A scouting term that Goldstein uses to describe Brett Wallace. Be sure to read Kevin Goldstein’s chat from yesterday — it’s always insightful.
Also, as a reminder, the prospect lists are being added to the link at the top as they are released.
[Update]
A really compelling article by Kary Booher over at Baseball America about Colby Rasmus. They probably don’t have anyone more qualified to write on Rasmus, as you’ll remember Booher used to work for the Springfield newspaper that covers the Double-A team. It’s behind the subscription wall so there’s not much I can share but I have to clip these 4 lines.
What is clear is that Rasmus is a changed man, even at 22. Where before excitement and optimism overflowed from a deep voice, the tenor of his conversations follows a more cautious and guarded path.
“I’m a lot different now than I was at the beginning of the season,” Rasmus said. “Early in the season, I was playing to have fun. I didn’t look at the business side of baseball.
That flat out sucks. More than anything I was hoping that Rasmus would bring a youthful exuberance with him to a St. Louis team that at times can seem dirge-like in their professionalism. The article discusses in depth much of the hubub that went on during the last year and it’s a little bit dismaying. I felt like I was watching a kid have his dreams crushed before my eyes. I hope that’s not the case (and it probably isn’t) but if nothing else I hope Rasmus realizes that he still has a huge fanbase out there despite anything that’s happened in the organization.
More importantly, he’s still a supremely talented player and the long term outlook is unchanged. He still has the potential to be a perennial All-Star and he’s still the long term solution to the Cardinal’s CF question. Even if he starts the year in AAA (likely at this point), he should be the first option to be called up from the minors if an outfielder goes down. Who knows, maybe Rick Ankiel will pull a hamstring.
Entries (RSS)
Do you suppose La Russa causes that dirge like attitude?
I’ve never seen anyone so sour about being involved in a game.
At Spring training or Winter Warm Up, he just acts like he’s having a prune attack, even when you compliment him. I just don’t understand it, and i wonder if it spreads to and sours the players.
it seems that on the prospect list page…the links for goldstein’s cubs and braves lists both go to the braves top 11…maybe my computer is just being weird
I hope this works. Who says Phillies fans are all jerks…shot at the world series parade.
Jim [11-13-2008at 4:58 pm] has a point, IMO.
Thanks Volsn
If the Lance Berkman comparison is accurate then Wallace and El Hombre will be quite a back to back combo for many years to come. That is the “impact bat” I’d like to see in the lineup in 2010.
Rasmus sounds like he’s adopted a mindset similar to what Pujols has.
Is there any correlation between winter ball and success the following season?
I ask because a friend of mine is a strength coach who works with a lot of minor-league players. He told me recently how difficult it is to plan an off-season training program for guys playing winter ball. You just don’t have enough time to get them bigger and stronger for the following season, much less give their muscles and connective tissues sufficient time to recover from the wear and tear of the season.
It’s especially difficult for pitchers, but for position players it’s an issue as well.
Toward the end of Cary’s article it mentions that Colby is in the gym five days a week. If I were his strength coach, and had a brilliant athlete who’d just lost two months of a pivotal season to a knee injury, that’s exactly what I’d want. I’d want a solid two or three months to let his body recover from that injury while strengthening everything from head to toe.
With a guy like Wallace, who’s on the fast track to the majors at a relatively new position, the repetitions are probably more important than the off-season conditioning. Tyler Green, to pick another example, really needs to catch up after losing so much crucial development time to injury.
But Colby, given his talent, needs a strong body more than he needs repetitions right now. I fully expect him to be fine by spring training.
Lou, I have ready that performance in the AFL has lead to people making ML rosters quite often, but I don’t remember if the conclude that any performance in the big leagues is related to the AFL performance or just that good athletes perform well regardless of where they are. Either way I agree I am actually very glad Colby isn’t in winter ball. He has nothing to prove there, the only places he has something left to prove are at the ML level and possibly AAA but mainly he just needs to be on the ML roster to start the season if he is healthy and strong in spring training.
Hi,
Great articles… well written… informative. I have a question though. Is there a MLE or major league equivalency translation on AFL stats ? I would like to know what Bret Wallace’s MLE is now, with his AFL experience. The last time I checked his minor league stats translated to Major League performance, he would hit about .280 with about 30 doubles, 20 homeruns, and about 100 K’s in about 400 at bats. Would this still be accurate for speculative performance given his AFL performance ?
thanks, Allan
“I felt like I was watching a kid have his dreams crushed before my eyes. ”
Because making the majors at age 22 or 23 instead of age 21 (assuming he actually hits in AAA next year) is incredibly tragic.
AFL could be for future consideration or no consideration at all. It’s also a time for teams to look at players who could be considered in a trade, be protected or not protected for the rule 5 draft.
I have a friend whose son was put into the fall league and given those reasons why he was being placed there.
Brendan Ryan, John Rodriguez, Tyler Johnsons rookie years = “Youthful.”
Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Milona rookie years = “Businesslike”
Having a “youthful” Rasmus could be fun to watch; but a “businesslike” Rasmus could be just as much fun, too.
All that matters is the end result. He puts up good numbers, he will be having fun.