minors until he can work out that issue. Raul is neutralized by a wet nap and a harsh word, but he gets to play for us.
As you said, Franklin is not getting at-bats against LHP in the minors. In the 3 weeks he's been in the line up he's gotten ELEVEN plate appearances. It's not like they're finding every possible lefty for him to face to work on this issue, if it's so vital. He's not actually working on it in the minors, so why are we pretending he is? It'll probably take him 3 years in the pros of playing every day to see enough LHP to not be atrocious against it.
Might as well get started. Wasting the 400 PAs he could be getting - and crushing - against righties in order to protect him from the 150 he might get against lefties (since his bench replacement would obviously be righty for his days off) is a dumb use of resources. Are we thinking he can be worse against LHP than Ryan and Andino are? Neither guy has much of a positive platoon split, and both guys are abysmal this year.
And the "it'll help him in the future" argument only matters if he's gonna be here in the future. Unless he plays SS for us going forward or we move Ackley, he ain't gonna be here for much longer. Get some wins out of him while you can. They don't give out any awards for "Most promising minor-leaguers not exposed to the majors." It's not like he's Raul-Ibanez-in-CF bad at defense. He's Early-Jeter-bad. New York suffered through that somehow; I feel confident we can too.
~G
8
Jones is hitting very well to start the season. I hope to be able to shower him with affection later in the season when he keeps it up. He and Romero would be nice to have as productive hitters come June and July.
~G
9
Of course I'm not saying "dump the guy for Ben Broussard."
I'm saying it's reasonable to not want a guy to have a sub-.100 ISO hitting RH if you can avoid it.
I'm not a huge "splits" guy, it's only because it was so night-and-day different with Franklin, and it was always the explanation for why he didn't grade out better than he was, and it was so obvious that if he could even just get to 50% of his LH swing it would make a big difference in his overall value.
Just responding to those who think there are no reasonable grounds for keeping him in AAA. I got no problem with calling him up either.
10
Officer thinking Watcher :- )
... actually you could run a variation on that, cutting into Smoak's AB's and putting him into a jobshare, right?
11
... but as you know, it's the way these guys think: that next 20 AB's vs lefties is the difference to them...
Thoroughly enjoyed that comment. Rock 'n roll.
12
Jabari Henry's played 18 of 19 games in center. Can he stick there?
Abe Almonte quietly has a .398 OBP and .872 OPS while playing as much CF as they'll let him with dead weight F. Martinez there. As I said in my recap today, I'm surpised that he and Jones have outperformed Landry, but they have. How do you sort out the Jackson OF crew?
What do you make of Nathan Melendres? Bloomquist with pop?
13
The guy ahead of him, Andino, has a MLB career ISO of 87 vR, whether he bats against lefties or righties.
So if there is some concern about Franklins vL ISO, why not the same concern about each and every Andino AB?
14
LOL lemme see what I can do:
1) Jabari was considered a tweener in college by his own coach. A corner OFer who can play some center. Of course, that's what Saunders is nominally, and like Saunders, 'Bari is playing CF almost exclusively in the low minors. Now he's not too big for the position, but he's not the fastest guy. I don't think he's a CFer in the bigs, no - probably not even in the upper minors. He never swiped even 10 bags in either college or the pros, and while steals are not required for a center fielder they are indicative. Guys like Andruw Jones stopped stealing early in their careers, but they could do it. Guys like Juan Gone who didn't steal normally moved to a corner pretty quickly. I've only seen him field a little, but no I don't think long-term that's his position.
2) Abe Almonte is much like Morban: talented hitter who can't stay on the field. I would get him out of CF more just to avoid extra injuries. Problem is that as a former 2B, being moved to CF is what you'd want to see if his bat is to have any significant impact. He DOES have the speed to play center. He's a Randy Winn type whose numbers won't wow you as he tries to use his athleticism to find a groove, but if he ever finds it and can stay on the field, he can have quite the nice career.
2b) I give priority to Almonte over F-Mart. Abe can take a walk, has similar speed to F-Mart and makes better contact. I think Francisco is trying too hard. His batting eye has crashed this year with the new position and it was never great to begin with. He's regressing. He's younger than Abe and has about a year-less at-bats, but I'm starting to despair that he'll ever figure it out. It won't hurt F-Mart to take some corner ABs anyway. Landry is starting off like he did in low-A. Doesn't mean it'll continue, but this is what a lot of Cal League hitters look like against better breakers. He's another athlete trying to play ball, though, so give him some time. I still think Morban is the most talented hitter in that OF, but he has to BE in the OF daily for it to matter. And then you have Jones completing the "athlete-cum-baseball-player" motif.
I honestly don't know how you make that work, especially when several of them aren't hitting. Cut Vinnie and DH one of em more? Move F-Mart back to the IF? *shrugs* I know I want Almonte and Morban to get at-bats, and what are the odds of both of them being healthy for long stretches anyway? That outfield is a crazy Picasso. ;-) Get used to the juggling act.
3) Melendres = Bloomquist in the OF, which is... not good. I don't know if he has pop. He has a doubles stroke, and the speed to make that into triples (or get it in the air and let the High Desert winds help it clear the wall, which is not the same as power). I agree, he's a swiss army knife kind of defender, but if all the tools are dulled is that really all that useful? He's gonna have to really hit at 24, 25 years old to make a case for Swiss Utility Guy. Last thing I need on the bench is another Andino.
~G
15
Think about the defense of that infield, speed on the base paths, etc. Might not the total value of that type of infield outweigh the value of an infield with a player like Smoak in it even if he hits his 90th%ile?
16
Franklin with a decent split is possibly an .820-.830 OPS guy like Jeter and Pedroia and that's MVP candidate stuff for a middle infielder.
Franklin with an abysmal split might be more like a .780-.790 OPS guy and that's a very good but not superstar player.
Why would you not want to maximize your chance at the former?
Of course we can't know whether leaving him at AAA to get more authoritative from the right side will bump up his long-term value; all I'm saying is that it's not unreasonable to be interested in it and act accordingly.
17
Has gone 4/6 in SB attempts already this season, though that could certainly be a fluke. He also had a trio of triples in just over 200 AB at Pulaski last season.
18
He's not swinging against lefties in Tacoma, anyway.
Maximizing his chances, BTW, could translate to making him give up the righty approach last year!
Thanks Spec,
19
Which means more from a CFer than it does when a C like Montero is supposed to be working on it (but hey, triple last night for the lumbering Jesus, so there's that).
Jabari's batting eye is what fascinates me right now. The other Jabari (Blash) did much the same thing when he first got to the MWL, but wasn't hitting. Henry is both dominating the strike zone and hitting a ton.
'Bari bears watching. Might be a blip, but he was a freshman All-American with a work ethic. His stock dropped after an injury his sophomore year I think, followed by his wood-bat experience in the Cape Cod league back a couple years ago, IIRC, where he was a whiff-master with the heavier bat. *checks*
Yep, Cape Cod league, 2011: 14BB: 50K in 152 ABs. He hit .224 (but was still an all star for his power).
His next year with wood bats was 2012 with us: 29BB: 47K in 213 ABs. So Ks went down, walks almost doubled. He hit .272, but it was a rookie league.
Then 2013: 18BB: 7K in 68 ABs, hitting .397 with a bunch of doubles. He's not clearing the fences in the rain/sleet and cold of April in the MWL, but that's not surprising - and if he can stay in center field the majority of the time it won't matter one bit.
I remember John Sickels had 'Bari and Joe DeCarlo rated about the same in the draft. Joe went in the 2nd, Henry in the 18th. Drafts are funny things to figure out.
Henry definitely looks like he's growing at the plate, though, and if he can grow in the field the same way he'll be a fascinating player.
Just need to see him keep doin' it. :-)
~G
20
As Dr D has pointed out, it wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing in the world if Franklin were brought up immediately, to fill a major hole on the MLB roster, and then had to go back down to work on weaknesses that were exposed at the MLB level. It certainly has happened before. A factor in this discussion is Franklin's psychology -- is he tough mentally? does he have plenty of self-confidence? or is he a little shaky and subject to lasting harm if subjected to failure? Assuming he's reasonably resilent psychologically, I say Let The Wookie Play. Let's get a platoon going at shortstop. No way Billy Beane would just sit and watch this level of ineptitude when he had solutions in AAA.
21
We used to have a saying, back in the days prior to Super 2 and club control: Youth must be served. I heard Z defending his regime last night on Softy's show. He bragged about all the great talent we had "in the upper minors." This separated us from the other clubs, whose top 100 prospects were in the "low minors". Well, hooray, Jack: you are bringing fans into the ballparks of Jackson and Tacoma.
Well, you either have your cake, or you eat it. Getting time to eat it.
Mitch replayed the clip this morning and asked for 10 M fans to call and say whether they were buying Z's defense of his regime or not. Frankly, the aren't. Jack said everyone knows it takes "5-7 years" to build a ball club with a strong foundation. A couple skeptical callers seemed to recall there was a time when, according to Jack, it took 3-5 years, or 2-4 years.
Through my untiring efforts, my family was at one time all M fans - now only I and my eldest of 6 children remain. My wife, and most of my children (youngest a HS Junior) can't name a single M except for Felix. Even the dog growls when the M's are on TV (ok, that was a joke). Fact is, Z is going to have to prove his mettle now. He HAS to start making the right calls. The days of trading away the Morrows and Fisters and signing the Figginses are over.
For a GM, these next couple weeks are time to produce a few "hard rbi's"
Great comment, G-man!
22
That ran the model "speed" infield? Or who am I thinking of?
Yeah, that would be a lot of fun, to watch an infield like that. Ackley could run sort of a Darin Erstad type of career.
23
I thought after he rounded first and saw where the ball was, he really tried to put the coaching in action (finally) and his form and speed actually weren't too bad going from second to third - in fact, he had enough momentum he actually slid past the bag and had to grab at it. If he can get his speed up to Smoak's class by stretching out his strides and leaning forward, he might get another triple some time. But it sure took some time to get rolling!
24
Offensively, it would be no slouch either. I can easily envision Ackley out producing Smoak from an offensive standpoint alone, before taking into account base running and defense. It's not like it would be a small ball infield, necessarily.
25
2 ABs, 2 HRs, and it's the third inning in Clinton!
26
When I saw the score at 10-0 I assumed all the Lumber Kings had brought the ummm...lumber, but the XBH are 2 HR from Henry and a double from Kivlehan.I hope he does it all season a shoves his way into a couple tough to pick 10 prospect lists.
27
Have you heard anything about Dr. Elliott's training program lately? In the 3 years since they announced it there have been shockingly few references to it that I've come across.
28
Yeah. Liddi is pretty flexible andi can even backup SS in a (real) pinch.
29
Really you replace Andino/Ryan with Triunfel's bat. That's got to be a plus of some degree.
Then you replace Smoak's bat with Franklin's. I can't believe that is a subtraction on offense, either.
A very interesting idea. Add Ryan and Liddi as your BU IF's. Miller bumps Triunfel, who bumps Ryan, as soon as he's ready.
Stick Romero in LF. Saunders and Morse.
Now you're cooking with gas!
moe
30
... in one prospect, especially if that prospect doesn't get a call up when you expect him to. Of course, I'm talking about Franklin. Franklin is a focused asset that will be applied when the situation hits a critical point. What the team may be looking for between now and then is a player who is less of a situational asset and more of general asset. In other words, they may be looking at bringing up someone who can play multiple positions, carries a good stick, and isn't a defensive liability.
Don't get all upset when Nate Tenbrink gets a call up in the next few weeks. Ya, you read it here first.
31
Nothing. Nada. The local press, including Baker, made a big spring training story of it 3 years ago. I thought it was interesting at the time and was hoping for some follow-up, but of course nothing.
I'd really like to learn more about what these guys do for strength work. I think Smoak and Ackley need to get stronger.
32
Lonnie,
How is a guy who looks like he's going to lay waste (for an IF) to RH pitching AND who can play SS/2B/3B a "situational" asset? There aren't many situations where a guy like that isn't an asset! That asset value doubles when you consider the guy immediately ahead of him.
I think yesterday would have been the natural time to give Franklin the call. The team heads out of town for a bit, which gives him a chance to acclimate to the M's, on the run. I'm looking at Thursday the 9th, now. That's our travel date back to Oakland (weird schedule--@PItt/@Oakland/@NY). A natural time to give Franklin the call.
Tenbrink doesn't replace Andino (or Ryan), and that is our black hole. But as a true utility guy (who can't hit much, BTW...but does walk) who gives you flexability off the bench, he has some (limited) value.
WAY less than Franklin, Triunfel or Liddi (et al), though.
Tenbrink over Franklin and I will be absolutely convinced that Z or Wedge or both need to go immediately. If we're using Franklin this way simply to not expose him to MLB pitching to enhance his value for some possible/to-be-determined trade is silly-stupid. Man, let's let him help us now.
moe
33
Lou gave a 19 year old ARod 149 PA's in '95, in which he responded with a .672 OPS. Luis Sojo gave us a .750 OPS that year so it wasn't as dire a situation there. But we should be so lucky. Anyway, Lou wasn't freaking out about damaging a 19 year old's psyche (nor an 18 year old's when he gave him 59 PAs the year before).
I read talk about damaging Franklin's trade value unnecessarily by stunting development, etc. Loser talk. Lou wanted the best players the system had on the playing field. ARod survived. Heck, the next season he went out and had one for the ages. You know,what you do if the kid aint ready. YOU SEND HIM BACK TO TACOMA. It'll be alright.
Nick is a grizzled vet by comparison to ARod. Get him out there.
34
Another reason to play Franklin on the big league squad is marketing, which I would think would be important to an organization in a 10 year attendance free fall and now 28th in attendance. Bringing Franklin up would allow GMZ to trumpet a success in his plan to develop prospects from within and give the marketing department a fresh face to sell to create buzz about the team. But, no, the M's plan is to hide our shiny new player in Tacoma & go with same old tired vets. Frankly, I just don't get it.
35
But I can't help it. Brendan Ryan has got me remembering the days of Ray Oyler and the Pilots.
36
Anyone catch what, from what I've read, was another solid start by Walker? Is he still doing that recoil after delivering a FB? I have heard that is a bad practice w/r/t proper deceleration. How does one adress that particular flaw in the delivery, I wonder? Longer stride toward the plate?
37
Rick,
I wish Smoak were Mincher!
38
...in that he can only help out at SS/2B. That is why I called him a focused asset. With Tenbrink you get a guy who can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, LF, CF (in a pinch), and RF. He is a proven commodity in that he can hit and will not embarrass himself defensively. This may stick in a lot of folks craw, but in many ways Tenbrink can bring more value to the M's than Franklin.
I can already hear the teeth gnashing if what I say comes to fruition, but please, remember that we all are not privy to all of the facts of what happens, so to declare something as wrong headed might just mean that all of the facts aren't known. I don't know all of the facts, but I can tell you this little tid-bit. The organization wonders about Franklin's mental skills....
39
From what I recall, in March, he looked fixed.
40
I love guys like Tenbrink....who bring a ton of positional versatility. But his versatility is worth less than Franklin's ability because we have a dire need at a position Franklin can fill. Guys like Tenbrink are especially valuable when you already have a "filled" lineup without terrible weakness. He becomes a one man bench, in some ways.....and you can absorb his lack of a bat (he walks, that's about it) if you have plenty of 'em around already. But he ain't Franklin. No way.
I can't see the M's moving a Raul or Smoak or Bay for Tenbrink. And those are the guys they would have to move for him.
As to mental skills, as somebody pretty versed in that field (32-years in education), there are lots of different types of thinking abilities. I don't know anything about Franklin, other than he's a ripping LH bat right now. Gimme that. If he's not a Nobel Laureate I''ll somehow survive if he brings the other.
41
If Smoak ends up losing 1B at some point do you see Poythress ever getting a chance there with the M's?
42
For one thing, he's only 8 months younger than Smoak and just got to AAA. His batting eye has abandoned him again after a really good year last year (in that regard) where it looked like he might be changing his approach. He hits righties pretty well which would normally give him a shot (since he's RH), but "pretty well" as a first baseman isn't enough, especially because he doesn't punish lefties at all to help his line. He just hits what he hits.
Rich is gonna have to go Mike Carp on somebody. Carp got his shot because he hit 21 HRs in half a season (at the same age that Poythress is now) and we happened to have a need. Poythress has 2 HRs this year so far, after hitting 9 and 11 the previous two years. If we wanted a 1B without thump wouldn't we just keep Smoak?
The 1B to watch is Choi, down at High Desert. He should be in AA before the year is through. He's almost 4 years younger than Poythress, is a lefty instead of a righty (there's discrimination that happens at 1B with righties), crushed the MWL when he was healthy last year and is currently demolishing the Cal League (.322/.404/.600) with a good batting eye and serious doubles power. What'll get Choi to the bigs is walks, not HRs. He's in the vein of Nick Johnson or Youkilis-lite, though he doesn't walk quite that much. More of a doubles guy than a 30 HR guy, sweet swing, good D, uses his good average and OBP skills to make up for a few less HRs.
I think Choi is jumping Poythress in line and with Morales around to play some first base it's unlikely Poythress gets the call even if Smoak craters again. And if it's not this year, then it won't be next. Unfortunately for Rich.
~G
43
you can be right-handed and play 1B, but you better hit, because the 3-6-x DP and the 3B charging on a bunt barehand throw (keeping the throw clear of the runner) are easier for the LH, amongst other plays.
That's why I think Montero will never be anything but a back-up 1B - he lacks the athleticism to compensate for having the glove on the runner's (baseline) side. But if he hits, a DH/back-up C/back-up 1B is not a bad thing (see Martinez, Victor, or Napoli, Mike at your local B-R.com).
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Too bad for Poythress, but maybe he'll get a brief look and catch fire. I was just curious if there was a reason his power went out while eye jumped last year. Like if Chris Gwynn told him to work on his eye at the expense of power for the year and the org wouldn't hold it against him. That is an example of a type of tidbit I've enjoyed hearing from you over the years, something behind the numbers not everyone is aware of. Sounds like there is nothing positive or negative "behind the scenes" as far as Poythress is concerned. Have always kept an eye on Choi since you mentioned him what 3 or 4 years ago now? Good to see him healthy and hitting! Perhaps Triunfel will get a look soon. Or Liddi. There are several down at Tacoma that need further evaluation at the big league level soon. Detroit is having no problem giving an older Tui some play and he has produced a bit for them.