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Miller had 40 doubles and 74 walks in 137 games.
And oh-by-the-way 23 stolen bases ...
(The latter not Ole-like at all, obviously.)
Brad Miller Attacks!
Though you might not see it coming
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=== Miller Time, Dept. ===
The guts of Geoffy's revelation is that Brad Miller is holding the Willy Wonka Gold Ticket from the org. That, I didn't know. Did you?
When you talk about 'intangibles' in a minor leaguer, you're not talking about Raul Ibanez' leadership. The Mariners drafted Nick Franklin -- to the general hilarity -- because they felt he had the intangibles that would allow him to overcome resistance to his development. That means more ability to overcome resistance than that possessed by other great athletes.
Zduriencik's ability to point his finger at a 19-year-old, and say, THAT one, is a matter of historical record at this point. Now he points it at Miller.
The Baseball Prospectus, and Fangraphs, and other, pundit lists, are fun but they contain ZERO of this element: the ability to judge a player, from field level, as likely to improve. Most pundits are going off stats and career arcs. A few ... ahem ... are are going off stats, career arcs, and aiki mechanics. None of them are incorporating a close-up view of an athlete's makeup.
Brad Miller is therefore underrated by the pundit lists. QED. As Franklin was earlier.
................
I guess SSI can throw in a quickie as far as those aiki mechanics go. Thusly: In this video, there are some remarkable things going on. We don't say that Miller's $100M contract is assured, but here is how he puts his own fingerprints on a blue-chip future:
In the next several pictures below, tell me whether you've ever seen a hitter's hands more quiet, more calm, or more compact to the line of the incoming energy ...
And, as the bat fires, the hands are still incredibly quiet:
impressive so far, but not stunning. As the tools scouting go, he has a claim to more than just 'impressive.'Two thumbs way up,
Dr D
Comments
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As well as the MVP of his league. Miller's problems were two-fold: his defense was somewhere between bad and falling-into-the-abyss-with-a-Balrog... and his swing had zero power potential with a wood bat.
Like, none. You see that forward cock of the bat in your first snapshot? He didn't do any of that in college. He held the back straight up like a Statue of Liberty impression and then would drop it down on the ball. Great for groundball singles, terrible for clearing the fence. If you want a comp, the most common one given was Craig Counsel, based almost entirely on batting stance and static swing. He didn't hit HRs with aluminum bats, and BBCOR ones cut his doubles in half along with his already-low HR totals.
So naturally the Ms fixed that right off. I was thrilled to see the cocked bat after his first month in the org. Then, of course, Miller started swinging out of his shoes. His doubles totals were very impressive in HD... but no more so than Seager's or Catricala's or some others. And he shared Vinnie's defensive problems, having 30+ errors in the desert at the position we'd like him to stay at.
The hope for Miller is that he's a groundball/double machine whose defense at Jackson is more indicative of his potential than his High Desert showing. He's gonna walk, and he'll likely hit for a pretty good average. Even without power, that's a good SS. If he's a SS, that is.
Franklin: 17.4 chances-per-error at shortstop (.943 fielding %), 4.14 RF
Miller: 17.1 chances-per-error at shortstop (.941 fielding %), 4.34 RF
They've been basically the same guy defensively, though Miller looked better later in the year. And unlike Franklin, he's never played a game at 2B. They REALLY want him to succeed at shortstop.
I agree, Miller at SS and Ackley at 2B makes Franklin expendable. Miller may wind up at 2B or even 3B as well, however. It does seem like Franklin has been passed by on the SS-of-the-future path by Miller, but Miller could fall off the defensive bandwagon as soon as next year, and all the love for his bat potential at that point wouldn't keep him from being blocked behind Seager and Ackley, just as Franklin may be.
Them's the breaks when you draft guys for their bats and hope you can fix their gloves. We'll see how it goes... but already from that draft we took Steve Proscia (Team leader, high-power/no-walk 3B who's been moved more to first), McGee (Team leader, CF moved to a corner), and Dan Paolini (clubbing 2B moved to 1B).
It was a draft that could have been extremely interesting with its hitters if the glove-challenged players could have maintained their harder positions, but most haven't. We'll see if Miller is the exception. I hope he is.
And if he is, then I hope we trade Franklin for something special, because I still love his potential.
~G
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If they don't trade Franklin in the off season, do we hope for a good year from Ackley so that he can be flipped for a position of need? Seagar 3B, Miller SS, Franklin 2B...
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As you know Doc, I take great pride in tracking down some of the kids during ST and spending a few minutes chatting with them. I'm not 100% accurate, but most times I can get a pretty good handle on what is going on upstairs in a kid after a few minutes. Last spring I had just that opportunity to do so with Miller, and what I came away with was that the kid has a fire in him to excel. He is very confident in what he can do, but he is also willing to put in the work to further hone his craft. When I go down this year I plan on talking to him again about what happened on defense last year.
There are a couple of players that are on my list to chat with this spring. Last years draft was supposed to be a weak one, but several of the kids that the M's drafted last year are intriguing to say the least.
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...is a kid that you and I have talked about, G. He is still a few years away, but in fairly short order he will add yet another dimension to the entire SS discussion. Timmy Lopes may not have the power potential of Brad Miller, but Lopes will bring a higher batting average and on base percentage to the discussion. Of course, he has to prove to have that ability, but right now I say the odds are pretty darn good that he realizes his potential. Watch him enter the discussion in 2015.
Of course, one of Lopes' Arizona team mates could also enter the discussion by then. That is quite a three-headed monster the M's have with Lopes, DeCarlo, and Franca.
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Lopes is basically trying to be the guy who lets us trade Ackley once Dustin gets ultra-expensive. No HR power, but he runs the bases like a gazelle. THIRTEEN triples in half a season? Yeesh. He's a Joey Cora/Harold Reynolds type to me, but what I really want to see is whether he has a little Chuck Knoblauch in him. I dunno what to make of Franca yet, other than I like Gabe and wish him well. DeCarlo is still my boy, but I think he'll come along a little slower than Lopes. We'll see, he might surprise me there too.
I'm glad we got some good teens into the system this year. Can't just draft college boys, and we need to untangle the knot up top with Seager/Ackley/Franklin/Miller/Romero/Catricala/Liddi/whatever before we add even more guys to the mix. The SS I'm most interested in who's in the low minors is actually Chris Taylor. Especially if he's put on a keg of muscle this offseason as some UVA fans have said.
So let me know how he looks down in Spring Training, wouldja? :)
~G
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Jeter from ages 24 to 27 did a pretty good facsimile of Olerud, though he didn't during his 30's. From 1998 to 2001 Jeter hit .330 with 70 walks, 35 doubles, 20 homers... in those four years, the Yankees won four pennants and three World Serieses...
.............
Taking a quick look at Derek Jeter vs Brad Miller, you've got a HS player vs a college player, but ... Jeter's power was nonexistent in the minors. A piddling 16 homers in 456 games! an excellent warning signal for those who don't believe that power can be the last thing to emerge.
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Or is that my imagination?
Looking at them on video, and Franklin on TV, the 'pro body' thing seems to be a bit of a handicap for Franklin but not so for Miller. Or correct me if I'm wrong?
For those who just joined us, the heavier chassis comes into play as --- > the hitter wishes to drive the ball with authority, without having to put pedal to metal.
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Always relish your reports on the face-to-face impressions.