Holy Yikes! .378-.459-.541 I'm giggling! Really! I'm giggling! A 19 year old guy, probably working on some language issues and playing two positions drops in and does that......and then moves up to A+ and in 50 PA's still hits .300 and OBP's .380...and has all that gap (double) power....and, despite all that, he's not seen by most folks as something special, or potentially so? Man, somebody's asleep at the wheel, Doc...and it ain't you.
BTW...he was 6/12 in throwing out base-stealers, too. Either he's quick or has some kind of a decent arm.
He mostly played 1B, this is true. But if this guy can catch a lick...he can be REALLY nice. V. Martinez is a great comparison.
And I get frustrated in how 50+ x-base hits can be discounted if 25+ of them aren't homers. A firstbaseman who hits 35-40 doubles, 15 homers and walks a ton = John Olerud, you're dead on.
Man, if Smoak is John Olerud I'm going to be giggling for the next 13 seasons. How can it be bad if Choi is?
Oh...BTW, look at the picture of Choi at the end of his follow thru. How many million times have you seen Ichiro in exactly that pose.
And, a point about catchers. I remember Tom Seaver writing 40 years ago about the first time Jerry Grote (a fine defender) walked out to the mound after Seaver shook him off several times. Grote asked what the heck he was doing and who was calling the came, anyway. Seaver said the he was! Since he was the last guy to touch the ball before the batter saw it, he was throwing the pitch he wanted.
Always remembered that.
Heck, if Choi is Kenji behind the plate he's a hell of a prospect.
Even as a pure 1B guy, he's something to watch very closely. Admire the total package.....not just the glitzy wrapping.
moe
SSI CRUNCH: :blinks: this guy isn't in HQ's org top 15? ... but then, he's not in anybody's top 14...
Remember, sabermetrics is about flying by your instruments. The plane flips upside down, you look at the dials, not at the sky.
Choi has bolted out of the shed and pulled the ripcord on the chainsaw. At 19. Before too long, we'll go through the grainy 'net vid and do a POTD. But you could argue this guy for top-10 prospect
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SSI Sez: The Mariners' org remains hamstrung by its defensive vanity, its desire to be admired for aesthetically-pleasing defense.
People assume, and are probably correct, that in Seattle Choi must be projected as something other than a catcher. You aren't going to see a bat-first catcher, like Kendall or Victor Martinez, in Seattle. (True, scouts would protest that Johjima was exactly that, but the Mariners acquired him as a defensive player.)
If he moves to first, his bat should develop better and you've got a real shot at a gifted .400-OBP lefty hitter.
Without a doubt, Choi ranks 17, 26, etc. within the org because the pundits don't take seriously the idea that the Mariners would deploy a bat-first catcher. I can relate...
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The Mariners do have Choi playing the catcher position, but he has already played more 1B than C. Let's say that they don't Jeff Clement him, that they don't spend three years finessing his D so that he loses his bat, and let's say that Choi reaches age 22-23 playing "adequate" D.
In that event, the Mariners will for the first time in 35 years have a minor league catcher who threatens to become Victor Martinez.
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If Choi plays 1B, there have been any number of .400 OBP, 16 homer, 35 double stars in the bigs, including but not limited to John Olerud, Don Mattingly*, Will Clark .... Edgar Martinez in an 18-homer season was quite a player.
A .300/.400/.460 season is a Bobby Abreu season. A first baseman doesn't have to hit 25 homers.
2011 will be fun to watch for Choi.
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=== I'll Take a Million Like 'Im, Dept. ===
Seems every photo around the 'net shows Choi bursting with childish joy at the mere suggestion of playing a game of baseball...
The Mariners have 9,000 right hand mistake hitters with 0.20 EYEs. Rounded up. Finally a kid who can cover a pitch and who won't swing at a ball, and he's #34 in your org. Just don' have the necessary power.
Don't blame the Mariners for stockpiling the Greg Halmans, kids.
Comments
10 steals/1 CS in 39 G at rookie league.
I was going to say I didn't think Ole had 10 steals lifetime -- I looked it up, and it was 11! in 17 seasons!
The last guy we dubbed "Olerud with wheels" was a college kid named Dustin Ackley.
His profile is a bit strange, though. Coming up in Korea he was regarded as the best prep hitter in the nation, one of the best in a while, but over there, he was an everyday first baseman. For whatever reason, the Mariners decided that they were giong to take this kid with a good bat and probably limited English skills and see if he could catch. This may have been in part because they also signed a Korean pitcher, but that news came a bit later and Choi wasn't often the guy behind the dish when he was pitching.
The low rankings seem largely wrapped up in the fact that his bat at first doesn't play nearly as well as it would at catcher, but a lot of people seem to also think that his power is a lot more likely to turn up in doubles than home runs. Me, I just look at the eye numbers and think that what he lacks at present may come in time, but I would be curious as to the reasoning in why he's no longer playing third.
And BA didn't even have him in their thirty. He ranked 31st for them.
I thought he played first and third base. Was he just a 1B in Korea? And yeah, his bat was well-publicized...and for good reason.
I really do love his eye at the plate and the swing is pretty. I also love his work ethic and coachability, or at least what I've heard about it. Not to get all racial on you, but Choi is Korean. You've seen what the Koreans do in the LPGA, right? Or how hard they work just in desk jobs?
I liked the add of another Korean bat (and best in the country) at first for a simple reason: I could believe with reasonable certainty that the hitter would put his nose to the grindstone and work to be the absolute best he can be. I miss Shin-soo Choo and enjoyed watching him do all he could to excel, and outshine every other prospect we've had through the system in that time. I'll take another shot at that sort of player.
I was also surprised they didn't play Choi at 3B at all, but maybe they really do think Jose Martinez is all that, and wanted Choi to have the comfort of 1B. I really wish we'd let Choi catch. Just tell him to work on it and let him make it happen. He has a cannon for an arm, and can work on footwork. English can't be THAT big a barrier. Just call pitches from the dugout for a while.
We'll see what we do with him, but I love the kid. He's one of the bats I'm most looking forward to watching in a full-season league this year, because I can't see them bumping him just to Everett unless they spend from now until July just working on his ability to don the tools of ignorance.
~G
And I get frustrated in how 50+ x-base hits can be discounted if 25+ of them aren't homers.
The frustration is justified, pardner...
Not sure how Choi's power projects ... haven't even seen the vids... but the dude is wallbanging as a teenager and *my* reaction to that is hardly that of questioning his projectable power...
His profile is a bit strange, though. Coming up in Korea he was regarded as the best prep hitter in the nation, one of the best in a while, but over there, he was an everyday first baseman. For whatever reason, the Mariners decided that they were going to take this kid with a good bat and probably limited English skills and see if he could catch.
:: blinks ::
Especially with the English issue. I mean, it's cool, but the MARINERS?
:: dazed ::
When did he play it?
.................
Obviously the M's aren't going to convert Choi to C if he doesn't have a big arm ...
He evidently has some flat-out footspeed, per the SB's, and *quick* feet if he's catching... so ya, 3B seems the logical sweet spot ...
If you hear anything, let us know. Maybe Jason's heard something as to why he's not at 3B. Org glut?
I can get in trouble real quick, bringing up The Bell Curve :- ) but Asian acuity and work ethic is the elephant in the room for those who push the concept of suppression in America...
Who was that scout for the O's who got fired simply for complimenting a Latin infielder's soft hands?
But anybody from Japan or Korea, am immediately interested in whether their makeup scores a 70. Bet you Choi's does.
And when you bet on prospects, how much does makeup weigh?
I really wish we'd let Choi catch. Just tell him to work on it and let him make it happen.
Supposing that Choi did catch part-time up through AA, and emerged as a Kendall-, Martinez-type.
Do you give it a moment's credence that Jack Zduriencik would ever let a bat-first, Korean guy catch on Opening Day? Is that possibility even worth considering?
Yeah, he was a third baseman over there. Brain was thinking one things and hands were doing another.
And yeah, you're not the only one who is hoping Choi fills the Choo-sized hole in the org's heart. I know a number of people who jumped on that pretty quickly.
Since the phrase captures the scenario so powerfully, I now realize the Choo-sized hole in the heart...
Mayhaps Ackley and Smoak can perform the corrective surgery...
Choi is the most interesting of the sleeper specs so far just thanks to his hit tool and paitence. I would really like him at 3B too..
Should be fun to track the guy next season.
Can't find any stats on him this year, injured?
in extended spring training. That was my understanding. He is not on the Everett roster, just announced, but he could end up at Pulaski, which has not been announced. Or they could send him to a different team if they think his catching is ready. His bat should come along fine.
Jose Vicente Campos (is he just "Vicente" again?), big 18-year-old Venezuelan righty who throws upper 90s
Jordan Shipers, bonus baby (as in $800K) lefty with a high upside "stolen" in the 16th round
Tony Butler returns, after getting shipped to the Os in the Bedard trade and getting released following injuries and lack of success
Marcus Littlewood (19-year-old 2nd-round pick in 2010) gets to reboot after he washed out of his aggressive assignment to the Midwest League.
As long as he hasn't tweaked his back or anything in that extended Spring Training. He has a bat with really good potential. If he's still working on catching, to the point he's not even allowed to go to short-season, I'm not a happy camper. Pulaski is not any better than Arizona, and he crushed the AZL last year (And held his own 3 levels up in the Cal League). If he can hit, and he can, then sooner or later he needs to actually see the field. I guess I'll be waiting to see Pulaski's full lineup to see how irritated I need to be.
Dan Paolini got sent to Pulaski, so he should be crushing HRs in the App League very shortly. Pitcher Kyle Hunter, 31st round draftpick this year, will be there as well. That's not uncommon - they've both got family and ties to the East Coast so you let them play somewhere that family can get to before taking them across the country. I expect Paolini to be in the MWL next year.
As for the Everett roster...I fear for their offense. Littlewood and apparently Blash have been demoted from Clinton. Hopefully Littlewood can remember how to hit. Blash is still very interesting, and in a smaller park could hit for more power as well as he figures things out. Van Heydoorn is finally in America, but a 22 year old from the DR just NOW getting his first state-side season? Not promising. Burgess has never hit, nor has Yepez, Paquette and Lopez were very uninspiring last year, Melendres is new to pro ball after just being drafted this year (17th round)...I'm just not seeing an offense that will thrill and amaze.
The arms could bedazzle and amaze, though. Shipers and Campos you mentioned as interesting TOR potentials, but Cam Hobson has a live arm and Cody Weiss is interesting too. Stephen Landazuri gets overlooked but he was a teen plus arm as well, though not on the Shipers level. Saw a bit of him in Spring Training - he looks like a Pitcher, capital P. We'll see.
Lot of young arms to watch...and bats to pray for. Fun times for the Aqua Sox start soon...
~G