Who Is Reggie Williams, Jr?
Posted on January 27th, 2011 by Jeff in Organizational Rankings, tags: Reggie WilliamsThe Cardinals Best Tools list came out this month on Baseball America and it was penned by St. Louis Post Dispatch’s own Derrick Goold. Goold, if you are not familiar is a “must read” whenever he pens an article for his insight into the Cardinal organization. He leads Baseball America’s Cardinal coverage and the one name that stuck out in the “Best Tools” list was Reggie Williams, Jr as the Cardinals minor league’s “Fastest Baserunner”.
All the other names on the list are very familiar to Cardinal Prospect watchers, but who is Reggie Williams, Jr? Williams was drafted in the 10th round of the 2010 MLB draft. First, here’s the video of Williams hitting a home run before he was drafted. AZ called him a “Reggie Williams Jr. was an OF with some speed who doesn’t have good baseball instincts and lacks standout tools elsewhere.” in a sum up about the draft as a whole.
Williams had a Speed Score of 6.4 for his first season with Johnson City according to Fangraphs. Another Cardinals farm hand, who I thought would be a shoo-in for the “Fastest” ranking was Adron Chambers who had a 7.3 Speed Score in his time in Springfield last season. Speed score is not perfect, but attempts to put together an idea of how fast a player is based on triples, stolen bases and caught stealing.
Either way, Williams looks like a skinny and speedy outfielder who will take some time to grow into his skills and become an all around baseball player. In his short season with Johnson City, he struck out an astonishing 41% of his plate appearances. That has to come down (way down) if williams is going to turn his “Best Tools in 2010″ award into a major league career.
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Not that the Reggie post isn’t appreciated, but I’d like to get some discussion going regarding Keith Law’s recently released prospect stuff, as well as some of his comments in his chat.
Some interesting tidbits:
Ranks the system a better-than-expected 14th overall.
Guys in his top 100- Miller (9), Martinez (52), Cox (72).
Has Matt Adams ranked No. 8 in our top-10.
LOVES the upside of Carlos Martinez. Said these things about him in his chat:
What are the chances Carlos Matias could jump into the top 10 next year?
Klaw
25%. I didn’t talk to a lot of guys who saw him, but the universal response is “wow.” The Cardinals seem to want to hold down the expectations, which is usually a good sign.
Who do you think has the best chance to be an ace in this group: Cosart, Matias, Drake Britton?
Klaw
Cosart edges Matias. Britton’s not an ace.
Also had this to say about Cox in his chat:
Will Zach Cox stay at 3B, or is a move to 2B in his future?
Klaw
3B. Can not see him at 2B at all. Wrong body type.
Most interesting thing klaw wrote was that Martinez has better raw stuff that Miller and could leapfrog Miller on next year’s list (into top 10) if he lives up to expectations.
Just as Ankiel was when he was a young pitcher I’ve heard Sam Freeman is one of the faster runners in our system as well.
For what it is worth, Williams reduced his K rate every month and also upped his BB rate each month. He still was striking out at a 36% rate though even in the last month.
It’ll be interesting to see if Williams starts at Batavia or back at JC. Probably depends how he looks in the Spring.
Williams had a .449 BABIP — doubt he can keep that up!
Williams is a very raw, but very exciting player. Yes it will take some time and he may or may not develop enough to be useful in the major leagues, but he is exactly the kind of prospect i think the Cardinals should be drafting in the top 10 rounds. Unless you can get a safe college guy that projects atleast as a decent major league regular, picks like Williams are the key to eventually getting guys that are more than a backup player or relief pitcher. So glad he is in our system and that we are slowly starting to take more risk on this type of player.
Just as we have alot of big power arms in the system we also have alot of speed burners. Williams is exciting but just as exciting to me is Anthony Bryant. He seems to have alot more power than Williams and just as much speed. Also have to think about Virgil Hill and Chambers.
Gotta say that that projected starting rotation is pretty good.
“Could be” pretty good, at least. Having two high-ceiling but very raw guys on it means there is lots of risk. I’m surprised (and, to be sure, pleased) that DG didn’t pencil Lynn in as the fifth starter just to be on the safe side.
Reggie Williams Jr was an exciting pick from the 2010 Draft. He joins the ranks as one of the raw super athletic type OF’s in our system to go with Bryant and Hill. Other more advanced super athletic OF’s in our system include DJ Tools, Pham and Chambers. We have been racking up on these types in the last few years. I like Williams better than Bryant but not quite as much as Hill.
I wouldn’t call DJ Tools more advanced than anyone at this point. I think Williams has a better chance at being a big leaguer but based on a scouts review of Bryant he really does have a ton of power potential unlike the others listed.
Andrew…maybe I used advanced the wrong way…how about more experienced. He did show that he has the ability to be a very productive player in 2008. But has regressed quite a bit. I still am holding out hope that he at least brings his value up high enough to use for trade bait. I just don’t see him being in the plans for the Cards.
I’m not hopeful at all. It’s not just his performance the last few years its more so the reports that he doesn’t seem to workhard or take instruction very well. I admit it must be tough to at one time play in the Futures Game and now struggle so much but in fact there are indications hes not helping himself out any in terms of working to get back to where he was.