It's never too soon to begin looking ahead to the First-Year Player Draft. Here's more on a potential first-round pick and a couple other items of note out of the NL West …
- Padres GM Jed Hoyer inquired several times last season with the Marlins on the availability of center fielder Cameron Maybin, writes Corey Brock of MLB.com. Of course, the Padres eventually got their man in Maybin, whose memorable early-career homer off Rogers Clemens feels like a lifetime ago despite the fact that he's only 23. In acquiring Maybin, Hoyer and the Padres felt like they were getting a guy who is still younger than many minor league prospects and could have room to grow after he was perhaps rushed to the big leagues at just 20 years old. Plus, "His skill-set sets up very well for our style of play, our ballpark and our division," manager Bud Black told Brock.
- Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers acquired Zach Duke from the Pirates in November because he thought the left-hander could benefit from a change of scenery, blogs Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Towers added that he covets lefties and good athletes, and said that despite Duke's dip in production in 2010, "his stuff didn't really deteriorate over the last couple years." Duke, non-tendered by the Bucs prior to being dealt to Arizona, posted a 5.72 ERA in 29 starts for the Pirates in '10 but has a career ERA of 4.54.
- The Rockies may have deja vu all over again: Dante Bichette Jr., the son of former Blake Street Bomber Dante Bichette, is a projected first-round draft pick, according to the Denver Post. Bichette Jr., projected as a third baseman in pro ball, has signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Georgia, according to the Post, but if a team is willing to select him in the first round of a draft that is shaping up to be historically deep, there's always the chance he could be lured away by big money. You may remember Bichette Jr. from the 2005 Little League World Series, in which he starred for his team from Maitland, Fla. The Rockies, by the way, have the 20th pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft.
You got to hand it to the Padres, the maybin deal could end up being a steal.
Yeah, but I doubt he ever amounts to anything more than a 4th outfielder. His defense is excellent, but he’s just completely over matched by big-league pitching. A .692 OPS in 168 MLB games isn’t very encouraging, regardless if people think he was rushed or not. Now that he’ll be playing half his games in PETCO, with less protection…..I expect his numbers from last year to go down, as hard as that may be.
He might only become a the new Tony Gwinn Jr. for the Padres, but given his upside and the fact they traded a couple of relievers for him, which they produce like the chinese produce cheap crap, might make it one of the smartest trades of they offseason, over all i think Hoyers done a good job with the resources he has.
I agree with Steven
ops is a pretty crappy stat to use in general, but especially for a centerfielder like maybin. which is not to say that’s he has ever hit well in the majors, but the samples in question here are worth mentioning:
2007: 53 plate appearances (completely insignificant)
2008: 36 plate appearances (completely insignificant)
2009: 199 plate appearances (a third of a season)
2010: 322 plate appearances (half a season)
with “four seasons” under his MLB belt it seems like he’s had forever to develop, but really the most he’s ever had is a half season. now during that time he only managed a wOBA of about .300, granted, which is not good at all. but it’s a half of a season. for a 22 year old. the rest of this kid’s history is a classic case of mismanagement. up, down, up, down, up. never a chance to settle in, struggle, stick with it and then recover
and no one can seriously say his bat doesn’t have great potential. in 500 AAA plate appearances over 2 seasons, he’s posted a wOBA close to .400. is his bat ever going to be that good in the majors? very unlikely. but with his defensive skills, at 23 he’s a guy you’d never want to give up on. unthinkable
the padres made a brilliant move acquiring maybin for a pair of relievers and i expect they’ll give him the opportunity and guidance to set him back on the right development track
If he was a power hitter i might be a little more concerned about him playing in petco, but given his age and skill set he could could be come thier starting center fielder for years to come for a couple of relievers. Sure he might become anouther padre sterio type player who is defined by his home/road splits but its worth it.
i think it’s pretty unlikely he ends up a poor overall hitter. i’d be surprised if he ever developed any significant power, but as you said he doesn’t need to. he’s an excellent centerfielder with the skills to be a productive — possibly very productive — hitter. that’s a very valuable guy to have
think b.j. upton circa 2008: .270/.380/.40 with a wOBA a bit over .350 and 5+ UZR in center. that’s very attainable for maybin, — and that’s the recipe for 4+ win player
Great post!
I think you may be right, but it depends on how much playing time he gets. He’s never really been given a chance to see what he can do, only playing part time. I thought the Marlins would give a chance to win an OF job, but only jerked him around. The potential is there, lets see him put together this year.
bang on. it’s their right to manage the roster however they see fit of course, but the marlins really screwed maybin’s development up pretty hard
I doubt it’s a first round pick that would lure him more than the first round money. More teams are starting to see rounds 3-5 as the time to give players who may be just outside first round talent first round money. The suggested slotting system is a bit of a joke.
Duke never had stuff in the first place, so I guess it can’t get worse. I think he was throwing 86 last year though. I liked him a bit, but everything had to be so perfect for him to have success. I can’t stand when people were saying he had “bad luck” which was forcing him to pitch bad. Throwing a batting practice fastball over the plate and not having a solid out pitch is the problem.
He had good stuff in the minors…..*runsaway*
The guy’s dad is Dante Bichette, it’s not like they’ll need the money to pay bills anytime soon. Might be worth it just to have a few years as the star baseball player of the number one party university in the nation before becoming your own millionaire.
Since when is the University of Georgia the #1 party school in the country?
Since it was ranked “#1 party school in the country” by the Princeton Review last year…
Dante Bichette Jr!?!?!
I’ll take him!
I remember when Little Bichette was in the LLWS…they grow up so fast