Stefen Romero Scouting Report 8 - Dr's Prognosis (Green Light)
Q. Why would an otherwise stable individual sit and type 5,000 words about a minor leaguer who is playing 3,000 miles away?
A. You'll remember our year-long retirement in 2008. Send fan mail, and hate mail, to the mighty Klat. For better or worse, their Frankenweenie resurrection has us once more deep-sea diving on esoteric M's issues. And don't think we don't love youse amigos for red-circling the mistakes. Considering the way the Safeco losses are piling up, even the Frankenweenie voltage might not get us up off the slab if it weren't for youse cyber-friends whose comments are usually more interesting than the original posts themselves.
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Q. What are the facts here? What are the "givens" of the investigation, or at least, what do you believe you know about Stefen Romero?
A. Romero might be forgotten a year from now, or might be headed toward AL rookie of the year; either is possible. But right now we'll stipulate the following:
(1) Stefen Romero's hands and wrists -- and therefore his swing generally -- are certifiably special, special with a capital S. This is confirmed by three things: internet video, Pedro Grifol, and his results.
(2) His wonderful swing, times his stunning results in new and unfamiliar leagues, puts him at or near the place where Nick Franklin was, when Franklin destroyed A baseball. You'll remember that Nicky's swing, times results, made him an SSI Best Bet as low-minors prospects go. I'd be about 80%, 90% prepared to comp Romero to Franklin as it pertains to Franklin in August of 2010.
If you just joined us, wrrrrriiisssts allow a hitter to keep the bat back, read curve ball, and then SNNNAAAPPPP the bat through with authority. Wrists cover the front of the strike zone and the back of the strike zone. Edgar, Chris Snelling, Henry Aaron.
(3) The scouts, watching him day-in day-out, speak of him as a guy who could be an Organizational #1 Prospect with respect to position players. Dr. D takes this seriously. Scouts tend to be able to identify players who are as men among boys. They tell you, wow, this guy can really barrel it up. This is what they said about Dustin Ackley (that's a compliment).
(4) Romero's template is that of Freakish ML Third Baseman, a big strong guy who moves lightly and as if he were a smaller man. Handles the bat like a toothpick.
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Q. Leading us to .... who?, as the ML prototypes?
A. If we didn't know better, we'd actually say that Romero moves and swings, like Evan Longoria and Troy Tulowitzki. His position, early performance, and skill set isn't necessarily imcompatible with theirs either.
Comparing Tulowitzki's college, low-minors, and AA results, Romero's don't look wildly inconsistent. It's not a stretch to imagine Tulowitzki, given exactly Romero's background, broken arm, lesser advantages in collegiate development, etc etc, putting up statlines somewhat similar to Romero's.
Go check the vids on those two, Longoria and Tulo, and you'll see them demonstrating the extreme boundaries of this FML3B template, sharing in common with Stefen Romero that they:
- Are big RH infielders
- Move lightly, like smaller men
- Have very strong wrists, blurry-fast bat launch
- Not much load - very quick at the plate
Where Romero lands within this template -- whether he turns out to be 10% or 50% or 90% of Longoria -- it will be our pleasure to observe over the next year or two.
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Cheers,
Jeff