That's been my comp for Mangini for a while: A 3B/1B kid who looks like a blown pick for several minor league seasons with a terrible eye ratio, finally gets his swing right in AAA and starts hitting like he should hit.
Cantu came flying outta the gate in the majors as well (OPS+ over 110 his first partial couple of seasons) and his eye is perfectly acceptable now. Some guys just need a little time to get all the various parts of their swing right.
Jorge was a 40 2B/ 20 HR guy per 162 up until this year. I would take that for the ML minimum that Mangini would be making. Cantu was also the same sort of poor-fielding-3B that Mangini has been so far.
As a corner-IF guy? Cantu's made it hard to keep him outta the lineup most years. Mangini needs to be finally healthy with that leg and show the juice in the bat again this season, but he really might finally be a guy who makes it out of the minors and lives up to his potential.
I'm curious to see. Of course, the Ms would have to give ABs to a guy who isn't exactly the greatest defender. I'm kinda gonna wait and see on that one.
~G
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