Brantley Walks

[DrWood]

how about chuck knoblauch or pete rose as a comparable?

that would be pretty sweet.

[pogokat]

The issue is that without power, the opposing pitchers just stop throwing balls...if the worst damage a hitter can do is hit a single, then why risk walking him???

 

as to your examples Battlekow...those guys are probably good comps...and they all play premium defensive positions and not LF...and that kind of success has proven impossible for those guys to maintainwhich is what concerns me...i think people arre looking at Brant;ey's numbers and seeing Fukudome, when really they might should be expecting Luis Castillo except as an outfielder and with less peak stolen bases..

[battlekow]

If Brantley can stick in center and turns into Luis Castillo with the bat, that's a fine player. Nobody should expect anything more than that.

[battlekow]

By the way, Luis Castillo in AA at age 20 (without adjusting for context): .317/.411/.393

[igor67]

I took a look at baseballprospectus' minor league EQA numbers for Brantley and it looks pretty positive. They do a translation of the players current performance and what it would look like at the big league level, and in that he fairs OK, but the SLG comes out not so good. but they do another one for a peak translation (i.e. being all he can be) and they project he could add .050 to .060 points onto the SLG which gets him into .300/.400/.400 type territory.

[JoeHova]

.... they project he could add .050 to .060 points onto the SLG which gets him into .300/.400/.400 type territory.

So you're saying he could turn into Eddie Yost, but with a bit more batting average. How about Yost's 1950? .440 OBP/.405 SLG. Or his 1956? .412 OBP/.336 SLG.

Those kinds of numbers would be cool, but the lack of a player who had long-term success with an OBP much higher than his SLG in the last 50 years is a bit worrisome in trying to project Brantley.

 

Brett Butler may be the closest a guy has been to Yost lately, but even his SLG was basically equal to his OBP. (1991 excepted: .401 OBP/.343 SLG).

 

Anyway, Yost was a 3rd baseman and Butler a CF, so they were able to carve out careers with no power despite not being middle infielders. If Brantley can stick in CF, he could end up a valuable player. If he can't play there regularly, I think a 4th outfielder is more likely his upside. Also, I have no idea why they're playing him at first, even Kevin Youkilis had far more power in the minors. Of course, he was older, but I don't know that I would count on Brantley developing enough power to play 1st.