SB Nation User Blog: neutralluke

Blake Dewitt

neutralluke — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:54:33 -0000

All right. Blake Dewitt had went yard again today and added a double to bring his season line to .327 .400 .533 in 107 ab's. Sure 107 ab's isn't a huge sample size but did anyone on the planet see this type of start for him? I mean, this is a guy who spent the majority of last season in the Cal League struggling to put up an OPS over .800 and now he's just about the best hitter in the Dodgers lineup. The natural question is: Is this performance real?

Right now his BABIP is a fairly high .350 especially given his low line drive rate (13% according to fangraphs). It is unlikely that he will maintain that kind of BABIP but I also would think that the line drive rate is a little low for him as well. The kid seems to have a pretty good idea what he's doing at the plate evidenced by his 12/13 bb/k ratio and it isn't as if the pedigree isn't there either. A first round pick out of high school in 2004 he was seen as one of the best pure hitters in the draft that year and even throughout his early struggles in the minors scouts continued to praise his smooth lefty stroke.

The walk rate definitely has come of a surprise to me. It's not often that you see a guy double his career walk rate after only a handful of ab's in AA but it's getting to the point where it seems like that discipline may be for real. Of course pitchers may just need a chance to adjust to him but that seems a little less likely given all the previous praise of his stroke and his ability to let the ball travel deep into the zone.

So what do you guys think? I for one am being more and more convinced that this kid is the real deal. I certainly wouldn't expect him to maintain the batting average but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him finish with a line somewhere around .290 .365 .470 which is certainly good enough to start at third base for a lot of major league teams. Also, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that he could be moved back to second which would make that line stand out even more.

Kershaw will never win a Cy Young

neutralluke — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:07:52 -0000

Sure the k's are nice and it's tough to argue with the 1.11 era but c'mon, the guy doesn't even have a win yet.

In all seriousness, is this kid the best pitcher in the minors right now? Is he going to dominate when he gets his well deserved call up in the second half? How soon till he starts causing winter to be summer and summer winter by throwing the earth off it's axis with his blazing fastball?

Also, can someone please anywhere give Lucas May some love? Two more xbh's tonight with a homer and a double. Now batting .319 .404 .650 something as a 23 year old CATCHER. He's putting up numbers very similar to Gamel's after adjusting for unsustainable BABIP and he's a CATCHER compared to a "third baseman", a term I think should be used very loosely when describing Gamel anyways. Did I mention that he's a CATCHER?

Ivan DeJesus?

neutralluke — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:50:57 -0000

I was just wondering what everyone hear is thinking about Ivan DeJesus right now? Still only 20 years old and currently tearing the cover off the ball at Double A Jacksonville which by no means is a hitters park. Is he moving up anybody's rankings or is he still an all glove no hit utility type player? For his age I think he has to have one of the better approaches at the plate in the minors but it is tough to say whether or not that will translate against major league quality pitching as he has just about no power to speak of. Still a .451 obp and .922 ops is nothing to sneeze at.

Delwyn Young

neutralluke — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:54:54 -0000

I was wondering what everyone here thinks about Delwyn Young. He's a 24 year old outfield prospect in the Dodgers system who was once a decently regarded second base prospect. Most doubted his power would translate well as an outfielder but after a down season learning the outfield last year he has picked it back and is now hitting better than any time in his career. After another 3-5 night last night his line is up to .303 .358 .519. Does this guy have a future as a regular on a bad team? A quad A-er?

I think he could be at the very least a useful bench player that can hit for average and a little bit of power but if his current power continues could maybe crack it as a regular on a bad team. What do you guys think?

Thoughts on Terry Evans

neutralluke — Mon, 28 May 2007 01:04:57 -0000

All right, everybody knows who Terry Evans is. 25 year old outfielder in the Angels system, basically was looking like a career minor leaguer in the Cards system as a 24 year old in high A ball until a breakout campaign last year. Most scouts agreed that he had decent tools across the board but many doubted his power and his approach at the plate. Basically everybody wanted to see more before labeling him a legit prospect.

Well, he's now moved up three levels in two years and is continuing to hit the ball pretty well in Salt Lake. In fact, in his last 687 ab's he's sporting a line of .315 .379 .563 with 47 stolen bases and only 13 times being caught. That's some serious power/speed combination at a premium position. I have a couple of questions for anybody that might be in the know around here. What is his defense like in Center? And if it's at least adequate is he convincing anyone that he could be a legit centerfield producer.

I have very little knowledge about his defense in center, but I have to say that he's beginning to convince me. Sure, his approach is quite poor and he'll probably strike out too much to ever hit more than around .280, but I think he has the potential to be at the very least a 20/20 type of guy which if he actually is capable of defending in center would be a fairly valuable commodity. What do you guys think?

Who's John Buck?

neutralluke — Thu, 24 May 2007 01:14:44 -0000

Probably a misleading title, I know John Buck the player, that is to say I don't think the Royals have fallen completely into the black abyss that comes from being a perennial 90 loss team located in Kansas City but honestly, who is this guy?

He has another home run tonight bringing his total to 8 to go with a season line of .306 .405 .620 (!). I mean, this is a guy with close to 3 full seasons of complete futility at the major league level. I know he was once a pretty promising prospect but in his major league career he has only once slugged over .400, he's never batted over .250, and only one time has he even had an obp over .300. Let me see if I can do the math there...hmm carry the one, okay so the R-squared of that equals........not good.

How real is his performance so far this season?

Apologies in advance if this has already been discussed. Yes, I know I could have just used the search feature but I only just thought of that now after having written all this already and I couldn't be bothered to do it anyways.

Nat King Cole Hamels

neutralluke — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:24:50 -0000

A few choice quotes from 'Cole Hamels Facts':

Cole Hamels punches people so hard he breaks his own hand.

Cole's poop is used as currency in Clearwater.

One time Cole Hamels spent 40 days in the desert. To survive, he ate whole camels.

Cole has his cake and eats it too. And then he takes your cake, and eats that as well.

7 innings, 8k's, 4 hits.

Has his reign begun?

Top draft talent not named Price, Wieters, or Brackman.

neutralluke — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 22:35:13 -0000

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to get your guys' opinion the draft's top talent other than the top 3. Right now I am thinking that the next tier of talent will almost assuredly come from the highschool ranks as it seems that there aren't any college players that have distinguished themselves as top 5 talents other than the 3 mentioned. So who is it? One of the power hitters like Heyward, Burgess or Vitters? Or is it one of the myriad fireballers like Porcello, Main, Harvey, and Beavan?

Right now I'm leaning towards either Heyward or Burgess as they are the two that are both ranked fairly high by both brewerfan.net and pgcrosschecker and these are the best free sites that I know of although Beavan, Harvey, and Porcello seem to be making pretty strong cases as well.

Who do you guys think the drafts top highschool talent is? If you think the next best thing to the three headed dragon of Price, Wieters, and Brackman is a college player feel free to mention him.

Pence goes 3 for 5, average plummets.

neutralluke — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:33:57 -0000

He's now 13 for 18 with 7 xbh's. This guy has gone absolutely bonkers.

I don't actually have anything interesting to post; I was just really bored.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All work and no play
Makes Jack a dull boy,
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boyAllwork and now play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work
and no play
makes Jack
a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All work and no play
Makes Jack a dull boy,
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boyAllwork and now play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work
and no play
makes Jack
a dull boy.

Burgess or Heyward

neutralluke — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:54:51 -0000

I don't really know if this board is big on the draft but I'll throw this out there anyways. Of the two bopping HS outfielders in the upcoming draft, which one would you take? Which one has more power potential?

I have read many descriptions of Burgess launching moon shot after moon shot even against some of the best competition in the country. On the other hand you have Heyward who clearly has the size advantage at 6'4'' and 220 and a pretty decent track record himself. Who would you take?

Poll

Who would you take?

Vitters

26 votes

Burgess

20 votes

Heyward

7 votes

53 votes | Poll has closed