Is not out of the 3B conversation yet. He was...but they saw him field a few grounders there and moved him from 80 / 20 outfield / infield practice to at least 50 / 50 , maybe more swung toward the infield.
He said he was working on 3B defense all off-season and maybe we should believe him. If he CAN stay at 3B, the Ms will want him to. He'll never be Beltre, but he can be Bell. There's nothing wrong with Vinnie's hands, so if he gets his feet right...we'll talk.
I still have him as an OF, but I'd love - LOVE - for him to be a third baseman. He definitely wants to be a 3B. As he says on Twitter, he's been playing it since HS and it's his favorite. Maybe he needs to go to the OF a la Alex Gordon to tear it up...but we'll see.
It's not a done deal but either way, Vinnie's bat....ah, Vinnie's bat. He legit scared some pitchers last year. Whether he's Alex Rios or (RH) Dave Parker at the plate is up in the air, but he's gonna hit in the bigs for a while.
He's exploding in a big way. It's nice to know I said that in A-Ball when people were calling him "not any kind of prospect." I don't look like a bandwagoner that way.
But I'm more than happy to make room for people who've now seen him and want to see him on the big club. Another guy who makes our choice about Ichiro very interesting moving forward. Carp, Wells, Guti, Trayvon and Catricala can't all play the outfield even with Ichiro leaving the team after the season. Ichiro stays and some fellas definitely are gonna get traded.
Even if they're building themselves into legit major leaguers.
I expect Vinnie in AAA to start the year, but I'm very much looking forward to the impression he makes here in Spring Training and how it shuffles our 3B / LF situations.
~G
Add new comment
1