Friday’s News & Notes

15 Commments

1. Can someone explain why Derek Norris can’t hit?

   Second question: has the formerly suspended Adrian Nieto rebounded to become a prospect again?

   1. To your 1st question, probably not, but the key to Norris is that he 1) can still get on base quite often, 2) can run when he gets on base (has spent big parts of the last two years hitting in the #2 slot), and 3) hits for reasonable power when he does connect. Add on the fact that he plays behind the plate, and like Sue_D says, that’s like dating a fashion model who can cook as well.

      As to Nieto, I don’t think he fell completely out of favor with the Nationals’ brass, and has certainly saved face from his admitted error in judgement quite nicely this year. I’d still consider him a prospect at this point.

2. Nationals Arms Race was speculation on post 9/1 and season 40 man roster moves to accommodate September callups and post season Rule 5 protection. One of his prime candiatates for DFA was Serverino. Whatever mojo he had in the past now appears to be long gone.

   Good to see Karns have a good performance.

3. I hear Leon, Kobernus, Souza andPerez have been selected to head down to the Florida Instructional League after the season.

4. For those interested, a Prospect of the Day was promised for Lombardozzi on the following site sometime today:

   http://www.minorleagueball.com/

   Sue regularly references his reports and you’ll get comments from fans of other teams which often bring a different perspective.

5. I have a question on Tyler Moore. I don’t understand how a guy like Moore cannot be viewed as a real prospect. He’s pounded the ball for 2 years. What is the thinking that makes people think he’s an organizational player rather than a true prospect? I know he’s 25 or 26…but he’s also been punishing AA pitching all year. Marrero’s having a good year, but the concern is the power for the position he plays. Just curious as I’ve seen guys pound the ball like Moore in the minors and not be given opportunities because of their reputation as organizational guys vs. real MLB prospect. I don’t understand these distinctions sometimes. I think Mike Morse is an example of these mislabels. When he finally got a chance to play everyday he did what was obvious to me that he would do – pound the ball. In need of some elucidation here.

   1. RN– Agreed. Moore has lots of fans on this site for sure. He’s even has the human interest elemant after it turned out he played all last year with a tumor on his leg. Thankfully benign.
      He’s a better prospect than Marrero to me as far as power. His numbers are too good to make him an OG

   2. RN: Moore has his fans here & with the fanbase of Potomac & Harrisburg. The hesitation that the Nationals’ FO may have with him is the low batting average & OBP that has stayed with him as a minor-leaguer. When he makes contact, it’s almost always solid & productive, but an on-base percentage that hovers around .300 means he’s not all that descerning at the plate & takes few BB’s.

   3. I agree with BinM–plate discipline is a highly valued prize when it comes to prospect evaluation (which is why, in part, Derick Norris maintains high prospect status in spite of the fact that he strikes out a lot and his BA is middling). It is assumed that guys that walk at a 4.6% rate in double-A will get even more exposed in the bigs… probably for good reason considering the quality of pitchers and their ability to locate all of their pitches.

      The issue is that if Moore hasn’t figured out that he needs to take more walks by the age of 25, it is probably never going to happen. Thus relegating him to lower tier prospect status.

      I love the guy and hope he figures it out… but I am not holding my breath for him to become anything other than a ML bench player.

6. When his power numbers went up, his walk/strikeout ratio and batting average went down, this year in particular. I think this is what scares most people with him, power not withstanding.

7. He strikes out too much to be considered a prospect right now, he has to cut down significantly on the K’s (probably by changing his swing, yet still maintain his power numbers). Unfortunately, Tyler fits the mold for a lot of career minor league power hitters, hit a ton of HRs and strike out even more .

8. Ok – so at least low OBP and BA are related to performance and not age. Though high OBP and a “discerning eye” are not exactly in abundance on the big club!

   BTW – what are thoughts on his defense?

   1. I haven’t seen him play defense since late 2010 but his defense for Potomac wasn’t especially good, but when you mash like that folks tend to look the other way.

   2. RN: Take a look at baseball-reference.com for the bigger picture, but here’s the ‘Reader’s Digest’ version of his glovework.

      His range is far less than average (8.54/g over four years), and his fielding % is below average as well (.989). Compare that to career #’s for 1B in the Nationals’ system ahead of him over the last four years…
      Adam Dunn = 9.40 range factor, .987 fielding %.
      Adam Laroche = 9.63 range factor, .995 fielding %.
      Michael Morse = 9.83 range factor, .994 fielding %.
      Chris Marrero = 9.02 range factor, .988 fielding %.
      (All stats for 1B only, via baseball-reference.com).

9. Good to see “the other Peacock” switch sides of the battery and collect up a quality 1 IP.

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