Young Player Tendencies
Young Player Tendencies
Has there ever been a study as to what a better hitting skillset for a very young player would be? Is it generally better for young players to have "young player skills" (i.e. good contact, speed for BABIP purposes, and lower power output) or to exhibit "old player skills" (three true outcomes) right off the bat? I ask because I wonder about a guy like Justin Upton -- what can we predict about a guy who walked at a 13.2% clip while also striking out 34% of the time?
I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft! We used to roast Stay-Puft marshmallows, by the fire, at Camp Waconda.
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drapes
Re: Young Player Tendencies
I'm working on an article on the subject (after discussing it with Bod over IM) for the site I write for. I'll share results after it's posted.
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ShawnC
Re: Young Player Tendencies
What makes things kinda hard to read is that he is so young compared to the average player in their first few years in the majors. Most guys his age are in the lower minors. Given the sharp development curve and the small sample size - I don't think there is too much to be had from his stats at this point. Who knew Jose Reyes would be able to walk as much as he struck out back in 2001?
A lot of people were wildly disappointed in Justin's debut season in low-a and jumped ship on him in a knee-jerk fashion, including guys like Kevin Goldstein at BP. The following year he made it all the way to the majors, lighting up A+ and AA along the way. The one constant I see in his stats is the ability to take a walk - an "old player skill". To me this means he has good pitch recognition ability, his high strikeouts points toward needing to work on his contact skills rather than being simply a free-swinger given his BB rate. In other words, he's not swinging at a lot of bad pitches, although I did see MLB pitchers make him look silly on a few occasions, but again he was 20 last year and that will happen.
So, in a nutshell, I think there are signs that Upton will be able to adjust and more importantly, to trust what scouts have to say about him, which is VERY optimistic as many feel he will become an elite player.
A lot of people were wildly disappointed in Justin's debut season in low-a and jumped ship on him in a knee-jerk fashion, including guys like Kevin Goldstein at BP. The following year he made it all the way to the majors, lighting up A+ and AA along the way. The one constant I see in his stats is the ability to take a walk - an "old player skill". To me this means he has good pitch recognition ability, his high strikeouts points toward needing to work on his contact skills rather than being simply a free-swinger given his BB rate. In other words, he's not swinging at a lot of bad pitches, although I did see MLB pitchers make him look silly on a few occasions, but again he was 20 last year and that will happen.
So, in a nutshell, I think there are signs that Upton will be able to adjust and more importantly, to trust what scouts have to say about him, which is VERY optimistic as many feel he will become an elite player.
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Guest
Re: Young Player Tendencies
Drapes can't wait to see what you produce.
Once I get done with profiles, I'll work with Shawn to put something into a draft kit and try and reference some of it here.
Once I get done with profiles, I'll work with Shawn to put something into a draft kit and try and reference some of it here.