Add new comment

This is not saying that Poythress has no flaws, but I'm not sure after one productive season of him doing better than might be expected, that you can call him a "flawed" hitter.  Minus striking out a bit less, what more could he have done last year to establish himself as someone to watch?  He had numbers that were remarkably similar to Chavez's.  He was 3rd in his league in homers, 9th in OPS, 7th in slugging....and minus Chavez, who is a year younger, everybody else was the same age or older.  In his 2nd year with wood bats he figured it out.  He even fielded .990 at 1B.  He played in a hitter's league...but he was one of the handful of best in the league at an age that was, at least, league appropriate.
As well, I'm not sure anybody has "compared" him to the greatest hitters of all time other than one point that said his college #'s were better than Frank Thomas'. That is a pretty small kind of comparison?  Mostly I see people identifying a possible "upside" of Poythress, and doing so by mentioning players of similar skill set.
I mentioned Boog Powell as a guy who had a stat line that Poythress "might" "possibly" have the ability to reach, "maybe." Boog was a big guy with a fair eye, like Poythress. 
Greg Vaughn and Richie Sexson are hardly all-time greats.
In watching the little video of Poythress that I found, I kind of like his very simple approach at the plate.  He looks like a big country boy (I have no idea where he is from...so it is just a saying) who has a very easy/simple approach at the plate. Simple and short and powerful makes a nice swing. If he can turn on a MLB fastball he has a chance. 
I think that, even in this saber-world, people who evaluate talent still are influenced by whether a guy "looks" like the classic template of a ball-player; broad shouldered, slim wasted, etc. I think the guys with Cust-like builds have to overcome a bit more because they don't "look" like ball-players. 
I think we discount that .260-.350 25 HR MLB production because none of it stands out as superb.  But together it is a fine product.  I don't know if Poythress can walk 90 points....probably not.  But I think he's potentially better than .260 at the plate.  Could you live with .280-.340, 25 HRs at 1B/DH.  Would you be tickled if Smoak and Cust put up those numbers this year?  I can see that as a reasonable possibility.
He's a guy to watch with interest.