At the age of 22, Michael Saunders hit .310/378/544 with K's in 17% of his PA's and walks in 9% of his PA's in Triple-A while batting left-handed and playing a quality center field. Despite this, people poo-poo him, say he doesn't have much upside and isn't a very good prospect.
On the other hand, at 22, Poythress is stuck in A-ball in an EXTREME hitters league (not just home park) and doesn't produce much more than Saunders managed at the same age at a much higher level and tougher park. He also struck out more often (18% of the time) without walking more and provides almost no defensive value. Poythress is not even as good a prospect as Shin-Soo Choo was at the time. At 22, Chewie was in Triple-A and walking a lot (14% of the time), plus had speed and played the outfield. Yet Rich gets compared to Mark McGwire and Frank Thomas gets talked up as a Top 5 player.
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